Methanol,Ethanol and Alcohol resistant coatings

[xrtim]

Building a tank for Water/Methanol from Aluminium and have read on the internet of quite a few instances of corrosion of the Aluminium by the Methanol (should have done more research). Not all Aluminium tanks seem to have problems but to be safe i'm going to look into some form of paint protection for the inside of the tank rather than scrap it and remake from Stainless. Has anyone done this and can advise of a good product.
I have also read about the increase of ethanol in petrol and its corrosive effects at higher levels on Aluminium Fuel Tanks and as mine are not fitted yet i'm thinking it may be a wise precaution to coat the tanks as well (probably need to replace the pick up tubes to ) as I don't fancy trying to do this when the cars finished.
Any info much appreciated
Regards Tim

[Storer]

Try POR for a coating.

I suspect ethanol in petrol has peaked as a percentage of the mix.
Car manufacturers seem to think that electricity is the way to go. I suspect the simplicity of electricity (simple to build!) is part of the attraction.
No emissions from the vehicle either (just the coal fired power station)!


Paul

[845ste]

.......And the whole production cycle .............

[xrtim]

Have used Por engine enamel in blue, brilliant finish but had a small area come loose (metal prepped the area again and repainted so see if it sticks) so this has put me off using this make for inside the tank as first I will know of loose paint is blocked filter or worse holed piston (tank showing water/meth allowing higher boost map and none available). found one called Caswell gas tank sealer that looks promising, will do some more searching.
The new generation of High Frequency Synchronous electric motors are amazing small size massive power and could fit inside individual wheels, 4 wheel drive and individual rpm per wheel no gearbox or drive shafts, could even be used for braking looks like the future (no sound though).

[BogBeast]

I have used POR tank seal to good effect on an ally bike tank http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-car-bike-motorcyle-fu...

[chuntington101]

What % of methanol are you looking to put in the tank? If it's 50:50 is there any need for added coating? If you are going for 100% I would add a couple of massive fuel pumps and run GMs felx fuel system!

[xrtim]

I will be running 50/50 water/methanol and it seem there is a problem with corrosion of the aluminium but not for all tanks from what I have read. I will probably have a problem with corrosion, just lucky like that. so will coat the tank as a first measure and if I doesn't work then it looks like I will be making another from stainless. Fuel pump is variable flow Fuel lab,and has more capacity than my needs and will run on the new Megasquirt MS3 PRO Ultimate which will be one of my next purchases (engine not running yet).
just made the filler for the tank and I'm going to try to run the vent tube up the middle of the fill tube from the tank in the rear to some where more accessible and should look a bit neater if it works, just got to finish welding up the tank over the weekend and then coat the interior

[xrtim]

[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/JQrEGSgU[/URL link
Finished the tank bar mounting points and pump supply hole, it's capacity is 29l ( bigger than I thought it would be). Will be sorting out the internal coating for the tank soon

[confusionhunter]

Watching! I have a wee project that I made a lovely custom alu tank I made for WMI.... but using an old plastic screen wash bottle until I figured out how I could do it!

[xrtim]

Designed mine from the ends, used a cornflake box and drew around the space frame onto the cardboard to give me the angles and lengths needed and then decided on overall length to fit the space then worked out what I needed to miss, for me this was the gear linkage, handbrake cable, dry sump hoses gearbox cooling hose and light loom. Transferred these onto the end tanks and cut them out. I tried to bend as much of the shape to save on the welding and what you see is that shape. If I was doing again I would make in stainless to get away from the corrosion problem and easier to weld as well
How has yours turned out ?

Regards Tim

[WESTGTR]

I like the tank you made, good work.

[xrtim]

WESTGTR said:

I like the tank you made, good work.

Many thanks, it's not perfect but I'm really pleased how it came out

[xrtim]

Update on methanol tank
After visiting the Kit Car Show I could see a massive flaw in my tank design and it wont fit in its current position nor will the dry sump tank so after a bit of head scratching I'm going to cut and modify the internals to turn this one into a dry sump tank and have made another to fit in the opposite side which is a lot smaller as it needs to fit beside my breather overflow tank and gearbox oil pump so a few Shredded wheat boxes and a couple of days cutting and welding later we have the new design, just a few brackets and a level sight tube to fit and it will be finished and I can see how much liquid it can hold vs the old ones 27l . Another bit of progress is that I have fitted my Varley 60 battery and breaker ready for engine start

[confusionhunter]

Means you can make a stainless tank to avoid the whole methanol corrosion issue too?

[xrtim]

Blaming old age here, jumped in and made out of aluminium again so may have a problem. Tank is now finished and installed with a capacity of 12.5l so on to sort dry sump tank.

[xrtim]

Tank in position, turbo position in background and charge cooler fits in between intake tubing and turbo, now on to dry sump tank re fabrication.
Wires beside tank are methanol injection system feed and gearbox oil pump feed

[Storer]

You must be a masochist to do all that.

What HP are you aiming for?

[xrtim]

Should make an easy 600 on low boost and 1000+ on full boost with methanol, all fully adjustable based on wheel traction and slip required and depending on how brave I think I am

[Storer]

On the road you will find 600 plenty. Much more used to the full will probably see you visiting the scenery.

In the dry I can use most of the performance on warm roads with warm tyres!!!!

In the wet, leave it at home


Paul

[xrtim]

Old methanol tank converted to dry sump oil tank, got a bit scratched during process but can always polish later. I'm going to add a clear Hi temp tube to the rear of the tank so I can visually check the oil level via the rear clam exhaust opening without having to open the rear clam. Almost back to where I was a month ago ready for engine start.