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Lwt fuel tank issues


LarryH57

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Guys if you ever remove a fuel tank from a Lwt then tie off  bit of wood and place one bit inside the filler hole and tie it to another over the seat supports. If you take all the bolts out it will not move. This is easier than supporting it from below.

20200822_175957.jpg

Edited by LarryH57
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Btw - can anyone say if the fuel tanks in Lwts were under sealed in the factory as the one I removed has the sides and underside covered but strangely not the front and rear which would have been more logical?

20200823_151253.jpg

Edited by LarryH57
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Hi all, I decided to get the other fuel tank I have owned for years and inspect it after it's been hidden in the loft. As you will see the rear support bracket is cracked and the hole enlarged probably when it fell out when the front bolts were removed and the rear one was not. It has broken the hole and wrenched the fixing bracket away from the tank. Strangely the other side of the bracket looks secure. So if the tank was cleaned out so that there was not a whiff of petrol could it be welded?

20200824_164843.jpg

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That is a late welded  aux. tank  - the  "Bracket"  (cradle)  is spot welded to the tank , the original Terne tanks had the cradle solder plugged.   It probably will weld repair at torn hole OK (a small reinforcement plate) providing you don't have a leak at spot-welds.

btw  ,   I remove tanks with a small trolley jack , an old one where you can pass a bolt through the load support plate with flat washers to hold a timber cradle.  I got this jack late 1960's for removing VW Beetle engines along with wood cradle. Just drive rear wheels onto a brick each side , remove tinware , the right 17mm spanner - release just four engine mounting bolts , pull back off clutch then lift the rear of car a bit to trolley the engine out  -  a aux. tank is a far easier procedure.

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25 minutes ago, LarryH57 said:

Ruxy, why do you describe my tank as an auxiliary tank?

To me - it prevents confusion ,  with such as  Civvy & CL's that only have a single tank and it is not aux. underseat fill.

I think you will find these tanks ONLY  Civilian listed in the Series  OPTIONAL  Equipment Parts books - within the Section page(s) for Auxiliary Fuel Tank KITS , Civilian LR - of course the main tank is a 'side-fill'  .   It is just that a  MOD  spec.  Rover uses two  "under-seat fill" aux. tanks - one as main and the other as reserve .

The same Part No. for the aux. tank carried over to the Defender range as the aux. tank.

Edited by ruxy
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btw   I have just pulled out the relevant Illustrated  ??   Parts Catalogue for the S3  Lightweight  May  1975  issued,   Army Code  No.  61278  (For use in the Army and RAF) - correct for yours (in a way).

Page (s) C1  532176  described as  TANK,  FUEL  ENGINE   No. off  2  - it actually consists of 6 parts  BUT  not the FILLER NECK  Item  7

1.  Bare tank

2.  Drain Plug

3. Washer for above

4.  CAP ,  FUEL TANK

5.  This is the chain between the CAP & sliding NECK   (seems part No. not provisioned).

6.   551473   GASKET  petrol filler -  this will be the discontinued original cork crumb/composite gasket.

-----------------------------------

I will pull out the Civvy Optional Parts Cat.  later  -  I doubt if part numbers are presented exactly the same.

 

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This is a photo of the tank that is still in the vehicle, showing the different weld and 'gully' along the top of the side panels. I guess the one I am replacing was an in service replacement, though my ex REME mates says all those he installed were painted black though both mine have been painted nato green.

 

20200826_135011.jpg

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That is a  EARLY  tank   , it is not welded construction .  material is terne steel the side panels are seam folded & swaged with pressure rollers , the top seam (that often cracks) is soldered.   The cradle is secured to the tank using solder plugs , holes abt.  5/8" dia. filled with solder when the tank is sweated to the cradle.   IMHO  -   a far better quality tank & construction than the later  welded "genuine" tanks.

I don't think there ever was a copy part / OEM offering of the original design.     When Rover changed to the welded tanks ,  the only way you could tell it from a copy tank was that the  X stiffener pressings in the side panels were in the opposite way.   -    In a way the manufacturers were losing control of parts , but they had negotiations  - there was a  MTA (Motor Traders Association)  agreement with OEM's that their 'replacement parts' had to have a slight difference to original parts.   The trade designated parts below  OEM   classed as  "spurious"  ,  often the very worse then were made in  Iraq & India.

The Canadian made Aux. tank - that was originally very cheap (Imported by Hadrian Panels) is now  NLA   (it had their own design of snap-on cap) -  yet there is now yet another Canadian made Aux tank on the market with yet another design of snap-on cap  !

If ever you buy  a replacement tank with a 'genuine design' top fill ring , be certain to confirm that the sliding neck will insert and actually slide and that the cap does secure as it should.

