I have some self inflicted damage to my oil tank and have pulled the motor to remove for repair or replacement. Would anyone feel comfortable welding up a small puncture in the corrugated section of this tank? Or just spend the $1800 on a new one and swear to be less stupid next time. Or if you have a used one laying around....

The good news is I was planning on replacing the clutch and do a GT2 conversion. All the parts have been accumulating over time, so now I can just knock this out.

Damage is on the other side, but the wood blocking is, well blocking the puncture.

 

I'd replace it. The accordion (corrugated) section indicates there is flexibility to allow for expansion and contraction: The oil can go from ambient which can be quite low: Left my Turbo parked out all night in a hotel parking lot in 0F temperature; to operating temperature in not much time when one drives the car, as I did. A weld in that section would be where a crack would happen.

 

That sucks. I think in that situation I would cut off each end of that part and weld in a new pipe of some sort.. Guys at some of those auto custom shops can do some amazing stuff and can probably make you something even better than it was before.

 

I have a guy who could probably weld two pieces of aluminum foil together. He has made me some great custom parts for my boat and could probably make something work. But as noted by Macster, there is definitely a hint of a need for expansion or vibration allowance at the hard connection to the engine block. I'd hate to try to save a bit of money only to have the repaired tank fail at some inopportune moment with potentially catastrophic results if not caught in time.
I ended up buying a new one that has to come all the way from Germany. I think it got a first class ticket on Lufthansa for the price of expedited shipping. It was that or wait 4-5 weeks.

 

I think welding in a similar pipe would work fine. That is what I mean. The vibration is an issue. The heat is probably no more than 250f, not a big deal.

 

Back quite a few years ago I was a crew chief on a nascar southwest tour car. I'd keep an epoxy patch kit made to seal up gas tanks in the tool box, just in case. Fast forward a couple of years later and sure enough, the car ran over a piece of debris and popped a hole in the oil pan. Driver radioed in that he got the black flag pointed at him for smoking and when he came in, I had a can of brake cleaner and the epoxy ready to go. I told him to rev it up and keep it there (dry sump motor). Cleaned the oil as best I could, stuck the patch on, and sent him back out (green flag pit stop). Not only did work, but the stuff was so hard that it was a pain in the *** to get it off to repair the pan in the shop.

It might be worth a shot.

 

Ah, I see. Yeah, I could see that. And then carry around a can of brake cleaner and an epoxy kit, just in case!

 

We are definitely living in the golden age of epoxy applications. We do carry something like that for underwater emergency applications on our boat.
Sounds like your crew chief job was pretty darn cool. Something we all dreamed of as kids wrenching on our old cars.

 

Also, if it fails the car with throw a low oil pressure code and shut you down. I know this for a fact from when my broken rod blew a hole in my oil gallery at 170 mph and I was still trying to accelerate in 6th gear. 😅

 

I had a similar problem a few months ago. Spray a deodorant around the area to find the leaks and JB weld the top collar. Let it sat for a week. It's been a few months now and no more leak.