Re: Taking orders :) - a little OT motorcycle talk

[Doc B.]

Motorcycle project is creeping along. Finally found a really straight gas tank to replace the badly dented one that came with the bike. Unfortunately even though in great shape outside it turned out to be somewhat rusty inside. So I am starting the process of cleaning it out today. Lots of other little wrinkles needing ironing like a busted stud that needs an easy out, etc. Not the most glamorous part of the build.

[Grainger49]

Dan,

Motorcycles shouldn't creep.  It is hard to stay on them at that speed.

 

[pdxgrampa]

I must have missed it, what's the bike Doc?

[Brillo]

Doc,

Try two-part phenol novolac epoxy gas tank sealer from Caswell.  It works exactly as described, and may save you a little bit of effort.  Still need to clean the tank as best you can, but once the epoxy is in, rust is stopped dead.

[Doc B.]

Thanks Chris, I will look into that. Some time with a liter of lacquer thinner and a box of BBs sloshing around inside started the process yesterday. Getting the rusty, slimey, stinking BBs back out with a magnet was not much fun. But it did seem to knock a fair amount of crud loose.

After looking at some crazy ways to clean a tank on YouTube - my favorite of which was the guy who put a tank full of nuts and bolts in a dryer filled with heavy blankets and who presumably didn't mind his clothes smeiling like gas for the rest of the year - I found an interesting post by a chemist. He suggests soaking the tank with lacquer thinner for a couple days to get all the varnished gas out, then using washing soda, rebar and a battery charger to remove the rust. After that he suggests soaking the inside with oxalic acid to convert any remaining rust. I have the tank soaking with a gallon of lacquer thinner today.

The bike is a 1990 Honda Hurricane CBR600F, with 2003 CBR600RR plastics and a lot of small changes like a CBR929 front master cylinder with stainless brake lines, digital display, electronic steering stabilizer, adjustable clip ons, frame and fork sliders, LED brake and turn signals, etc. A lot of the changes are due to the fact that I bought a wrecked bike. I wanted a project I could customize without "destroying a classic", and these old CBRs are pretty undervalued at the moment.

[2wo]

X2 on the tank sealer. I have used a 1 part sealer, don't remember the brand on a couple of TR-3 and BSA tanks. Anything less and the rust will come back. Try a few lengths of small chain rather then BBs...John

[Brillo]

...soaking the tank with lacquer thinner for a couple days to get all the varnished gas out, then using washing soda, rebar and a battery charger to remove the rust. After that he suggests soaking the inside with oxalic acid to convert any remaining rust.

Jeez, that's an aggressive campaign.  I have nothing to add to that... Hope it works, and you don't lose too much soft tissue in the process.

A box of drywall screws works pretty well at scraping away the rust, but if you had trouble fishing out the BBs this may not be viable.

[Doc B.]

The tank has a lot of nooks and crannies and no way to drain the last bit of crud out, due to raised flanges around each hole. So it will require a lot of rinsing I suspect. I will spend some time studying the choices of tank coatings.

On a positive note I revisted vinyl wrap on the bike after I found that the PlastiDip I planned to spray the plastics with was much more fragile than I had been led to believe. Once I slowed down and applied the good sense work in a warm room to keep the vinyl more pliable, to walk away when my fingers got tired and to do the job in several shorter sessions I began to have some respectable results on a few smaller parts with particularly complex curves. This may simply be one of those learning experiences where you have to buy the materials twice so you can f**k it up the first time and get it right the second time. Luckily the vinyl is not expensive.

[galyons]

Doc,
I have done 2 old Porsches' gas tanks with the POR-15 kit.  Not cheap. It is a "go to"  product in old car restoration where the fuel tank is often both internally rusted and varnished with petrochemical gums. Not cheap. I know it has been used hundreds of times within my car clubs and I have never heard a complaint!

http://www.por15.com/FUEL-TANK-REPAIR-KIT_p_62.html

Cheers,
Geary

[Doc B.]

Thanks for the tip. I've been reading that Red Coat is pretty good too. I'll keep you guys posted on the results of the three step cleaning process.

[mcandmar]

I used a similar product years ago when restoring a BMW 2002, it still hadn't leaked 10 years later when i sold it.

[Doc B.]

Here is where I started. The picture does not do justice to the amount of busted and bent parts the bike had.
(https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/p480x480/998608_10200280451627709_714001552_n.jpg)

This is from a few months ago, after the inital trimming of the 2003 vintage fairings to fit the 1990 bike and a whole bunch of fabrication of mounting brackets to hold the fairings and seat on the bike. Not as much has changed since then as I had hoped, but a whole lot more will change before it's complete.
(https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/p480x480/1385981_10201004057997416_1117698908_n.jpg)

[pdxgrampa]

Doc:

Maybe worth looking at.
http://cog-online.org/clubportal/clubstatic.cfm?clubID=1328&pubmenuoptID=30716