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Ok buzzed off fugly suzuki badge mounts. Found 2 pinhole leaks underneath. Have covered with good bit of jb weld. Looks very solidly covered. Really took my time with it
Was gonna treat the inside to a phosphoric acid rinse ~ is this now not possible? Will jb weld stand up to phosphoric acid rinse?
I had read a few horror stories and had really not enjoyed doing a por15 job many moons ago (didn't keep bike long enough to have any issues).
If I do coat it now - por15 uses phosphoric acid as an etch as well, so same question really. Or are there other coatings that would suit this crazy piece of?
Whatever you do, don't use Kreem. I use POR15 or Redkote, others use Caswell.
Lining a tank isn't necessarily supposed to be "enjoyable" but it's a necessity sometimes, and can seal up pinhole leaks and prevent ones that are on the verge -- if you've got a couple, you'll likely have a couple more develop some time soon down the road.
I line tanks and do it carefully, and haven't messed up paint jobs. Others are more concerned about this, but you've got a stripped tank so it doesn't matter.
Redkote has one less step than POR 15, so it's a little easier to use. As I said, I've had great and long lasting results with both.
OK thanks for advice CC and XB.
I'm gonna heat the jb weld, remove it, do a por15 tank lining on the inside of the tank and both sides of the the badge mounts. Then sort out look and finish of outside. Got impatient yesterday :
Total inappropriate prep of the metal before you put that JB in there. Should pop off easily when you heat it up. You need every bit of paint/primer gone and bare metal roughed up by blasting for the surface to have a "tooth" for the JB to adhere to.
I'd give some thought to properly correcting the pinhole leaks. Like brazing or welding them or something. If you're going to use some sort of putty like JB, maybe consider some epoxy specific to fuel tank repairs, not just the generic JB Weld (perhaps they're all the same, I dunno).
What is your plan for the exterior finish of the tank?
And if there are pinhole leaks at the factory badge mount locations, just how rough is this tank? If it's rusting through, all the JB Weld and tank liner in the world won't stop it. Just ditch the tank if that's the case.
I'd get a wire wheel in there and clean the area back to (totally) bare metal then solder up the pinholes.
Lining the tank after that is a good idea - if you lay the tank so it's on the part where you're soldered the liner will "pool" there and form a deeper barrier. Just make sure you let it cure properly before you put gas in it.
Correct me if I'm wrong - have I read somewhere (most likely here) that regular plumbing solder can be used for things like this? I have a similar issue with my Bridgestone tank. If good old plumbing solder will stick, given it's used in pressurized systems, one would think it should be fine for this sort of thing.
plumbing solder and the white paste flux
but solder is really meant as a laminate filler ,patching a hole with it ideally you would actually use a patch over the hole then fill the laminate with solder
if your using the solder as a stand alone hole plugger then you would want a decently thick layer ,grinding it thin back to surface flush would be a mistake, its too weak
i guess if its gonna be in a paint showing area you would dent then fill the hole and dent
What model is this tank? With the amount of time and money spent trying to plug and patch who knows how many holes, you may be better off just snagging a solid one off of ebay. In my experience where you find one pin hole, there are 10 more ready to appear. A leaky fuel tank between your legs is a scary prospect.
It's a gt185 tank - unfortunately there doesn't seem to be too many good ones about. I didn't have much choice with models of tanks as the savage has a top frame pipe that splits in two very early, meaning the tank has to have a very wide tunnel at the back.
I bought some POR15 patch sealer yesterday which is a very expensive putty supposedly well designed for sealing tanks. I figured I would use the same companies stuff to fill the holes as I use to seal the tank.
I would snag a solid tank off ebay but I've only ever seen ones of the same age and condition - mine looked decent too when viewed on ebay :
I have been watching this one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/suzuki-gt185c-gt125c-twin-petrol-fuel-tank-1970s-1980s-era-/131633906922?hash=item1ea5fe04ea:g:j00AAOSwHnFVr4eQ
But how do you know it is really any better than my existing one and isn't just nice haircut on the outside? 5 times the price I paid for mine.
The badge areas seem to be the worst affected areas on the tank by far, rest of the tank looks like just surface rust, the badge area has dimples where the rust has penetrated. These jap badge mount areas are just stretched to make the indent and so are very thin to start with. Dumb.
I tried tig welding the hole at first and that was a no go and made the hole bigger, even with the welder on the lowest setting. I managed to weld it up again but it aint pretty. Me dumb.
I've now managed to get access to a good propane torch setup so I'm considering doing this:
- cutting out the badge mount areas.
- cut metal patches to fit the badge areas.
- braze on new patches using "fluxed silicon bronze rods":
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171952756962?_trksid=p2057872.m2748.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
- line inside with POR15 sealer.
- finish outside with 2k. Does this seem sensible?
I don't care about the tank looking slick, ascetically I want the bike to be like the old speedway bikes that me and my cousins used to watch when we were kids in 1970s Australia - so a bit patched up is cool for this build.
I decided to take jakeZ70 advice, bite the bullet, and buy a nos that came up on the US side of the pond:
I don't have endless time or skills so sometimes just gotta pony up.
Haha. Nice! Too funny. I was going to post a link to that exact tank, but I didn't think it matched the tank in the picture. In the long run it is your best bet. You'll probably end up saving money, and you won't have to replace it in your lifetime.
Oh bollocks, got an email this morning from NOS gt185 tank ebay seller:
Hi there, super sorry, I have moved since I've taken pictures of this tank and can't for the life of me locate it. I dug around all weekend in hopes it would turn up but I haven't found it. I sent through a cancellation to you and refunded you. If it does turn up I'll reach out to you and let you know and you can pick it up if you would like.
Thanks and sorry!
Nate
probably bullshit.
Oh well..... I was looking this morning at gn250 tanks as there seem to be lots of new ones:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Suzuki-GN250-Petrol-tank-New-in-Black-read-description-UK-seller-/251943636241?hash=item3aa902cd11:m:mNfy98w6QtqMqrsK6GL6s0Q
Anyone have experience with these or similar Chinese made tanks?
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