Safe restoration of hood

[lliberto]

One of the future projects on both of my cubs is the restoration of the hoods. Both hoods need quarter size holes repaired and the 52 needs major sheet metal work around the exhaust hole as well as significant surface rust repair on the right side.

My question is knowing that the gas tank is an integral part of the hood, how do I safely grind, hammer and weld these hoods without the risk of a fire, explosion or worse?

[staninlowerAL]

You can displace any flammable vapors by filling the tank with a non-flammable such as water or purge the tank with any non-flammable gas. One "old timer" method is to use carbon monoxide. It is non-flammable and any gasoline engine exhaust can be connected to the tank with a flexible hose to inert the tank. Once you have the surface prep done, fiberglass cloth and resin makes a good durable repair for small areas. Here's a longstripe grill that I repaired using this method.

[Drfting1]

Can also kill two birds with one stone, clean it out and use a non-flammable tank sealer.... This way you don't have to worry about rust starting

[Landreo]

Carbon monoxide is flammable. Low levels from a car with a working catalytic converter should be at a low enough level to be safe but maybe not depending on how well the catalyst is working. A non catalyzed engine would put out levels close to the flammable level along with any unburned hydrocarbons.

Empty and wash the tank many times is what I do. If you are not confident that the tank is fume free then fill with water, argon/CO2,argon,or dry ice.

[lliberto]

Thanks guys!

[Willy]

I've welded in replacement body sheet metal on a Jeep tub before. Cut the old piece out, cut a replacement to fit, clamp it up and then weld it just using a tack here and a tack there. The idea is to keep the metal cool enough it don't start warping up on you by not welding it all up at the same time.

[DRaymond]

For what it is worth and you experts please chime in on the process but I have heard somewhere that putting dry ice in an empty gasoline tank will displace the hazardous fumes with CO2 as it evaporates rendering its atmosphere inert.

[Willy]

I've never put dry ice in a gas tank like that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[lliberto]

For what it is worth and you experts please chime in on the process but I have heard somewhere that putting dry ice in an empty gasoline tank will displace the hazardous fumes with CO2 as it evaporates rendering its atmosphere inert.

Is that better than filling the tank with water?

[DRaymond]

There are a lot of ways to skin this cat. As long as you use a process to get the combustable gasoline fumes out of the tank have at it. I know I would contact a auto garage or welding shop that has made similar repairs to a fuel tank and see how they handle the problem.

[lliberto]

Well, I took the hood off today. Bigdog was right, as I feared. The darn hole in the hood was from the bracket that goes to the radiator support breaking free. Definitely can't fiberglass this one together. I've got to carefully try welding it.