RacnJsn95 Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 My (dad's) tig welder has been broken for a while, so I sent it out to be repaired. It's a 1972 Miller Dialarc HF. I just got it back and hooked up yesterday. I told my cousin I would make him a fuel tank for his Jeep because his old one is full of rust and apparently he's too lazy to treat it. We were out 4 wheeling in the woods, and his jeep kept dying like every 20 feet, so we pulled the top off the carb and it was just full of rust dust.... Here is the jeep in question: It's a 1942 Ford Military Jeep, with a Chevy 283. My work was throwing out a couple sheets of .125" aluminum, so I got them. I drew up the plan, and cut the pieces out. The tank is about 13.5 gallons. All I have to do is find an aluminum filler piece with cap, and weld it on. This was basically my " test run" to see how the welder works since being repaired, because I start working on the EFI manifold for my 620 again. I think it works better than it ever has! It cost me $233 to have the welder repaired. I've got around 4 hours time into this tank so far. Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 Wow that looks awesome! Clean welds too, how much are you charging him ? :lol: Quote Link to comment
RacnJsn95 Posted January 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 I'm not really charging him anything for it. The only think I asked him to do was buy me some more TIG rod so I could finish it ($12), and he threw a fit. Made me kinda mad considering he hasn't paid for a thing. Quote Link to comment
race-rodz Posted January 26, 2008 Report Share Posted January 26, 2008 wow, that machine is even older than mine... 1978 miller, was the 1st machine that hwy products ever bought when they opened their doors. if you cant find a cap..let me know, i got a source for em. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I'm not really charging him anything for it. The only think I asked him to do was buy me some more TIG rod so I could finish it ($12), and he threw a fit. Made me kinda mad considering he hasn't paid for a thing. He should be Datsun owner!! Cheap bastard!! Jason, did you put any internal baffles in the tank? The sound of that gas slopping around will fix him. lol Quote Link to comment
RacnJsn95 Posted January 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 He should be Datsun owner!! Cheap bastard!! Jason, did you put any internal baffles in the tank? The sound of that gas slopping around will fix him. lol He used to be a Datsun owner, but that was even too expensive for him? :lol: He's got less than $800 into the whole Jeep. Pieced it together himself, it's a wheeling machine! Yeah, I did put some baffles inside the tank, if you look at the first picture of me welding the tank, you can see the where I welded the baffles on the inside. It's good practice for me, eventually I'll be making a tank for my Chevelle when I go EFI. Funny story... When I was leaving work from cutting the holes in the top, and welding the baffles in, I threw my safety glasses, my wire brush, and the float for the sender inside the two halves... When I got home I had forgotten about the stuff inside the tank, and started tacking the two halves together! OOPS! The first time I flipped it up on it's side I heard all the crap slide around, I knew I had messed up good! Luckily I put all the stuff in between the 2 baffles with the hole for the gas filler right on top, so I was able to pull everything out with a pair of pliers :D Just for references, this tank will go right where the ice chest full of beer is on the picture of my cousins Jeep. Quote Link to comment
jesusno2 Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 that's nice i wish i woulda made my fuel tank outta thicker aluminum mine was about 16 guage and it was a whore to weld! Quote Link to comment
OL YELLER Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Jason...having been a heliarc welder for over 40 years all I can say is way to go Man...Those are some real nice welds on that tank..1/8" aluminum is perfect for what you are puttin together..(all the more impressive is using a 30 yr old Miller machine)...Man they are so good to weld with...(BTW, did you use a mix or just straight argon?) Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I like the Willys Jeeps and Trucks I thought JC Whitney has new gas tanks for them, Plastic ones also uses the stock fuel sender? Ford is a GPW right? Nice tank and welds My old man is a Heliarc welder just retired out of Boeing welds just like that Quote Link to comment
RacnJsn95 Posted January 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I never checked out JCW for a new tank, although, I'm sure he would have been too cheap to buy one, and just kept running the tractor tank bungee corded in. Yeah, its a GPW Ford. If you look at the picture you can see the "Ford" script stamped into the back of the tub. Supposedly they only did that for one year (or less) in '42, and someone stepped in and said they couldn't do it anymore. My cousin also has an unrestored 43 Ford Jeep, with the original flathead 4 than we take out once in a while. It's a pretty fun unit. I just use straight Argon with the TIG machine. When all the conditions are right this is a nice machine to weld with, but everything has to be absolutely perfect (no contamination etc) or it won't weld worth a damn. If you fart wrong, it won't weld nice. Thanks for the compliments everyone! Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 Nice...wanna make me one, I have $12 :D Quote Link to comment
OL YELLER Posted January 27, 2008 Report Share Posted January 27, 2008 I just use straight Argon with the TIG machine. When all the conditions are right this is a nice machine to weld with, but everything has to be absolutely perfect (no contamination etc) or it won't weld worth a damn. If you fart wrong, it won't weld nice. As you know the one most important thing with aluminum is the preperation. if it is dirty or contaminated forget welding it worth a damn....I think that is why God invented stainless steel brushes...LOL.(Only reason I asked about the argon mix is that with a helium mix it seems to clean the welds a bit as you go along....Least that is what they used to tell us when I learned to weld some years ago....and all the areospace companies use that mix as well..) again Darn fine J:)ob... Quote Link to comment
RacnJsn95 Posted January 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Maybe I'll try the Argon/Helium mix next time I have to buy gas. I thought you were talking about an argon/Co2 mix when you mentioned mix. I've worked with some welders that it didn't really effect the welds if some spots were slightly contaminated, it would just plow through any bad spots, but this bastard '72 Dialarc won't weld anything if there is any contamination at all when it comes to aluminum. It welds steel, and chrome molly fine, but it's a picky turd when it comes to aluminum! Quote Link to comment
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