Pin Hole Repair

[jfmerk]

As I was doing some prep work on my fuel tank tonight, I found two little suprises Two pin holes in my tank. Initially they appeared to just be a little rust stain, but further investigation with a tiny wire taught me otherwise!





More work before I paint the tank and covers this weekend. Any special tricks here? My thought was to use my dremel to lightly sand away the paint say the size of a dime or penny. Then gently dimple the hole with let's say a center punch so that I am repairing a little dished out area. Use a small tip on the torch, braze it up then sand it flush with the existing metal. Oh and the tank is extremely clean inside, "0" fuel or fuel vapors! And has been for over a year sitting on a shelf in the garage. I just hope these two pin holes are not an indication of many more to come To clean the interior I threw a few handfulls of sheetmetal screws inside along with some solvent to clean away any loose surface rust, picked it up and started shakin' till my arms felt like rubber, followed by hot soapy water followed by a good drying followed by spraying some rust inhibitor on the inside knowing that clean dry bare metal will begin rusting pretty quick. So again I'm hoping these are just two isolated holes. The metal around them seems very solid.

[clcorbin]

Brazing is definitely the way to go on a clean tank. I found a few pinholes in my tank this winter when I cleaned the rust out with electrolysis. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to braze it up, so cheated and use the JB Weld gas tank patch epoxy to patch the holes. Eight months later and there is still no problems, but I still want to fully strip the tank and braze it up properly before repainting it.

[soccer4m]

coat the inside

Howdy,,,,been there, I had a tank just like that one, a few holes, then a few more upon checking it out with a punch, yours will have more shortly and we all hate to see you riding and go up in flames when it leaks while you are riding. Check the whole bottom with a center punch with moderate pressure and you will probably find a weakened bottom, sides of the tank. Even one hole can cause you to catch fire and ruin your day and maybe the bike. So,,,others chime in, but check out the threads to seal the inside of the tank to be safe, for about 40.00 you can ride with safety. Anyone else chiming in as to the safety factor?? 3Phase can tell you the story of the two who burst into flames while riding when the bike leaked and they didnt realize it until they were on fire, crashed and died..............regards, Mike in S.Diego

[jfmerk]

Sealer

Howdy,,,,been there, I had a tank just like that one, a few holes, then a few more upon checking it out with a punch, yours will have more shortly and we all hate to see you riding and go up in flames when it leaks while you are riding. Check the whole bottom with a center punch with moderate pressure and you will probably find a weakened bottom, sides of the tank. Even one hole can cause you to catch fire and ruin your day and maybe the bike. So,,,others chime in, but check out the threads to seal the inside of the tank to be safe, for about 40.00 you can ride with safety. Anyone else chiming in as to the safety factor?? 3Phase can tell you the story of the two who burst into flames while riding when the bike leaked and they didnt realize it until they were on fire, crashed and died..............regards, Mike in S.Diego

Mike,
I've seen and heard about the epoxy sealers, would you be talking about the Caswell Gas Tank Sealer product? They claim it prefers to bond to a rough rusty surface. Or is there a prefered brand of product?

Thanks!

[soccer4m]

caswell it is

Yes, the latest thread raved about the Caswell tank sealer, it can do two tanks for about 40.00. If there is a better one I dont know, I used it and its easy, just clean the tank, mix, pour in, swish around, pour out excess, let it sit overnight and you are ready to ride. Contact 3phase and he scared me out of riding with the tank I had with a couple of pinholes also,,,I poked around and sure enough the bottom back was weakened and am glad I sealed it just for the peace of mind...............Mike in Sun Diego

[fredintoon]