AFAIK   most of the LR gearbox parts sold at a fraction of the  top $  ' genuine' parts  ££ price are made in Italy by a firm called  TAS ,  I don't know anything about them ,  I understand they were a supplier to Santana (Spain) , if true - then they will be the ones that are OK.

Edited by ruxy
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1 hour ago, LarryH57 said:

Interesting - as mine were both painted Nato green, and I'm certain they were like this when the vehicle was cast in 1991. 

Definitely black, I worked on 100's of them in Workshops. The tanks may well have been repaired at some point in service and painted green then.

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Dear Richard,

My ex Reme mates says the same; black. But playing devils advocate I suggested that of course all the replacements would be black as they were replacements and that the factory would have painted them nato green! Both my tanks are green and so I'm wondering whether to keep it how it was when in service or go GLOSS black like all the fuel tanks you saw?

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You didn't give the age of your LtWt, but the majority would have been manufactured before the development & availability of IRR NATO Green.

Late Series 3 would have been to DGFVE Spec 341 which gives no indication that the fuel tanks should any other colour than that supplied by Rover. NATO Green was required just for the bodywork.

Besides NATO Green was more expensive than normal paint so it would not make sense to use it in areas out of normal sight and  tactically it would have been pointless.

I suspect that the NATO Green on the tanks was the work of a bored or overenthusiastic squadie or previous owner.

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Yes the bodywork would have been NATO Green, but the Spec paint thickness acknowledges the layer is probably too thin for effective IRR performance. So that would require an additional layer applied at unit level, it is conceivable that a nitwit could have not understood the purpose of the overpainting & just painted wherever his brush could be made to reach :  (

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5 minutes ago, fv1609 said:

... it is conceivable that a nitwit could have not understood the purpose of the overpainting & just painted wherever his brush could be made to reach

This seems likely. From my experience with Landrovers the tanks are black as original equipment, but often seem to turn green, at least in parts, due to overspray or overenthusiasm.

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Your photograph  -  post  -  Posted Sunday at 05:46 PM (edited)

The tank seems painted Nato Green top & towards front but some black at front & all side black.   This is fairly  common  , they remove the seat base cushions and do minimum of masking , spray outside , inside of tub , inside of doors , hardly ever the bonnet underside.  The tanks get a spray where exposed under the sills as it saves masking up.  Often you get overspray on the back cushions because they don't do a good mask up of them.

I have  50HG75   DIS  12/80   ,   I purchased it 11/9/84   & t is still  11,258 miles  (18,119 km)   ,  garaged on stands & a new bulkhead & door awaiting time to do  !  then a full disassembly & re-spray, it has the potential of being the best of all.    The aircraft re-finish  (I will have it looking very Ex-Works) I purchased went on another L'wt ,  it was only ever at   124 Recovery , Newton Aycliffe - so I recon they did the brush job and ran out of paint before they got to the vehicle rear  LoL

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1 hour ago, LarryH57 said:

My original fuel tank has black underseal applied on the sides, and the front and rear under the fitting brackets only. It is applied in what I would describe as a stipple looking finish, so perhaps done by the Army?

I don't who / where the undersealing was done , I have noticed a bit of range in the Q.C. Dept.    Probably at the Central vehicle Storage Depots ?   I assume this is where the first in-service spray coat of IRR paint was done ?  , that is to some but not all.      From what I recall with most franchise new car dealerships , undersealing was a £ extra , such a messy job most did not wish to do in-house so sent out to the "trade".    From late 1970's there seemed more car factory undersealing done.

I always give extra hosing down of any silt/mud on the rear cross member and around the fuel tanks.

 

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I think the best course of action is chassis vigilance ,  as soon as you see rust starting - spray it with such as ACF50 , WD40 ,  son's stash of mountain bike GT40 ,   anywhere - bolting of  alloy panels to steel - likewise I give a periodic spray using  the 'red-straw' inc. around the  front fuel tank fixings .    I don't spray near the tank rear rubber bushes.    I used to buy  WD40 by the gall. & use their hand pump sprayer, sometimes still do around chassis rails prop-shafts etc. - preventative.

My cousin used to overwinter his Morgan inside a air-con. tent thing,  I was never convinced.  I think a draughty shed is far better  - provided it is not wrinkly-tin warming the air & then it cools down - the dreaded condensation, I still have my first timber sectional garage with felted roof , quite well sealed - around first few hot days in spring I have to stay the door open for a few hours because condensation can form on inside timbers / vehicles.   A sheltered car-port is supposed to be best for car in daily use.

I once used aerosol bitumastic rope dressing on leaf springs , not as good as I expected.   Back to twice a year I  jack the chassis to hang the axles & spread the leaves -spend on a can of aerosol 3 in 1 oil ,  lay cardboard under springs  & spray trying to keep most oil on springs than spillage on cards. 

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