Gas Tank Repair?

pjspin0331

pjspin0331

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this is a 2 part question.

1. is there an easy way to fully drain the first gen gas tanks? (obviously when it is disconnected and off the bike) i am having trouble getting the last bit of gas (probably about 2 cups worth) out of it.

also

2. what would be the proper way to fix a tiny pin-sized crack/hole in my gas tank. i found this online How to Repair Motorcycle Gas Tanks | eHow.com, is this the easiest, most effective way of doing it, or is there an easier or more effective way of fixing it?

any help would be appreciated, thank you in advance!
 
Liner Kit

The first part I can't help you with as I don't have a Gen 1.

However the easiest and cheapest way to fix a rusty or perforated tank is with a liner kit. They have 3 components and first acid clean then rinse then coat with a durable vinyl coating. A frient of mine did an old CB 750 (1974) that had pin hole leaks he used this kit: LIQUID FUEL TANK LINER KITS - JCWhitney

Note: you must follow the directions exactly. When done you have a white coating on the tank's interior that will last for years.
 
thanks

sounds good so far. i will look into that liner kit. i know you said you dont have a gen1, but do you know any helpful tips/tricks at all for gas tanks in general, because i just cant seem to get that pesky remaining gas out of there!
 
If you have a large catch basin, you can flood the tank with water and it will force the fuel out the top. Once fuel is no longer coming out, you can then empty the tank and evaporate the water by heating the tank. The only other think I can think of is a long clean dry absorbant cloth with zero frays/loose threads. Stuff it in there and absorb the fuel, or the water should you try the first trick.

To repair it, I'd take it to a shop that welds them and have them repair and grind it then you can paint it.
 
FZ1inNH said:
If you have a large catch basin, you can flood the tank with water and it will force the fuel out the top. Once fuel is no longer coming out, you can then empty the tank and evaporate the water by heating the tank. The only other think I can think of is a long clean dry absorbant cloth with zero frays/loose threads. Stuff it in there and absorb the fuel, or the water should you try the first trick.

To repair it, I'd take it to a shop that welds them and have them repair and grind it then you can paint it.
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Another way to evaporate the water is to dump some ethonal or methanol or from your hardware store accetone into your tank and that will absorb your water and then evaporate itself very quick. This works as a good rinse agent before applying the tank liner as well. Another good tank liner that i have used myself is called red kote. Hope I have helped.
 
sounds good. i think i will try flooding it with water and then the evaporation, then the tank liner. i have a new tank coming in the mail, but it's got some small dents in it. i am going to use that until i get the bike up and running, and in the meantime, i can repair the tank with the hole (which has no dents what so ever) and paint it to put back onto the bike. thanks for being so helpful with these questions!
 
pjspin0331 said:
sounds good. i think i will try flooding it with water and then the evaporation, then the tank liner. i have a new tank coming in the mail, but it's got some small dents in it. i am going to use that until i get the bike up and running, and in the meantime, i can repair the tank with the hole (which has no dents what so ever) and paint it to put back onto the bike. thanks for being so helpful with these questions!
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Another way that you can pop dents out of your tank is to heat up the dent and then rub dry Ice over it. If the dent is not to small this will suck the dent out. You might have a small ding left that you can fill the rest with a little bondo and then paint it up good as new.
 
we like to try and keep things in house as much as possible, but there is a gent by the namd of Dean Dinnetz over at the other forum who's speciality is taking tanks and making them look brand new. He paints/clearcoats the standard factory colors and can include decals.

I want to say 250-275ish complete -- although he only works on dented tanks that are still sound and no hole/cracks.

Just another option for ya.....
 
As we all know, or 'SHOULD' know welding is a no-no, it could explode in your face............having said that it is possable to weld a tank if the proper things are done..... You must remove all gas and rinse several times with something like "Purple Stuff" from an auto parts house like Advanced Auto say. What you will be doing is removing all flamables in the metal pores and and anything that could re-animate as gas vapors that might ignite and explode. Then to weld you would fill with water leaving the hole area 'just' above the water line, then you could run a mig welder CO2 hose into the tank and allow the CO2 to run into it, thuss the volitility of fumes would be negated and not ignite as they would be displaced by the non-flamable CO2. This is a dangerous thing to do if your not an expert welder with knowledge of this sort of thing, and should be left to proficient pros who have done this. A likely source of someone who could do such a repair is a Chopper shop that streaches tanks and such, they would have experiance in such a endevor. DON'T do it yourself, its highly hazardous.....Please don't do it..........
 
painting

This is a dangerous thing to do if your not an expert welder with knowledge of this sort of thing
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hahaha i am the non-expert you're talking about. that stuff is way beyond me, but thanks for the reply. i think i will flush it and dry it out and try the tank liner and some bondo, and then paint it. the ebay gas tank just has a bigger dent and a few mini dents and will be a nice fill in until the one with the hole is fixed up and painted. i thought of another question:


if my bike is a custom yellow paint, and i have no more paint, but i want to repaint my tank the same shade: where/how could i match the colors and either paint it myself, or could a shop do all of that for the right price?
 
motorpsychle pics

FZ1inNH said:
A good paint shop can match the color with the spectrometer. :D You have to post some pics now.... dying of curiousity.
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ok ok, you got me, here's some pics from the day i bought it. the gas tank is obviously flipped backwards because of the hole and the seat is off. but this is it. i will post some more pics when i throw on the ebay tank and the seat so you can get a better idea.


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i don't even know if that is a custom yellow color. did any 2001 stocks come in this kind of yellow? i think he said "ferrari yellow". i haven't done my 2001 fz1 paint colors homework. i have an m4 aftermarket exhaust and gold pazzo levers in the mail as well.
 
Thanks for the pics Paul!

The only yellow I know of was the custom kit for the Super Bee retro look. But this isn't it so it looks custom. At this point, you can tear it down and make it any color you want though!

keep an eye on ebay and craiglook.com for parts too. You'd be surprised at what can appear on any given day. Here's one... FZ1 parts, corbin seats w ladyrest stock parts
 
Do you have a list of mods besides the obvious color, blacked out bits and USD forks?

And that just sealed the deal on the covers for a paint scheme.....
 
i don't have a list of mods. the ignition is in the rear under the seat, and there is a small cylindrical key that works in tandem with the ignition in the front of the bike as seen in the 3rd picture. the turn signals, headlights, handle bars.... that's pretty much all i know so far besides the really obvious like paint and usd forks (he said they were r-1 forks), because i don't quite know what is stock on an 01 fz1. :confused:
 
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mirrors

mirrors are another priority part that i will need. i thought about the bar end mirrors, but i don't think i want them. i like mirrors like this: BikeMaster Oval Mirrors - BikeBandit.com, do i need to buy separate mounts to get them on my bars? or how do they attach? new ground for me with the naked bikes, as all my other bikes were sport bikes with mirrors on the front plastics. thanks
 
at the office....but you should already have a mount built in on the brake....Yamaha, thru their infinite wisdom, did away with a similar setup for the clutch side. You'll have to track down a mount -- and it appears that they are hard to come by without being tied up in a more expensive set of mirrors.

Bar End Mirrors are AWESOME -- but you also need to have a good quality -- you get what you pay for in other words. Rizomas, although top dollar, blows anything else that I've seen clear out of the water as far as mounting/visibility.
 
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something to that effect, but since I just ran into this problem with my installation of the convertibars, you'll need to have a back half to be able to secure that mount because the clutch is helf on a bar type that is locked in place with an 8mm bolt.

it does not break apart in two.....I know this because I had to break out a pipe wrench to remove a rizoma grip off of a handlebar to make it less than pristine....
 
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