etpm
Veteran Member
Since you have a steel can just solder it. Before patching the leak I suggest you use a pointed hammer or a pointed punch and a hammer to tap the bottom. This will help you find any more weak spots that are just waiting to rust through that last little bit. After testing for more leaks use plumbing paste flux and lead based solder if you have any. The old lead based solder is more ductile than the new lead free solder, so it is less likely to crack over time. If you don't have any of the lead based stuff don't worry, the lead free stuff will still work fine. Just to be on the safe side fill the can with water before soldering because you will probably need to use a torch when soldering. I have soldered several gas tanks this way and the repairs never failed. Though I did repair a Jeep gas tank that started to leak from a bunch of different places about a year later, which is why I suggested the hammer test. The original repair I made on that tank was a line of maybe 30 holes about 18 inches long. My repair solder patch was about 1 inch wide and about 19 inches long. The new leaks were adjacent to the patch. Tapping the tank bottom with a chipping hammer poked a bunch more holes. That tank was really rusted out.
Eric
Eric