Feeling pleased with today's progress, which I think sees the tank in a much better place, ready for pressure testing and maybe even some body filler soon
First up was a trip to the hardware store, something to remove the filler cap. Had a look at ultra thin cut off discs and zigsaw blades, however there was nothing there I was comfortable with. In the end Bunnings had a super cheap rotary tool, and I thought for $40 odd I couldn't go wrong:
I ripped through about 7 cutting discs but the flexible extension on the rotary tool was a pleasure to use. In the end cut it out with minimal gap:
Thought I would employ the cut once measure twice rule this time. Tacked the mount in an popped the cap back on to see how it was looking, it looked fine in person but the pictures made it look a little off still:
So I used a drill bit to see where the centre line was:
It looked a fraction off so I cut the top tack and twisted it around a touch:
Much better:
Next up was getting the bastard water tight. I grabbed my dirtbike gear box and filled it with water:
Popped the fuel cap on, blocked one of the fuel lines and used the other fuel line to pump air in. I didn't have much pressure but used about 30-40 psi to find leaks. Took bloody ages but in the end I got all of them. Will take the tank to the local radiator repair shop to get a final ok (chap has tested it a few times now).
Very pleased everyone pressed me to fix the cap, it would have irritated the shit out of me and it looks great now:
Anything else I should be doing with the tank prior to bodywork? Want to make sure it's safe, will hold fuel before I go any further.
Next up some bodywork. Never done it before so have been researching a fair bit to see what to do. Seeing ducatiboy's paint job made me very jealous however I'm not sure I want to plow a grand into it. Went and had a chat to the local bodyshop suppliers the other day and thinking about buying a gun to try myself, is this a sensible thing?