----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Well tonight I finally bit the bullet and dove into the black gooey stuff!
After hearing horror story after horror story from RV builders about
Pro-Seal I was pleasantly surprised to find it isn't all that bad.
A buddy and I just finished up the LH tank in about 2 hours flat. Of this
about 1:15 was spent riveting and sealing and about 45 spent cleaning up
smears and smudges, etc.
Sure it was messy and took a lot of patience and constant cleaning but all
in all it was really easy. Stripping and cleaning the tanks was by far
harder than pro-sealing and riveting them back together.
Here's a few tips....
1. Plan on using a whole quart of acetone. As soon as you pull a cleco
out
throw it in a coffee cup of acetone to keep the goop from destroying it.
We
only used about a dozen clecos btw. I thought I'd use more but with two
people that's all we had to use.
2. Buy a box of 50 latex gloves ($6.99 at Bi-Mart) and plan on using at
least half of them for each tank. These get goobered up in a hurry plus
the
fingers tear off. While you're at the store buy a pack of popsickle
sticks.
3. Take your "rag bag" out with you and use lots of rags dipped in
acetone.
I took old socks and duct taped them around all my tools (one on each
handle
of the squeezer, etc) and this kept them nice and clean. Definitely a
good
idea, especially since I borrowed the squeezer from an RV-9A builder
friend.
4. Speaking of squeezers- you can do the whole thing with a rivet gun and
bucking bar and while you will have to use it for around the fittings (gas
cap, outlet, etc) I highly recommend finding a local RV builder and
borrowing their hand squeezer for all the edge rivets. You'll need one
with
at least a 2" throat. WIth the soft rivets squeezing is a *piece of
cake*!
Really, I did it most of the time with one hand since the rivets squeeze
so
easily. And if you've never squeezed rivets before then invite the RV
builder over and buy him/her a case of Black Butte Porter for helping you
out for a couple hours. Of course make sure to drink the beer *after*
you're done or you may end up permanently pro-sealed to your tank :)
4. Buy the 3.5 oz Pro-Seal in a 6 oz cartridge. You'll need two and at
just
over $18 a piece (Aircraft Spruce) they're cheaper than buying a whole
pint
plus they are slicker than can be. You pump the little handle and it
mixes
the stuff up for you in the cartridge in the perfect amount and then you
can
take the cartidge and put it in a standard calking gun and squeeze out
nice
beads wherever you want it. Then just take the popsickle stick and
spread.
Very slick. Plus the 3.5 oz ended up *exactly* the amount we needed. We
weren't sure if we were going to make it but sure enough ended up blessed
:)
5. If you even *think* your tanks need rebuilding get your mechanics
blessing and just do it!!! Pro-Seal is amazing stuff and will surely last
another 50 years and you'll fly much happier knowing that the #1 cause of
engine related accidents (fuel issues) is drastically reduced by having
good
clean tanks. And for gosh sakes if you have tanks that have been sloshed
then by ALL MEANS rebuild those buggers! Believe me, I learned the hard
way! Sloshing compound is bad news!
Keep em flying!
Joa
______________________
PIW Engraving and Milling
"Affordable CNC"
______________________
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