I am going to paint the fuel tank surfaces that are exposed to view on the interior of the cockpit. I see no reason to paint the entire tank if the bottom, back and side will not be seen after it is installed. The trim package also covers the top of the tank except around the filler neck and the exposed right side except for the location of the site glass. I am planning to mask the tank, leaving these areas exposed and then I will prime and apply finish paint. I will also prime and paint the filler tube.
When I got home last night I examined the fuel tank. I discovered that the balloon was completely collapsed. I guess because of the temperature in the shop there was a negative pressure in the tank. I decided to run the pressure test once again. I attached a balloon and pressurized the tank. The balloon remained inflated until sometime during the night. It was deflated the next morning. The tank sides continued to show a slight bulge so I know the pressure in the tank was up, but the balloon was down. I guess a soap test is still in order.
In preparation for priming and painting the tank surfaces I decided to work on the sight holes once more. Using some Q-tips and a sharpened popsicle stick I worked on the sight holes again. I cleaned out any remaining Pro-Seal with the popsicle stick and cleaned any sealant residue from the sight glass holes using MEK and a Q-tip. I decided to start prepping the tank for finishing. I will still need to do the soap/pressure test but I don't believe what I am doing tonight will interfere with the pressure test. Next I used some blue masking tape to mask off the sight glass holes. I put a strip of tape over the holes and depressed the tape into the recesses as best I could.
Using an X-Acto knife I cut out circles over the sight glass and depressed the tape onto the sight glass. I now have a series of blue dots covering the sight glass.
I put some tape around the wire connection on the sending unit. I also masked the connection and the coil of wire I installed as the ground for the sending unit. My next step will be to run one last pressure test using soap bubbles and then I can mask then prime and finish the tank and filler tube.
