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Another leaky tank thread

Phil

Phil

Well Known Member
I have a rivet that that would prefer to have the fuel on the outside of the tank rather that the inside. I've begged it to stop and it won't. So I tried the Lock-Tite trick with no success. I went on to try forcing some proseal around the existing rivet and still no success.

At this point, before I take the tank off to cut a hold in the backside, I'd like to try a blind rivet nestled in a bed of proseal.

So here's my question: what rivet seems to the rivet of choice for such an application? As should be expected, it's a #40 dimpled hole.

Phil
 
Call Vans, they keep a sealed end pop rivet in stock.

I did this, and it worked for my leak.

Good luck with yours......
 
If you come to Nacogdoches (KOCH) I have plenty of those sealed rivets and tank sealant. I fixed a leaking rivet on my -8 without having to remove the tank
 
acam37 said:
If you come to Nacogdoches (KOCH) I have plenty of those sealed rivets and tank sealant. I fixed a leaking rivet on my -8 without having to remove the tank
Click to expand...

What happens to the inside piece of rivet that remains after you drill-out and break off the head? Do you still remove the tank and then retrieve that?
 
Left it in the tank. Most likely it stayed embedded in the tank sealant when the bit pushed through. If not, It would have to get through two sets of screens and a fuel filter before it gets to the engine. No chance of that small piece of a -3 rivet would stop up a fuel line.
 
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pa38112 said:
What happens to the inside piece of rivet that remains after you drill-out and break off the head? Do you still remove the tank and then retrieve that?
Click to expand...


These are sealed end rivets, the broken off piece stays inside the closed end of the rivet. Here are a couple images my friend Mr. Google found....

R800600-1_WP.jpg




clsunk.gif
 
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Mike S said:
These are sealed end rivets, the broken off piece stays inside the closed end of the rivet.
Click to expand...

I think the question is what happens to the shop head of the drilled out AN426AD-3 rivet. The manufactured head snaps off, you push out the shop head, put in the sealed blind rivet, and then the shop head pushed out earlier goes ... ?
 
ChiefPilot said:
I think the question is what happens to the shop head of the drilled out AN426AD-3 rivet. The manufactured head snaps off, you push out the shop head, put in the sealed blind rivet, and then the shop head pushed out earlier goes ... ?
Click to expand...

Brad, upon re-reading the question I have to agree with you--------my bad.

I did not remove the shop head, and did not have any issue because of it.
 
ChiefPilot said:
I think the question is what happens to the shop head of the drilled out AN426AD-3 rivet. The manufactured head snaps off, you push out the shop head, put in the sealed blind rivet, and then the shop head pushed out earlier goes ... ?
Click to expand...

Most likely if you are careful the end of the orginal rivet will still be stuck in the proseal used during tank construction. Even if the end drops in the tank, the pickup strainer will keep it there.

I?ve done this fix on three tanks - simple and it works. I do use a vacuum for the rivet drill out, drilling the hole to #30 and the minor countersink to accept the sealed end blind rivet. Have the fuel level in the tank below the rivet to be replaced. Put a little proseal in the hole after prep, then on the rivet itself. Once do no one will know it is there unless you point it out.

Start to finish is 15 minutes. Let the proseal set up before exposing it to fuel.

Carl
 
I had two leaking rivets before my first flight in the middle of winter -- unheated hangar. One of the local RV guys and race car builder suggested I go to the local hardware store and buy a product in a tube called Seal-All. I cleaned the area with alcohol and squeezed some on. It smells like model airplane glue, but sets up very fast. Its been four months and over 50 hours and it is not leaking. It will allow me to get to it when its warmer outside and I have the tank empty. My friend used it on his Bonanza and RV6 with the same results.

Jerry Folkerts
 
SR2500 said:
I had two leaking rivets before my first flight in the middle of winter -- unheated hangar. One of the local RV guys and race car builder suggested I go to the local hardware store and buy a product in a tube called Seal-All. I cleaned the area with alcohol and squeezed some on. It smells like model airplane glue, but sets up very fast. Its been four months and over 50 hours and it is not leaking. It will allow me to get to it when its warmer outside and I have the tank empty. My friend used it on his Bonanza and RV6 with the same results.

Jerry Folkerts
Click to expand...

Sound s a whole lot like super glue, which I have used with good success on a number of occasions. If/when it starts to leak again, just put another dab on.
 
I had about 10 weeping rivets on my left tank, all in a row along the aft baffle.
I tried the green loctite-- expensive and it only fixed a few of them.

Next I tried the Seal All, using a syringe to pressurize it into the rivets as others have done with the Green Loctite.

A week later and so far, so good.
 
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