We need to replace the fuel tank in the Champ. Found one that will work but it is not ideal. Anybody have a good source for one, or is there a way to upgrade, substitute or fabricate one that is not 70 years old?

First I'd call American Champion Aircraft. Otherwise you might call Univair and/or Wag Aero. Either might be able to make one, but they don't list them in their online catalog.

MTV

CFOT,
The advice MTV gave you is good. Off topic, but this was the reason I reluctanly sold my Champ, certain parts were very hard to get or prohitively expensive. Took my a year to get some bushing. I could have very easily have made them out of a piece of steel tubing but that was not 'legal' according to my AP.
If you can't get one through the sources listed by MTV, send me a PM with your email and I will respond with a guys name/number that has some Champ parts. Not sure he will have a tank but might be worth an inquiry.

CFOT wrote:We need to replace the fuel tank in the Champ. Found one that will work but it is not ideal. Anybody have a good source for one, or is there a way to upgrade, substitute or fabricate one that is not 70 years old?

Have you tried calling Hartwig fuel cells? they are good with aluminum fuel tanks.

WWhunter wrote:CFOT,
The advice MTV gave you is good. Off topic, but this was the reason I reluctanly sold my Champ, certain parts were very hard to get or prohitively expensive. Took my a year to get some bushing. I could have very easily have made them out of a piece of steel tubing but that was not 'legal' according to my AP.
If you can't get one through the sources listed by MTV, send me a PM with your email and I will respond with a guys name/number that has some Champ parts. Not sure he will have a tank but might be worth an inquiry.

Too bad you had to wait that long, you actually could have made the part IAW FAR 21.303. If you read through the FAR its not very specific but the it has been broken down to where is understandable.

That is one of the problems with GA and AP's, depends on who is interpiting the rules. They said since the part was available, I could not produce it myself. I actually got the part within a couple of month's from Wag, unfortunately it did not fit and that caused a rukuss about having to review the drawings and get me the correct part. This is what took so much time. If it had been up to me, I might have just had a file handy and make the part fit, but then it wouldn't have been legal. One big PITA about certified parts/aircraft.

Had the same issue with trying to install hydraulic brakes. Wether or not I could legally do it, really isn't the question, it comes down to what the local mechanic will allow or how he interpets the rules. Since there was a 'kit' available through Wag ($$$$$$) I couldn't build my own from parts. This is the answer I was giving by a local shop. I just got fed up with all the BS and decided to sell the plane. Bought the RANS S7 and these issue are pretty much alieviated.

Thanks for the input guys. We will make some phone calls and see what turns up. More like trying to find a museum piece than an airplane part sometimes.

I have seen this successfully used. Mostly on Yaks so far.

http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/ar ... roseal.php

Do not know if it is allowed outside the Experimental realm.

I would tell what and how I repaired a Piper J-5 wing tank, but that is a long story with different materials.

Another possibility you might explore, if you can't find a good tank, or if they're obscenely expensive (almost guaranteed):

Take your existing tank to an outfit that has the capability to build aluminum fuel tanks....an aircraft outfit. Have them "repair" your tank.....ie: They cut the filler neck off your tank and build a whole new tank attached to the filler neck. Or.....well you get it. This is what the exhaust outfits do.....you send in your exhaust system for a "repair". They cut off the flanges, toss the rest of the system, and build a whole new system, attached to the flanges, or usually just one flange. Perfectly legal, since all they've done is "repaired" your exhaust system, they didn't actually "manufacture" a new system....that would require a PMA, etc...

Burl Rogers in Anchorage owns the type certificate for the Aeronca Sedan. He has all sorts of parts for that airplane manufactured to spec. It might be worth calling him and asking if whoever builds his tanks could "Repair" your tank.

There must be other outfits out there who can do this as well.

MTV

Great Ideas, thanks MTV

Do you have any wing tanks or just the nose tank? i have one that isn't set up for wing tanks. I got it when mine was leaking but was able to weld mine

Just the lap tank.

I've seen tanks come up for sale every so often on barnstormers. No one sells a 'new' nose tank that I know of. The only way to get a good amount of gas in a champ utilizing new tanks is to buy the Wag Aero kit to put 13 gallons in each wing and eliminate the nose tank (again...that I'm aware of). Let me know if you find a source, mine weeps and I'm dreading tearing it apart to repair it.

EDIT - Another thought, if you're not already you might join the National Aeronca Association Facebook page and forum. The Facebook page is active and a post on there could easily yield a serviceable tank.

We found another tank that is ok. Got it back in the air, but would like to find something better eventually.

I was going to join the Aeronca Club a while back, but whoever I talked to was a bit rude, took forever to get back to me, and sounded like they were more interested in getting my money than explaining the benefits of actually joining. Their website looked a bit out dated and inactive so without really knowing what the benefits were I never joined.

If new replacement tanks are not available, I wonder if you could build one / have one built under the "owner fabricated" regs?

If it was Joe he's a super busy guy, wouldn't be surprised if he was a bit short. The forum and FB page don't require a membership with NAA and there are a lot of helpful folks on there. I'd encourage you to give it another try. I think the forum may have died a bit since the FB page started. There's still a lot of great info in the forum though.....