In 2002, our 1984 was struck from behind in 2002. The resultant fire, caused by the breached stock fuel tank, ignited and the car was utterly destroyed. For the next 16 years, I used a bespoke Formula One fuel cell. These consist of a foam filled impact-deformable bladder held in an aluminum shell.
Foam alone will not stop leakage, only mildly inhibit petrol fumes where they fill space. I am not sure why some Morgan tank preparers ignore that and sell aluminum
tanks without bladders foam-filled or not without bladders. I also sorted the pre-June 1993 reason for the breach and posted a quick costless fix to GoMoG. [/i]
In 2018, I decided I could do better. I designed a more traditional tank with the help of dear Peter Mulberry and had it made in graded SS in a thicker gauge after testing sheets of the stuff for puncture sensitivity. It is strong enough SO THAT IT CANNOT BE BREACHED and can be safely supported on Mulberry brackets without the very heavy board support puzzle the cars come with. Our internal design (baffling) strengthens the tank further, stops sloshing and I used a collector for the pickup with ss pipes rather than Morgan internal hose plumbing. The brackets also make removal and installation a one-man job taking 20 minutes. Ridding the car of heavy too often petrol soaked boards lightens the car notably, allowing more fuel capacity while preserving the ideal 50-50 front rear balance that most trads are blessed with. The Morgan boards are quaint but
do not hold the tank in an impact.
But like everything in the western world,
machine shops have become super expensive so until this point, this post is anecdotal for most of us. I deeply dislike the thought of trying to refurbish a trad tank in situ, despite being tempting for us amateurs. There are too many vital steps necessary to a proper job that require it being out of the car.
But the punchline for this thread is that it is not petrol that explodes, it is [b]petrol fumes, even residual unseen ones. [/b] I shall hope that this warning is sufficient to act accordingly take precautions as in do not use a mildly sparking hairdryer to thoroughly flush the fumes out. Such things can cause great sadness. Google "
flushing an automotive fuel tank of fumes "
Lorne
