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Old 08-30-2009, 11:04 AM   #4
pk2
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Tustin Ca.
Posts: 449
I have a little background in engineering and have some more in materials.

Basically those tanks are most likely polythene, poly propylene or nylon. That makes the type of repair real limited. Nothing including any sort glue will stick to to these materialsd with any permanence at all.

The only thing you can do is weld them. It takes some trial and error and some fineness, but the alternative, depending on your pay scale, might make it worth a try. Ya also need to be pretty handy. NO GUARENTEES here, depends on your acumen.



1) You need to do some research and find out which "poly..." is normally used . Unless Porsche use nylon (see above), go on ebay and look new aftermarket tanks for any car model and see what "high quality poly____" they make them out of.

For nylon, look at it really really close at the plack part and see if there are any sighs of very small fibers coming to the surface, iIf there are, guess what. Either way the techniques is the same (Different "welding" rod though).

2) Don't know if this is the case here but most plastics have a distinctive smell when melted, one of the polys smells like wax...don't no if the others do to.or are to subtle to tell.

2) For a poly, if you a have sheet/plastic rod shop nearby, go buy a scrap or 2 of that poly___ 1/16-1/8 sheet or rod. For sheet, cut it into strips about 1/8th wide with shears. Otherwise, just go pick up the cheapest, new, overflow tank you can and cut it up into strips (kia(?))

3) Get a big asx soldering iron. Start melting the plastic on your tank (both nylon and poly.). At one end of the crack. Melt deepest into the crack but don't' go all the way through. also keep the surface surrounding the crack hot and melty (about 1/4" wide on either side of crack).

Start feeding your poly rod in and work it around with soldiering iron . You want the old and new material to be really mixed together. Used the iron to stir it together. Then just work your way along the crack. You want the best weld on the ends of the crack...a good deep blob.

Nylon: Same deal as above but jut get thick weed wacker string instead of above poly-whatever. (They may even bond to each other, don't know). Because of the fibers it' a bit more messy.


6 years ago I snapped the to nipples off one of the front plastic radiators. No-one could replace the just fiber reinforced nylon end cap and no glue or solvent can stick to it and hold. On a tip I welded them back as described above with weed-wacker string (so happens to be fiber reinforced to). Still holding today, through a number of over heats (high, high pressure), has outlasted my trans. and steering wheel, etc.,

So really, not complicated. just get some matching plastic, a big soldering iron and give it a try. Figure a way to pressure test it before you put it in.

Regards, PK
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