Each one of these 8 foot by 3 inch diameter tubes cost me $130. The wall thickness is 0.063. For those of you who can TIG weld aluminum you can appreciate the work that goes into this. I am no speed welder, plus I need to allow the aluminum to cool periodically or risk blowing holes through the metal. In order to fit these tubes through the lightening holes I needed to run the weld across the scotch brite deburring wheel to trim it down since the lightening hole diameter is only 3.05" . So far I am satisfied with how this is coming along. No guarantee I won't screw up the other side, so I'll just try to be optimistic as I'm no professional TIG welder! Next step is drilling a hole and welding on the AN-12 female bung for filling the fuel tank. That will be the most challenging part of the job. If I screw that up then I might just be purchasing another set of tubes.
