Plastic fuel tank repair / replacing steel tank *COMPLETED WITH PICS*
I've been on the lookout for a s/h plastic tank for my 460.
Finally came across one from a 280 that was generally in great condition, but the breakers had put a phillips scredriver through the bottom of it to drain it .. idiots.. Stil it was cheap enough (£50) to make it worthwhile.
Looking around I found a company called IEP (Industrial Engineering Plastics) who have a branch down near me in Hampshire (www.iep-ltd.co.uk/ ) who were able to patch the hole with a identical piece of HDPE ultrasonically welded in place.. Brilliant!
Now just to work out which bits of the otherwitse hugely expensive fitting kit I can fabricate!
BTW, does anyone know what happens to the screw-n filter when fitting one of these to a diesel? The EPC shows a filter, but presumably its blocked off (since no fuel pump)?
Something else I hadn't figured for is how to plug the hole in the bottom that the fuel pump feel is normally screwed into (pics below), Unfortunately the diesel fiter that fits the hole on the right doesn't fir the fuel thread. Any suggestions?
Hi
Can you email me a copy of the WIS instructions so i can see it?
Can you take a picture of the end of the filter you have A210 470 05 06? The alloy end.
Have you bought that seperate from the 2nd hand tank?
Should be able to help but just want to confirm a few things
Gav
I have a 26 page document from Graz ,full retro fit parts list and instructions.
If you come to one of Axels weekends you can see the retrofit on a 460 ,most parts are sim ple stock items , I have the tanks ,parts and factory install kit ,
I can't send this 'commercial and in confidence !' document
I also have full 3 metal tank system fully recon by Arrow ,ready to fit ,pm me
Forgot to mention...can supply the genuine kit ,all in one box ,every last piece and more c. £1100 inc vat ex my yard { from Austrian dealer ]
Thanks again for all replies, Gav> sorry not to have replied sooner but was out of comms this weekend.
In any case, I'm actually virtually there now - new tank is fitted, all breathing and hookups done, new sender installed.. The last piece of the fuel tank puzzle is just what to do about blocking off this hole.
Gav> Pics of the new filter (brown on left), old filter (the one with the thread to accept the pipe that feeds the pump), on right are attached.
The new filter actually fits in the thread for the drain hole (which is currently plugged anyway) - shown on the right on the picture I uploaded on my last post. I'm not sure that there is any advantage to using it there though.
So what to do? My current thinking is that probably the easiest thing to do is try to find a plug/ bung with the correct thread to fit the old screw in fuel filter as I can't see any part of the EPC that would do this otherwise, which is strange since this tanl model has been used in Diesel Gs I think.
Gwoa keyboard warriors what have you done !!
2 hours and prof help we can now scan and post.....but only in german
This is it as promised
Brilliant. I've now figured out all of mine bar this persky problem with the old petrol fuel filter (which Gav has kindsly perovided a steer on - updates to come on the solution to this).
I'll post pics of the full conversion once it is complete.
Final piece of the puzzle - the plug for the (former) petrol pump feed hose hole has been solved.
In the end, despite heroric efforts on the EPC by Gav, we couldn't turn up an OEM solution to this problem, though logic says that MB must have a part that fits as this fuel tank is definitely fitted to a number of diesel Gs.
The solution was to simply have a plug fabricated - thread was M20 x 1.0 pitch which amazingly wasn't available off the shelf from anyone I knew so I asked local engineering shop just to turn me one up.
That completes the tank installation which otherwise has gone very smoothly, though having the body off made life much easier.
For anyone thinking of doing the same its worth noting that although I think you can squeak by by substituting a bunch of stuff (like the thermal insulation moulding, straps, breather pipe and reducing hose betweel filler and tank), on balance I'd say it isn't worthwhile.
Because I was lucky to come by the actual tank s/h I didn't buy the install kit myself initially , thinking that I could improvise for most of the expensive bits.
When it came to it though, I wasn't satisfied that the alternatives were going to be as good and so bought pretty much everything with the exception of the hoses which were substituted for stainless 8 and 12mm. Note - the fuel return is a 12mm fitting on the tank, but steel line is 8mm - you will need a 8-12mm adaptor.
The other thing is re exhaust temp and routing. I plan to switch my exhaust to exit ahead of the rear wheel. Until then though its over the top of the tank and taking advice from other people I think its worth buying a 3M length of exhaust wrap to provide additional insulation - I was really suprise just how hot it gets and it is awfully near to the plastic. WIth the wrap on temps are massively reduced.
I'll post pics later today.
Pics from the installation attached.
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Thanks to everyone who has PM'd me on this.
For the benefit of everyone on the forum though, I'd like to bring the discussion back here if that's OK.
Truth is that I'm still confused about what connects where for the new tank..
For example - on the old tank (Steel) the sender has 2 lines - send and return I think.
But looking at the EPC fuel tank breathing page, and the WIS piece on plastic tank upgrade, it looks as though 1 of the sender lines is a feed (out) while the other is a breather (connecting to the long steel breather pipe?) which can't be right or else how does the fuel get filtered in through the sender?
To try to resolve this, attached is a diagram and photo showing the arrangements of pipes, can someone just confirm I have this right:
Numbering as per my line diagram at top (not the numbering on the WIS picture at the bottom) :
1. 12mm breather - connects to top of fuel intake on chassis
2. 12mm sender intake from 6 which is the fuel filter out.
3. 8mm sender fuel line out - connect to steel fuel line on chassis
4. 12mm breather, connects to long steel breather tube that runs along top of tank
5. 12mm fuel return line - strange that it is 12mm sice steel tank is 8mm I am sure
6. Fuel filter out, connects to 2 (sender in)
Any help appreciated!