Vintage doubles - worth it?

[Lone Frogman]

Looked high and low, I have not found that manifold. I'll keep looking.

 

[HenrikBP]

Thanks Frogman, I appreciate you looking. Keep me posted - I'm still interested.

Henrik

 

[HenrikBP]

Looks like I've found a Hydro place that will accept Luis' REE number for testing to see if I can get a "+" rating - yay.

Otherwise tanks look good. Some cleaning and buffing seems to confirm that the tanks are painted but not galvanized. What are the options for getting tanks galvanized? Hot, cold, brush-on?

I've been looking at tank bands and was wondering what the manifold center-to-center width spacing would be with a Sherwood Selpac dual outlet manifold? 8 1/4" (with 8 1/2" being standard today)?

If the center-to-center width is 8 1/4" I'm guessing it would require custom bands - so not off-the-shelf new style bands - right?

Thanks,

Henrik

 

[captain]

Strip the old paint and using a foam roller roll on three coats of ZRC Galvilite, let it dry for a week before assembly. Don't let anyone talk you into anything else. If you want a color then top coat it with whatever you want but it will be a lot easier to touch up scratches if you don't top coat it.
Don't be mislead by the description as a repair compound, they say that because it matches the appearance of hot dip galvanize better than their other cold galvanizing coatings. If you can't find it locally you can purchase direct from ZRC.

http://www.zrcworldwide.com/pdfs/GALVILITE_9_07.pdf

 

[HenrikBP]

Thanks Captain; I remember seeing you recommend ZRC in other threads. I looked it up - ~$45 per quart? How thick does it go on when using a foam roller? And how much would I need for 2 tanks? If it compares to regular paint, I should be fine with a quart.

Other than the paint stripper, do you do anything else to prep the surface? Scuff the surface a touch with fine sandpaper maybe, and clean after sanding with a thinner of sorts?

Thanks,

Henrik

 

[captain]

It is a bit pricey but a quart is plenty enough. A light sand blast would be the best but as long as it is clean and rust free. You can wipe it down with acetone or lacquer thinner

 

[HenrikBP]

Thanks again, Captain.

I don't have access to a "blaster", so thorough stripping, sanding and cleaning will have to do.

I finally got a good look inside the tanks as well; I found a tiny AA battery size flashlight, tied a string to it and dropped it through neck

The inside of both tanks look pristine. The inside is a flat gray, with a matte texture to it. It looks like the inside might have been coated? I've read that some of these tanks were coated with an epoxy. Does this matte gray sound like such a coating? I'd like to know for sure before I send the tanks out to Hydro, just so they don't start tumbling away good coating.

I also confirmed the center-to-center spacing. On the Healthway manifold, and matching the bands that came on the tanks, I get 8 1/4".

Henrik

 

[captain]

The coatings I have seen were white or brown

 

[HenrikBP]

The coatings I have seen were white or brown

Just really clean steel then I guess ...?

Henrik

 

[halocline]

Just really clean steel then I guess ...?

Henrik

Sounds like it. I used the spray cans of ZRC, and put a whole can on each tank. If I do it again I'll try captain's idea of rolling it on. The spray can job looks fine, but I think you end up wasting a bit and I suspect the coats are thinner.