Just before lunch Richard and I decided to pressure test the left tank. We gently inflated the tank and checked. It seemed to hold pressure at the lower PSI. However, as we inflated the tank the pressure seemed to drop again as we inflated. Richard grabbed the soap water spray bottle and began checking for leaks. To my horror he found three more rivets leaking! Aaargh! This tank is so annoying! Thankfully though, it wasn’t from either of the previous fixes.
I quickly mixed up some sealant while Richard hooked up the vacuum pump and started removing air from the tank. I dried the tank and then applied sealant all over the three rivets. We left the vacuum in place again like I did on the previous two occasions.
I also used a razor blade to clean away the left over sealant from the previous fix. I started in the middle of the rivet and worked outwards. The idea being that I didn’t displace the sealant that had wicked in under the rivet head. I used a scotchbrite pad to tidy up the area.
After that Richard left and I made a start on priming the right fuel tank. First I covered the outside of the fuel tank with brown paper and masking tape to prevent the outside tank skin from getting primer overspray.
Once everything was nicely taped up I mixed some PR30B etch primer and sprayed the tank.
I left that to ‘flash off’ for an hour or so and then mixed up some PR143 and sprayed the final coat if primer.
The tank looks great primed!
That’s it, I need to let the primer cure for at least a few days and then I can fit the tank to the spar.