Fuel tank lining is delaminating! ?

[afsalehimd]

Hi Kitfox gang,

When refueling my series IV tank with low fuel I noticed the lining of my tank was a little loose so I investigated more. I saw a large portion of the lining was mobile and it came out of the gas tank! I cut out a piece of the loose end worrying it would clog my fuel line. What is this stuff? Do I need to worry about it clogging my intake fuel line? How do I fix it? Is it needed?

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[jiott]

Don't know what that particular lining is, but it absolutely needs to be thoroughly cleaned out. That is a ticking time bomb that I would not make one more flight with. Those loose pieces could easily clog up your tank outlet screens and cut off all fuel flow. Do a search for tank lining, etc. There is much discussion on this forum about that problem.

[FoxbuilderWill]

Being as you have a model 4 and i think my problem with my model 1 was known before your kit was even produced this may not be applicable. The early kitfox's had welded aluminum tanks and with the wing being as flexible as it is the welds cracked and started leaking. The first solution was to slosh the tank with a compound called Kreem(memory may be faulty) and those strips look the same as what came out of my tank. Problem was you had to scuff the tank really good to get it to stick, which wasn't really possible unless you prepped the interior before welding. And yes it does clog your screens. That is if you have the same stuff.

I'm currently rebuilding my bird and I cut the bottom of the tank out cleaned all that crap out and will scuff the inside really good and apply proseal( the stuff the Vans RV builders use to seal their riveted together aluminum tanks) around the inside of all the welded joints and then rivet the new bottom plate on that I have fabricated using AK42-h closed end pop rivets.

This may or may not work for you depending on wether or not you've got aluminum tanks

[avidflyer]

The Kitfox tanks were sloshed with Kreeme. It has been known to peal loose. Some have washed it out with acetone and resealed the tanks with something else. I had to go into one of my tanks, and cut part of the top out. I had difficulty getting the Kreeme to dissolve with the acetone, even when scrubbing it. It did come off though with the acetone. Do a search in the archives and I'm sure you will find plenty of posts about this. This also demonstrates why it's good to have a low fuel indicator in the header tank. At least then, you should have maybe 15 minutes to make a landing after fuel stops flowing from the wing tanks. JImChuk

[Spook712]

Hi,

that stuff is the Kreem coming loose inside the tank, I have the same problem with my model 4.

ACETONE softens it up, it will dissolve in MEK, but i don't know what the MEK will do to the epoxy used in the tanks.

My plan is to make an "inspection" opening in the top side of the tank and clean out the are of the finger strainer.

Cheers from Germany,
Marc