Trying to continue on with the work on the DOB, I had to address the pinholes in the fuel tank. Before I can even put a drop of fuel in the tank, I had to get some epoxy to plug the holes. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the special epoxy that is made specifically for sealing holes in fuel tanks. After making my gravel run I was able to stop by the local Autozone in order to get some Tankweld, another version of JB Weld that is made for sealing metal fuel tanks. This stuff, unlike the regular JB, is more of a clay like epoxy, with a core of one material that is wrapped by an outer layer of another material. After cleaning the surface of the fuel tank, which especially includes any liquid, whether fuel or in our case, water, I would have to break off a small piece of the clay chunk and start kneading it to mix the two clays together until the final product is of a uniform color. Once the stuff is mixed up it will start heating up as the two compounds start to undergo some light reactions. At this time the glob of mixed epoxy is plopped on the fuel tank over the hole then spread out over the surface of the tank, around the hole, making sure the hole is in the center of the disc of epoxy. You want a relatively thin layer of stuff over the hole. The disc still needs to be thick enough that it won't crack or peel away from the surface of the fuel tank after it dries. Once the epoxy is applied, I let it dry overnight to ensure proper curing before I put any fuel in the tank. We had other engagements to tend to this day, so I wasn't able to continue with any extra work on the truck so at least I can confidently say that the epoxy will have ample time to cure before I get around to adding any fuel to the tank. Anyway, one of the engagements we had to tend to was checking out leads on some plastic barrels. The first place we went to ended up being closed early, which was a bummer, they wanted $12 per drum. The 2nd place we checked out ended up only wanting $5 per drum, like it was divine intervention that the other place was closed, since we ended up getting six drums for $5 versus the originally planned four for $48. The drums from both places contained stuff that would need to be flushed out better before using the drums for anything like raised beds. The first place had drums that had hydrochloric acid stored in them and the other one had drums that had an aluminum cleaner stored in them. Now what are we going to do with all these drums? Well obviously the first guess is using them for raised beds or drum planters for fruit trees. The initial plan for the drums was to use them for an upcoming project, which is the 65 Mustang truck frame swap. How do the drums factor in here? Well after doing some research, I found that one way builders propped up the car bodies for frame swaps was to use a pair of drums with a large board between the two. The drums would be spaced apart more than enough to clear the car body and the truck frame while the board would be under the car body, holding it up high off the ground. An engine crane would be used to jack up the car body on one end, propping it on the drums and board, then moved to the other end and the same thing repeated. When all is done, the car body should be sitting on two pairs of drums and boards. This will allow me to do whatever work I have to do under the car body, like removing any unneeded components or metal, or adding metal to facilitate the mounting of the body to the truck frame. Of course with the height achieved with the drums, the truck frame will be able to be rolled under the setup in order to get things ready for the final mounting. For the longest time I had been pondering how I would get things set up in order to do this truck frame swap. Without a lift it would be more difficult to do this type of build but after seeing the simple method of using the drums and lumber, I can now start getting things ready to start the build, which in the case of the 65 Mustang will involve me removing the remainder of the driveline and the front suspension. With the four drums being set aside for use in the car build, the other two drums will be used for building raised beds. Cutting the drums in half the long way will provide me with a pair of beds to make two whole raised bed assemblies, which will go a long ways towards filling up space in the garden and providing us with more useable growing space. And speaking of growing things, we also made a stop back at the same local hardware store to see if they had more strawberries, along with some other herbs that we didn't get. I would need a lot more strawberries to fill spaces in the drum planters. The two larger food forest raised beds right at the entry gate to the garden will also be getting more strawberries once I add some railroad ties to the beds to close them in, along with a lot more dirt. That's a long ways off, for all intents since I'm focusing on the raised beds, and soon enough, hydroponic gardens. But along with the strawberries, we grabbed some catnip, oregano, parsley and even a four pack of okra plants. We also took the liberty of grabbing a couple extra bags of dirt, since we will end up needing a lot of dirt to continue to fill up the remaining raised beds in the greenhouse along with the three newest drum planters. Of course I'll have to get some lumber so I can throw together some raised beds, but that too, is for a slightly later date. The same lumber I need for the raised beds I'll need for the drum stands for the car body. As is always the case with homestead projects, money flows freely to keep the gears turning.
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