Fuel tank repair

[gregwils]

I have seen these guys favorably referenced on various automotive forums. They estimate $300 - $400 for their bike tank restoration, not cheap. However, it is an option if you aren't comfortable with a DIY solution. I live about 45 minutes from their shop, but don't know them so can't give them a personal reference. http://www.gas-tank.com/bike.htm

[machten]

Well, phase one is going well. I used a a liquid gell paint stripper containing 870g/litre of dichloromethane and some roofing clouts and slushed them around the tank without using execessive force for about 15 minutes then washed it out with water and dried the tank. That completely dissolved the sealant at the bottom of the tank back to bare metal. Now for the rest of it!

Kev

[machten]

Today I completed the cleanout of previous sealant. I thought this was worth sharing because I'm sure others will have the similar dilema rgarding past attempts to seal tanks. I don't know what was used in this tank, but it looked like this...



It was a grey plastically thing. The tanks was thinly covered with it, but rust was apparent in the carb filters. After researching, I decided to use this paint stripper with the active ingredient of dichloromethane (use gloves!). This stuff totally dissolved the previous sealant.



I Plugged up the tap holes with a few 10mm x 1mm bolts washered up to ensure that the end of the bolts stopped at the end of the plug threads - I didn't want the the later clouts damaging the bolt threads when i extracted them from the tap mounts.



I used some high compression foam rubber to block off the two fuel tank cap entries. This stuff worked really well. It is particularly useful because there is a chemical reaction happening in there with the paint stripper and the paint/sealer and the reaction produces gas - which you need to vent. With this arrangement, you can basically just force a gap on demand with your finger. Very handy!



I poured the whole can into the tank and sealed it as indicated above. That product is a thick gel, not a liquid, so I rolled it slowly - the object being to get a coating on all internal tank surfaces. That was quite easy to acheive. I left it for 15 minutes, then tipped out all the surplus stripper I could. I then added these galvanised clouts into the tank (btw - I didn't count them! One of the benefits of a twin filler tank is that from outside , you can see all the way from the front seam to the back seam).



I then resealed the tank and shook the clouts around for about 30 minutes (venting gas as required). After that, I emptied the clouts and stripper into an oil container and the then flushed the tank with a domestic water hose ( taking care to dilute any gel contact with the paint surface I wished to preserve.)

The results were pretty much perfect, from the perspective of removing the sealant. Sorry for the poor photo, but this is the best I can do...



Following the water hose cleanout, I flushed the tank with methylated spirits (hydroscopic) and left it to evaporate.

Next is some light rust conversion and then some Caswell treatment.

Kev