Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner I have a problem with my tank, can anyone help?

Looking good. How did you safeguard against the tank going poof when you cut and braze on it? I have heard of many gas tanks launching to the moon when people try to weld or braze on them.

mike

Step 1: Empty the tank.

Yes, John is correct about step 1!

I then gave it a couple of flush outs with a splash of car wash detergent and water, then I actually used a jig-saw to cut the filler neck out etc.
I then left it for a day before using the oxy-acetylene to stretch the front section out. The key I think is to leave it for a while to let the vapours from the metal air out.

The last thing to do, if your not sure, is to drop a match inside while wearing a welding glove!

didn't you think to put a sender in while you had a nice big hole in

What is a sender?

A fuel level sender, so that you can have a fuel gauge.

Forget about the fuel sender for a gauge.Keep it simple.You put up with no fuel gauge this long.Tank looks great.If you get the metal looking perfect how about just a coat of clear coat to show off your work .

Oh ok, yes I agree with you Michael, I think I'll leave that. I'm going for the simple bobber look, so therefore I will eventually be removing anything that is not needed for registration. My fuel level guage will simply be my petcock reserve.

And I do like the look of clear coated metal, but my metal work is not really smooth enough so I think I'll stick with the black (or gun metal grey???) paint.

Thanks for the ideas though Guys, keep them coming!

Matte black with white and red pinstripes is the ultimate bobber/hot rod basic look.

Welded plenty of tanks and the most I ever got was a small flame out the filler neck. I always rinse with some water filling the tank all the way each time to force out any fumes.

Well I finally got my forks back from the powdercoaters last week, took a bit longer than they first said but they came up very good so I'm happy!



And I've test fitted the front guard prior to painting



So now I'll get it all sand blasted tomorrow, quickly braze in the fuel bung, line the inside of tank and take to painter for a coat of black!

That's exactly what I've been planning to do with my forks. Thanks for previewing for me. It looks great!

(Don't worry, the rest of my bike will look very different.)

No worries for the preview, I wouldn't worry if your bike did look the same because your on the other side of the world!

One point to note when you do your forks is to have more than the 484cc specified in the manual. Mine took approx 520cc to reach the 166mm oil level measurement.

looking good Runner...

I like the black forks!

Yeah, I learned that the hard way. There's a typo in the factory manual. When I changed my fork oil last year I only bought 1000cc and the bike shop wasn't open on Sunday when I actually started the work.

I found out exactly the same way, but I decided to just put 20cc of gearbox 10W30 oil in to top it up. Hopefully that shouldn't cause any dramas for me???

Hmmmm, don't know. Maybe one of our more technically-knowledgeable members can discuss oil composition differences.

Just a project update, I got the front & rear guards and tank sand blasted last week. Then I silver brazed (245) a plate behind the old light holes in rear guard and the fuel bung in place. A few dramas happened when doing the tank, because of too much heat the front section dropped a little bit so I had to stretch it back up by drilling a hole in the channel and pushed it back up up with a rod. Then I patched the hole up after it was repaired and level again.

So a bit of a hold up, but turned out OK. All the panels are now at the painters and should be ready by the end of next week.

One bonus is that the painter has a smashed TBA he is repairing for himself so he traded a few of my left over Triumph pieces (dash/fuel-cap/pegs/indicators etc.) for a super good price on the repair and painting of the tank! and he is a mototcycle-only panel beater/spray painter so I know I will get the job done correctly

Cool!

runner...got an update?

I sent mine out today to have it pressure/leak tested and lined. When it comes back its off to the body shop.

Yer mate, I dropped in at the painters yesterday afternoon and all the colour is finished and it has been lined. Next Monday they will spray the clear on so it should be ready to install by Wednesday after the paint has cured fully.

The red outline around the white scollops look greats, they masked it up and painted with airbrush rather than use stick on pin stripe so it will be smooth surface! It looks great so I can't wait to get it back together!

I just picked up my tank and guards from the painters, came up Ok. I'm looking forward to spending some time in the shed now, it should take a couple of days to get it back on the road because I only get an hour or so (if i'm lucky) to work on it each day. To complete the project I've got to:
1. install all the badges / petcock / fuel lines / lights / wiring heat sheild,
2. give the frame / motor a good wash,
3. install the panels,
4. install brake hoses / cable when they arrive in next few days, and anything else I've missed here....









Photos didn't work so here is link http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh77/Runner0023/

So wish me luck!

(fixed the image links -FJ)

Looks great!

That's going to look very nice.

Aw Man! that looks great! I love that gas cap and color scheme. Can't wait to see all assembled.

That looks pretty sweet. I might pinch the design on the rear fender a little if I can find a way to match the curves on the OEM scallops in the BA.

wow...runner....that looks awesome!

Thanks guys, I should have some updated photos in the next few days. I can't wait to go for a ride again, it's been too long!

Came out great. How much filler did you end having to use on the tank? It looked pretty darn good in that respect in the shots.

Thanks, not much filler used just because I spent the time to make sure it was as flat as possible. Probably 2 to 3mm depth maximum over the lot. Cheers, I'm off to work in the shed now!

Thats what I thought, I wish I had the sheet metal skills to do that.

Well I've got it almost completely together, these are bad photo's in the shed but it will give you all a sneek peak before I get a chance to get some better pics on the weekend.









All I have to do now is finish off and install my LED dash lights under the speedo, I should be cruising this weekend!

VERY SWEEEEEEEET
lots of effort there and a real fresh looking bike

That looks fantastic, job satisfaction I'm sure.

Nice work! You've definitely created one of the more unique Americas. That tank looks sooooo much better without the dash. This may have been addressed before, but what are you doing about the indicator lights? Are you just going to do without?

Thanks again,
Well the indicator lights (oil neutral signals & high beam) are required for registration over here so they are going to be converted to an LED box that mounts flush under the speedo, I will post pics in the next couple of days when complete.

Cool! I've been considering this issue myself for quite some time now and haven't really seen an acceptable and economical solution. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Wow! that looks fantastic. I've enjoyed having your progress reports to pirate. My tank is smoothed with bung moved forward(amazingly, the same distance as yours)and black pop-up cap. I removed my badges for custom paint but I gotta say, looking at yours I'm having second thoughts. I also trimmed my seam down to nothing.
Hopefully I'll have photos to post all painted up real soon. I know a recent post said flames are out but that's where I'm headed. Hope mine looks half as good as yours!

Great Job,
especially like the bobbed rear. Any problems with fitting the Lucas on. Did you fit the indicators yourself to the light or is taht how it comes.
Was worried a bit about the curvature, any problems?
Cheers
Chris

I really like it and the paint looks great. Now that I see it on the bike there is 1 think I would have done differently, and this in no means takes away from what you have done. I would have put the filler hole off center like the old tanks had. Thats just my taste though and what you did looks great.