Gas Tank Dent

[cjwarner]

Got a half dollar size dent in the gas tank from the turn signal on my girlfriends Lowrider. Wonder if anyone knew of someone who can get the dent out without re-painting the tank. No crease just a shallow dent.

[chilidog]

CJ,
From what I'm read and learned, you could try compressed air to pop it out. I dont know if it works, I also remember reading somewhere about dry ice but I cant remember how the repair was done. Your best bet might be contacting Stroker or Dale Stickle.. They really know thier stuff when it comes to that sort of thing.

[glow=purple,2,300]ChiliDog[/glow]

[cjwarner]

You know I am in the tank truck business and we use air all the time to pop dents out of tankers. It ussually doesn't take much. Thanks for making me realize the association.

[Jerry]

Before trying to fill the tank with air try on these.

1 - Remove a dent with dry ice
You can find dry ice in many places these days, even your local ice cream store. It's cheap too, around $2 or less for a pound. All you do is touch the dry ice to the dent for a few seconds and repeat the process until the dent is gone. Caution dry ice is extremly cold make sure you wear adequte gloves. You could severly burn your self if you do not wear proper golves.

2 - Remove a dent with a hairdryer and an air duster.
I like this one even more, namely because an air duster(compresses air in a can) and a hairdryer is readily accessible in most homes these days. A slightly different process, but still very quick, cheap and easy. Warm the dent with the hair dryer for a couple of minutes when you remove the heat immediately (holding the can upside down) spray all over the dent. By holding the can upside down you will be spraying mostly co2 from the the can. This will cause the area to freeze. Step back and as the tank comes back to temp the dent will pop out.

With both methods what is happening is you are contracting the metal with the extreme cold and as it warms up the metal will po back to its original form.

Good Luck

[cjwarner]

Thanks for the info. I like these methods as opposed to air. A lot of work sealing off the tank and then you have the danger of applying too much air and splitting a seam.