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Hi Hoss, I've safely done hot work on gas tanks a number of times over the years but I am hesitant to recommend such things to others without getting into some lengthy specifics. Few mixtures are more flammable than gasoline vapors at very low vapor/air concentrations. Even acetylene has a higher lower explosive limit (LEL). This is not meant to scare anyone but I think due respect needs to be given to the risks involved. Hot work on a gasoline tank is potentially a very hazardous operation. That said, I would try something else first. A lot depends on the nature of the dent and how easily it might be brought back to close to where it should be. Here's a suggestion to try: Take a standard nail, say a 10 or 12 penny one and glue the head to the bottom of the dent using epoxy cement. Grip the nail with a pair of visegrips and pull or tap the visegrips with a hammer to see if you can pull the dent out. A levering action on the visegrips could also prove beneficial if you can get a firm fulcrum point. You don't need to get it perfect but you ought to try and get it to within about 1/8 inch. Depending on the size of the dent you may have to do this in more than one area. You then should be able to break the epoxy bond by twisting the nail, putting the epoxy in shear. Then sand the area and apply polyester filler as needed. Since you are working on the gas tank prior to painting, I think you should consider also lining the interior with a two-part epoxy. I did that to my AC-B tank a few years ago. The AC-B gas tank provides fuel to the fuel bowl at the lowest point in the tank. While the screen in the bowl assembly can keep rust particles from getting downstream, it cannot prevent water droplets from doing so. Condensation in a B gas tank can get into the carburetor and cause stalling of the engine. You can minimize that, if not eliminate it, by adding a short riser to the fuel bowl assembly so the fuel bowl is supplied a little above the actual bottom of the tank. You can see my arrangement here. I also installed a separate tank drain, for convenience, but that involved hot work on the tank in my case. You don't need to do that if you are willing to unscrew the bowl assembly once a year or so to drain out any accumulation of moisture and crud at the tank bottom.  Rod
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