As I was doing some prep work on my fuel tank tonight, I found two little suprises Two pin holes in my tank. Initially they appeared to just be a little rust stain, but further investigation with a tiny wire taught me otherwise!
More work before I paint the tank and covers this weekend. Any special tricks here? My thought was to use my dremel to lightly sand away the paint say the size of a dime or penny. Then gently dimple the hole with let's say a center punch so that I am repairing a little dished out area. Use a small tip on the torch, braze it up then sand it flush with the existing metal. Oh and the tank is extremely clean inside, "0" fuel or fuel vapors! And has been for over a year sitting on a shelf in the garage. I just hope these two pin holes are not an indication of many more to come To clean the interior I threw a few handfulls of sheetmetal screws inside along with some solvent to clean away any loose surface rust, picked it up and started shakin' till my arms felt like rubber, followed by hot soapy water followed by a good drying followed by spraying some rust inhibitor on the inside knowing that clean dry bare metal will begin rusting pretty quick. So again I'm hoping these are just two isolated holes. The metal around them seems very solid.

Hi JF,
that's what I did on the pinhole near my gas tap, sanded the area to bright metal and tapped a centerpunch into the pinhole to make a dimple.
However, my tank still smelled of gas so I was chicken to wave a torch at it. Instead I used a 100Watt soldering iron to fill the dimple with solder. The solder files flush real easy.
That tank also had extensive bondo on the top to hide severe dents. One of those dents must have had a crack in it that I didn't see. After a while the gas lifted the paint & bondo in a giant blister.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Por

As I was doing some prep work on my fuel tank tonight, I found two little suprises Two pin holes in my tank. Initially they appeared to just be a little rust stain, but further investigation with a tiny wire taught me otherwise!





More work before I paint the tank and covers this weekend. Any special tricks here? My thought was to use my dremel to lightly sand away the paint say the size of a dime or penny. Then gently dimple the hole with let's say a center punch so that I am repairing a little dished out area. Use a small tip on the torch, braze it up then sand it flush with the existing metal. Oh and the tank is extremely clean inside, "0" fuel or fuel vapors! And has been for over a year sitting on a shelf in the garage. I just hope these two pin holes are not an indication of many more to come To clean the interior I threw a few handfulls of sheetmetal screws inside along with some solvent to clean away any loose surface rust, picked it up and started shakin' till my arms felt like rubber, followed by hot soapy water followed by a good drying followed by spraying some rust inhibitor on the inside knowing that clean dry bare metal will begin rusting pretty quick. So again I'm hoping these are just two isolated holes. The metal around them seems very solid.

POR makes a tank fix kit, it includes the cleaners and inside coat as well as the patch for biger holes. Here is a link, it works

http://www.spraykings.com/por-15-mot...epair-kit.html

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

3m

If you just have a small pin hole or two, you can use 3M tank seal (at most auto parts stores) just "need" togather the two part compound, clean the spot with a small wire brush and it will hold, even if some gas is seaping when applied

[3Phase]

Jf, take the tank to a shop to have it checked by a professional and get his or her opinion.

Think about it but be realistic. If it really is just a couple of pinholes that's great! Braze those pesky little pinholes holes shut and/or seal the tank!

If you want to check it yourself, shine a strong light into the filler neck toward the rear of the tank, then look through each petcock hole toward the other petcock hole and to the front of the tank to check the tank roof, the floor, the divider tunnel, walls and seams.

Shine the light in one petcock hole or the fuel sender hole and look through the other petcock hole toward the top of the tank around the filler neck to see if the expansion space or the overflow tube is rusted out.

Next, look through the filler neck and shine the light in the petcock holes and the fuel sender hole. Again, you're looking for bad metal and bad seams.

If there is any question: Get. Another. Tank.

Brazing and sealers cannot repair bad seams or weak metal. You might be able to seal the overflow tube shut at both ends if it's bad but gas will pool around the filler neck, then run all over the tank and you.

A good tank sealer is around $45.

Used tanks on eBay are not much more.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamah...452567506QQptZ

You can find whole bikes with good tanks for ~$100 if you're patient.

Unless you have more money than you need the tanks are not rare enough yet to warrant restoration unless your buddy fixes gas tanks for a living or there's a fire-sale somewhere near you for cheap gas tank repairs. If you really want to you can pay for what will basically amount to a custom-made tank that looks just like the O.E.M. tank or even better.