My idea for making a Fiber Glass Tank but I need INPUT!!!!

[Tim]

Probably rigid insulation from a Home Depot.  $8 would probably buy you a 2x8 foot sheet of the stuff.

[CCRider]

I know that there is a better alternative to florist foam however, is there a better material that is within the same price range? I figured I could by foam for the tank for like 35 bucks.

What did you use CC?

I saw Gauge Works with some pink shit... whats that?

I used blue insulation foam like Tim mentioned. Free scraps picked up at a big construction site  . The pieces I used were 3" thick which are usually not available at the big box home improvement stores, but they may be able to special order it. Just remember you have to use epoxy resin or seal the foam first if you use the insulation type styrofoam. The pink styrofoam is basically the same stuff; I used that for my seat. (Free too, picked up beside the road. Always keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to dumpster dive  )

CC

[Gage Werke Composites]

$20 bucks from home depot for a 4x10 sheet 2" thick.  Just make sure you use epoxy resin to coat it.  Just about everything else eats the shit out of it.  I cut and sand to shape, put a couple coats of epoxy resin on it, then body filler to smooth it out.  I then spray some filler/sanding primer on it.  Wet sand w/ 400 grit, spray a nice gloss coat of paint on it, wet sand to 600 grit, build my flanges for the mold.  Spray my release agent on it (PVA) nice and thick.  Spray w/ tooling gel coat (or regular gel coat if you aren't going to make more tanks out of the same mold) let it cure to a tack and start laying the glass.  I start with 1.5 ounce chopped strand mat to make sure I don't get any air bubbles.  Build the mold nice and thick.  Once the mold is done flip it over and start all over.  Lay your PVA nice and thick (quite a few coats), spray your gel coat, make sure that the gel coat is still tacky (will leave a finger print but won't come off on your finger) and start laying your glass to the thickness that you want.  The tops are easy, the bottoms are a different story.  A little more involved, but essentially the same process as the top.  Bond the two halves w/ a good epoxy, coat the inside with one of the God awful worthless tank coating products that are on the market (not poor quality it's just that they have yet to come up w/ a good coating that will withstand the stupid ass ethanol gas) and bob's your uncle.  Depends on what you are doing for petcocks and gas cap/bung.  I would recomend installing the petcock bung and gas cap before you bond the two halves together (just easier that way).  We will be coating the inside of the two halves with an anti ethanol/fuel resin before we attach the two halves and then coat again when we bond the two together.  Hope this helps.

[sxecafe]

Thanks guys... this is alot of new information to absorb and I am glad I am not rushing in to this one. Im very appreciative of the help.

[DoubleL3]

one idea for the tunnel would be to lay up a few sheets on your old gas tank, you know it already has enough room for everything, just an idea if you haven't quite gotten that far

[seven54]

First off hats off to CC rider love your work man.

But, it's allot of effort that many of us (well me anyways) would not be prepared to tackle.

Has anyone thought of just making a cover to go over the original tank. That way you would avoid all the work like cutting the tank in two, rejoining it,  glassing in the fixing points, cap, petcock and so on.

Of course you couldn't do it if you wanted a smaller than original tank. But if it's bigger and does not taper in at the bottom, which sure looks like tank CC rider made, you could glass the profile you wanted and fit it over the original tank. If you need the bar indents you would still form them on the cover and hammer the tank in until it slides over the top.

Lots of current, full fairing, bikes are set-up this way.

It's just a thought.

Here's a link to a site here in Australia. Allot of this guys tanks are covers.......
http://www.classic-motorcycle-fiberglass.com/
 

[sxecafe]

LONG OVER DUE:

I forgot I started this tank thread and I wanted to give an update aside from the build thread I have on the other section. Here is where I am so far:

So I had a redo on the tank this weekend. I almost messed this one up too when I tried to sand down the knee dents, infact I did mess it up but I was able to take the rear of the first attempt and tack it on to this foam with a little work on the seam I think it will look really good. The seat will complete the ass end transition so that its a smooth full slope in to the seat.

Here are the side views:




The Front:


The Back:


Next up is to glass the top. Im a little nervous as I have not glassed something that would hold liquid but Im ready for the challenge.

Thoughts or comments?

[VonYinzer]

It was sort of mentioned earlier here but have you thought about cutting the bottom of a stock tank out and fitting your new mold to it? That way you can use the petcock and stock mounts. Would also add a lot of strength to the tank.

[sxecafe]

Yea I actually bought a donor tank that had some holes in it but still had a salvageable tunnel, pet cock, mounting brackets and gas cap. I plan on slicing her open with a dremel very soon but I wanted to get the top glassed first.

The way I set up the mold was by stenciling the top and bottom of the donor tank so that the bottom should match up pretty well with the top (we'll see in practice, right ?).

What type of epoxy should I use to bond the pet cock, brackets and gas cap?

[sxecafe]

I finished my mold and got it ready for what I think is my next step.





Taped up:
 






I want to use bondo glass to make a mold of this as I will most likely need to glass this more than once.