Tanked

bikegeezer · Post by **bikegeezer** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:26 pm

Gotta agree with Dave. Stop wasting time and money on that disaster, and get yourself a salvageable tank.

Stu

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:41 pm

Stu, Dave,

You telling me that Staying the course is not the way to go and I should be looking for Change?

Are you asking me to withdraw and admit defeat and allow rust to infiltrate and take over? Politicians sure have a lot to answer for!

You're probably right, but it goes against the grain.

The painful part is that I threw out a tank just like that one on ebay about 3 years ago. I might just sit tight and see what else comes up.

bikegeezer · Post by **bikegeezer** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 8:46 am

tz375 wrote:Stu, Dave,
Are you asking me to withdraw and admit defeat and allow rust to infiltrate and take over?

Looks to me as if that time has come and gone. I mean, if the tank was for something like a Scott or a Vincent, then sure. Repair it no matter what. But you'd really need to cut out and replace that entire section where the seat contacted the tank to be certain all the thin spots were gone. I don't know what you paid for that tank, but I'm surprised the seller represented it as being salvageable. You say you threw away a perfectly good Buffalo tank?

Stu

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:22 am

Stu,
The back section is only bad in two spots at the corners of the seat. The rest of the back is sound.

The rust spots on the outside are easy to see and no too hard to fix.

A bigger unknown is the rust scales on the inside. I can't tell how bad it really is and if there's another problem waiting to pop through. From what I can see and feel, the tanks seems sound and was hard enough to beat out the dents, so overall integrity isn't a worry.

The questions in my mind are whether I got all the cancer out or if there's some left.

And of course the real issue is whether it's cost effective.

The tank I dumped I had no use for and it had a number of dents in it and some internal rust ( is there a pattern here?). The one on ebay is cheap enough but the rust in the neck looks as bad as mine!

I'll treat this one as a tank to practice my metalworking on and if/when a better one comes along I'll grab it and start again.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:56 pm

Go to your local Home Depot and see if you can score some Klean-Strip Phosphoric Plus. It will eat away all the rust but won't attack the good metal like muriatic acid will. Muriatic acid is good and wickedly fast, but it is hard to ever totally stop the reaction.
Got some aluminum parts you want to turn black? Drop them in some muriatic acid and they will be black in just a few seconds. Stand back!! It is violent on aluminum. Ask me how I know.

markj · Post by **markj** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:40 pm

Coyote wrote:Go to your local Home Depot and see if you can score some Klean-Strip Phosphoric Plus. It will eat away all the rust but won't attack the good metal like muriatic acid will. Muriatic acid is good and wickedly fast, but it is hard to ever totally stop the reaction.
Got some aluminum parts you want to turn black? Drop them in some muriatic acid and they will be black in just a few seconds. Stand back!! It is violent on aluminum. Ask me how I know.

Thanks man, I have a good tank that I want to clean out and have been hesitant to use muriatic. I'll try this stuff.

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:54 am

So the tank was blasted and surprise, surprise there were a couple more holes in it hiding under the recess for the badges.

They were easy to fix, so I panel beat the top, to change shape from a simple band down the center to a slightly more complex bulge around the flush filler cap. Stretching metal is an interesting exercise, and I don't see a future career for me there anytime soon.

Then I had to fabricate a drain to get water and spilled fuel out of the filler area. Fortunately the cap had two drain. I blocked one off and modified the other to pass through the tank tunnel. Sealing that off was straightforward, but getting the filler cap insert in to place and sealed was more work that I expected.

Heat distortion/shirinkage turned out to be a major issue. Bronze weld seems to shrink much more than steel filler when it cools, so that posed a few issues.

Once it was perfect, I fitted the filler cap and a pet cock and applied air pressure. There were more leaks that the Titanic at that point - not surprising really. So I did the old, fill, test, repeat routine until it held air.

I'll test it again before I start applying that huge tin of Bondo I just bought - just to be sure.

It may not be to everyone's taste, but I'm not everyone and it works for me.

tz375 · Post by **tz375** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:35 pm

Not being put off easily by logic or common sense, I pushed on and who knows, it might work out OK in the end.

Or it could all be a colossal pain in the .....er ..end.

here's the surrent state of play:
http://pinkpossum.com/GT750/phattrakka2/p2Tanked.htm

and
http://pinkpossum.com/GT750/phattrakka2/p2aTanked.htm

The tank actually looks like it all might work, but a coating of POR15 and a trip to a painter will be the real test. That won't happen for a few weeks though.

rngdng · Post by **rngdng** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:47 pm

The brazing will work fine. I've used solder to patch holes. Next, line with POR-15 tank liner and you should be good to go.

Lane

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:11 pm

I would try silver brazing the holes. Silver braze is a lot stronger and more vibration resistant than brass/bronze brazing which has a tendency to crack when applied in thinner sections.
My .02...

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:25 pm

Coyote next time try some magnesium in the muriatic acid or even better, concentrated surphuric acid,,,, thats a smell you'll never forget.

jkevinlilly · Post by **jkevinlilly** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:26 pm

Chris,
If I remember high school chemistry, muratic and aluminum generates hydrogen. Would not be good to smoke while watching the "Got some aluminum parts you want to turn black? Drop them in some muriatic acid and they will be black in just a few seconds. Stand back!! It is violent on aluminum. Ask me how I know. "

Kevin

kmil · Post by **kmil** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 7:56 pm

Hey Guys,
I found that MSR (milk stone remover) found at Tractor Supply works great at cleaning out tanks. It is 58% phosphoric acid and is much safer than muriatic acid. The VJMC mag had a story on it a year or so back. I cut it 4 to 1 and it didn't harm the paint and didn't hurt my hands either. Good thing being as I was so messy.

kmil