# [EVDL] Cutting gas tank in 1/2



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Once you fill the tank with water, you could easily use a die grinder or
cutting wheel. To get an explosion, you need a mixture of oxygen and fuel.
With the tank full of water, you can't have that mixture. Of course, it
will get messy as you cut through the tank.

Also, you don't have to use argon. CO2 or nitrogen would all work fine.
You just don't want any oxygen. Personally, I would probably go with the
water because you can tell when water is there. If you fill the tank with
gas, you never really _know_ whether it is the gas you want or not.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of David Dymaxion
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 11:53 PM
To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
Subject: [EVDL] Cutting gas tank in 1/2

What are safe ways to cut a gas tank in half? If I just fire up a die
grinder, I fear a bad Exploding Dinosaurs moment! I think using a plasma
cutter is an even worse idea, except maybe for using an acetylene torch!

My Porsche gas tank perimeter rests on the floor of the front trunk. The
bottom of the tank is the bottom of the car there. I saw a web page where a
Porsche conversion cut the top half off the tank, and used the bottom half
of the tank as the floor of the trunk -- it was a slick solution. I realize
the bottom of the tank is not strong enough to hold batteries, and I would
still need to build battery boxes. Keeping the bottom of the tank will seal
the underside of the car as it was designed, and keep road spray from
splashing into the tank hole.

My thoughts are:

o Run an air hose from my compressor into the tank to dry it out
o Fill the tank with water, or Argon
o Use a nibbler or tin snips, as these spark less than a die grinder or
dremel

Any thoughts for me? Thanks.

P.S. Any clever ideas for using the top half of the tank for something
useful (or failing useful, artistic)?

http://ExplodingDinosaurs.com



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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Use something that'll move lots of volume. Like a shop-vac in the "blow" mode. Get the hose down into the filler tube and make
sure there is some vent holes somewhere for the air to get out. If the exhaust point is the same as the entry point let it run for
an hour and poke some holes in the opposite side from the inlet. Then poke more holes in the opposite side until you can get really
good airflow through the tank. Let it run for another hour. Then while you are pumping fresh air through cut the top off with
either nibblers or a sawzall. 

The trick is to ensure the air inside stays well below the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) of 1.4% for gasoline. It doesn't matter what
it is unless you have a meter to measure it. All you can do is pump multiple air exchanges through the tank every minute to ensure
any gasoline that is still evaporating is mixed with at least 98.6% fresh air.

Another way is to fill it with water, then cut it, but then as soon as you start cutting the water gushes out and you might get
electrocuted by the cutting appliance you chose to use. :-( that would be bad. 

You could also fill it with sand. A little less messy, but the sand will still fly out as you are cutting.

If you get as much fresh air into the thing as you possibly can you shouldn't have a problem. I've cut basket ball size holes in
gas tanks with a sawzall to be able to take it to the dump taking less precautions than this. But seriously, keep the volume of
fresh air into the tank high enough and any residual gasoline that evaporates will not be enough to explode. 

Somebody stop us if you think this is a bad idea. I've done it. But I can't guarantee it is safe. If you have any reservations of
doing this take it to a shop with a Gas Free Engineer that can certify the tank is safe to cut on.

Mike



> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Dymaxion
> Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 9:53 PM
> To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
> Subject: [EVDL] Cutting gas tank in 1/2
> 
> What are safe ways to cut a gas tank in half? If I just fire up a die grinder, I fear a bad Exploding Dinosaurs
> moment! I think using a plasma cutter is an even worse idea, except maybe for using an acetylene torch!
> 
> My Porsche gas tank perimeter rests on the floor of the front trunk. The bottom of the tank is the bottom of the car
> there. I saw a web page where a Porsche conversion cut the top half off the tank, and used the bottom half of the
> tank as the floor of the trunk -- it was a slick solution. I realize the bottom of the tank is not strong enough to hold
> batteries, and I would still need to build battery boxes. Keeping the bottom of the tank will seal the underside of the
> car as it was designed, and keep road spray from splashing into the tank hole.
> 
> My thoughts are:
> 
> o Run an air hose from my compressor into the tank to dry it out
> o Fill the tank with water, or Argon
> o Use a nibbler or tin snips, as these spark less than a die grinder or dremel
> 
> Any thoughts for me? Thanks.
> 
> P.S. Any clever ideas for using the top half of the tank for something useful (or failing useful, artistic)?
> 
> http://ExplodingDinosaurs.com
> 
> 
> 
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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Dymaxion"
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List"
Subject: [EVDL] Cutting gas tank in 1/2
Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 22:52:36 -0700 (PDT)


What are safe ways to cut a gas tank in half? If I just fire up a
die grinder, I fear a bad Exploding Dinosaurs moment! I think using
a plasma cutter is an even worse idea, except maybe for using an
acetylene torch!
<<fill tank with water, use hose into filler, gas floats on top of
water so as water spills out the top and the vents it takes last
vestige of gas with it>>
My Porsche gas tank perimeter rests on the floor of the front
trunk. The bottom of the tank is the bottom of the car there. I saw
a web page where a Porsche conversion cut the top half off the
tank, and used the bottom half of the tank as the floor of the
trunk -- it was a slick solution. I realize the bottom of the tank
is not strong enough to hold batteries, and I would still need to
build battery boxes. Keeping the bottom of the tank will seal the
underside of the car as it was designed, and keep road spray from
splashing into the tank hole.

My thoughts are:

o Run an air hose from my compressor into the tank to dry it out
o Fill the tank with water, or Argon
o Use a nibbler or tin snips, as these spark less than a die
grinder or dremel
<< cut with a reciprocating saw with tri-metal metal cutting blades
with tank still full of water is safest way.>>
Any thoughts for me? Thanks.

P.S. Any clever ideas for using the top half of the tank for
something useful (or failing useful, artistic)?
<<use it for top of battery compartment. >>
http://ExplodingDinosaurs.com

Electric Vehicle Training Center
Dennis Miles, (Director)
"Training Mechanics to Fix 
Tomorrows Electric Vehicles!
(Opening in 2009, in Central Florida)

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I did mine by filling it with water and leaving the hose running

then drilling a 1/2 hole on the side with an air drill

then I used an air tin metal shear to go around the tank

there were no gas streaks in the runoff water because the tank had been
in the sun for a month or so after it came out of the car

it would be a different story if it was just pulled from use

if you run water through it and see telltale streaks its not ready yet.




> David Dymaxion wrote:
> > What are safe ways to cut a gas tank in half? If I just fire up a die grinder, I fear a bad Exploding Dinosaurs moment! I think using a plasma cutter is an even worse idea, except maybe for using an acetylene torch!
> >
> > My Porsche gas tank perimeter rests on the floor of the front trunk. The bottom of the tank is the bottom of the car there. I saw a web page where a Porsche conversion cut the top half off the tank, and used the bottom half of the tank as the floor of the trunk -- it was a slick solution. I realize the bottom of the tank is not strong enough to hold batteries, and I would still need to build battery boxes. Keeping the bottom of the tank will seal the underside of the car as it was designed, and keep road spray from splashing into the tank hole.
> ...


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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

As a matter of fact I bought my VW EV with the tank still in but of course unattached. I couldn't smell gas so I used a Dremel tool to cut out the top retaining the reinforced center. It would make a great place for batteries. It is very strong on the VW Bug. It would probably hold two batteries. In the VW it is indeed a better battery box. Lawrence Rhodes......

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## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Thanks all for the great suggestions for cutting my tank.



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