Fuel Tank Compartment Clean-Up and Paint

I often forget to take pics of jobs before I work on them..believe me, they can look a bit of a mess! And the clean shiny metal or smooth paint does little to show the grind and sweat gone into getting it like that!

Just cleaning the Fuel Tank Compartment here took the best part of 2 solid days work… First slapping on the heavy-duty paint stripper, then scraping it off by hand with a number of stainless steel scouring pads. You do that all over 2 or 3 times to get as much of the paint off as you can…and remember this compartment is full of little crevices and overhangs and is a bit of a bl**dy nightmare.

Next, onto the wire-brush on the angle grinder. It spins at super high speed so little bits of wire from the brush fly off and embed themselves in your clothes or sometimes in your face! Always wear goggles and ear-guards!!!

The cup-brushes often catch and kick-back so watch out for that…all takes a bit of practice and you never really master it.

I also cleaned out the mastic seam sealer so I could brush out any rust and also make sure the epoxy paint readily filled the seams. The factory seam-sealed before primer and paint so if water did get under it, it wreaked havoc. I figured this was the best way but I'll be sure to re-seal later.

Here are some detail pics under the cowling.. (top - passenger side : bottom - driver side)

So after a properly thorough clean with firstly thinners and then de-greaser (and I mean properly, at least 5 times all over!).. it's ready to paint. Remember to wear a good Vapour Mask!!

I had read on 914World that one guy applied an acid-etch to the metal like Phosphoric Acid or other branded acid solutions before applying the Epoxy Primer. The goal being to create microscopic pits for the paint to key to. So I experimented with this in the engine compartment. The Phosphoric Acid fizzed and gassed (keep that Vapour mask on!!) and left the metal super shiny. But it started to rust almost instantaneously..it went a light reddish colour all over. So I'm still not sure about it to be honest. I've not had problems so far when I haven't acid etched and I'm not convinced the surface rusting is a good thing..

Other folks have said not to acid-etch before Epoxy as it can create more problems than benefits through chemical reactions upsetting the adherence. I think in future I probably won't do it…

So here's the Fuel Tank Compartment epoxy primered…

tags: acid etch epoxy primer wire cup brush porsche 914 world vapour mask fuel tank compartment