Fuel tank rust repair

[prvoke]

I recently brought a 96 ZX7R. Previous owner told me that the tank had rusted at the bottom as they are prone to do and that he'd had it repaired (soldered i think). Flew to auckland and picked it up, excited etc and having already paid for it i didnt check it over to close. got home and found that its still leaking petrol in the same spot. Not dripping or anything but if you wipe it away it trickles enough to cover the 50x5mm area of the edge of the tank where you can see it in a few seconds. Not sure how to go about fixing it, who i would take it to to be fixed or if it is in fact possible.

I thought perhaps to solder it you would need a small gas torch and bar of solder that you can get from bunnings. im not keen enough to put a naked flame near a petrol tank though.

Ideas ?

[JimO]

98tls is your man he has just done his

[slimjim]

would strongly say ...that its in need of replating that piece of the tank...or seach out for another tank ..however it may well have this same fault if second-hand..

[Holy Roller]

Just had my daughters tank welded up. after blasting away the paint several small holes were seen and when filled with water more weeping holes appeared. I took the tank to our local muffler man who welded it up for me. 12 small pinholes in total and several hours of mucking around to get them all. all done for $50. Then when sanding back the welds I opened up more holes. The tank is well and truely stuffed, back to the shop and more welding at no cost even though it was my fault. I am unable to put the tank sealer in as it has already been done and would not work a second time, especially after being welded through. Hopefully the tank will hold gas for some time as another tank is hard to come by.

[prvoke]

i thought welding would be a no no with the fumes etc. Did you do anything special other than just emptying the tank out and letting it dry out for a while ?

[imdying]

Run the exhauxt of you car into it for 30 minutes, that'll kill off any fumes.

[The Pastor]

Run the exhauxt of you car into it for 30 minutes, that'll kill off any fumes.
are you being serrious?

[imdying]

Petrol fumes won't fuck with carbon monoxide ;)

[crazefox]

are you being serrious?

Yip it works i do it before welding on tanks

[hayd3n]

Yip it works i do it before welding on tanks

maybe the heat dries it out faster

[imdying]

maybe the heat dries it out fasterNo, it's something to do with the content of the fumes neutralising the crap in the tank.

[prvoke]

Crazefox - Would you be able to weld up the hole/s then? I use the bike to commute to work so would be awesome if its possible to get done on a w.e.

[discodan]

I will be watching this thread with interest. I'm having a similar problem with my sv650 tank. Used POR15 to fix a small hole and then it turned into a big hole so got it welded.

Now the area around the weld looks rusty so I'm just waiting for it to spring another leak. Also, the POR15 stuff seems to be flaking inside my tank now, a piece of seal come out of my tank when I emptied it.

[98tls]

I will be watching this thread with interest. I'm having a similar problem with my sv650 tank. Used POR15 to fix a small hole and then it turned into a big hole so got it welded.

Now the area around the weld looks rusty so I'm just waiting for it to spring another leak. Also, the POR15 stuff seems to be flaking inside my tank now, a piece of seal come out of my tank when I emptied it. Best to blow it out with a water blaster etc which will reveal any up and coming holes then treat the tank with rust killer,on mine at the start there was 3 small holes after waterblasting there was 12:blank:a strip of copper and plenty of solder later its done,went away for the weekend on the bike with no problems,POR15 may well work with a tank in not so bad condition but mine was past that,unless all the rust is removed its only going to be a tempory fix and will be buying a new tank sometime though am hoping this lasts awhile yet.

[crazefox]

Crazefox - Would you be able to weld up the hole/s then? I use the bike to commute to work so would be awesome if its possible to get done on a w.e.

Yeah mate no probs

[Owl]

Run the exhauxt of you car into it for 30 minutes, that'll kill off any fumes.

Yep and never trust anyone's word that they've already done it! My old boss was caught this way and after he blew himself and mate across the workshop, he asked "I thought you said you'd de-fumed it", to which his mate replied "I did, I washed it out with thinners".:rofl:

[imdying]

Oh, that's classy hahahahahah. I didn't know about it, I just filled it with water and welded the sucker up. Would've been much easier to use the exhaust trick, had I known the first time out...

[Sketchy_Racer]

I have just done my tank on a K5 GSXR. All I did was wait for the remaining fuel I couldn't get out to evaporate then with the fuel pump and the cap off put a bit of flame in the cap hole to burn out the fumes.. made a little puff but nothing spectacular

I've decided I like working on tanks now. Quite a challenge but rewarding when it goes (semi) ok

[prvoke]

Hey man
howd u fix yours, weld ?
i just bought some JB weld of trademe to have a go at it. its a small hole i think. will pull the tank of on sat and sand it all back see what im dealing with

[prvoke]

Well JB Weld seems to have done the trick, its only been on for 3 days but no leaks since and not bad for a $16 investment and loads left.

[Pixie]

No, it's something to do with the content of the fumes neutralising the crap in the tank.

No,it has something to do with no oxygen in exhaust fumes.

And if you don't understand the relevance of this comment,please rejoin the other slime molds

[racerhead]

Heres some stuff called petseal that Ive used before and found it very good
Petseal Ultra Sealant.

All the below taken from this e-bay sellers page
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Petseal-Fuel-Tank-Sealant-Petrol-Sealer-Project-Bargain_W0QQitemZ120342451091QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK _Motorcycle_Parts?hash=item120342451091&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A2%7C 240%3A1318

The original and the best on the market!! Simply add the hardner and swill around the base of any tank to fill pin holes or stop loose rust from entering the fuel system. Comes in 260ml cans suitable for small to medium sized tanks, use two for large tanks.



This product with its advanced carbon fibre formula provides a corrosion resistant internal coating for all rusty and leaking petrol Aluminum,Plastic,Fibre tanks.


The two chemicals when mixed, can be poured into the offending fuel tank stopping small leaks and halting any corrosion already underway within the vessel. They then harden to provide a permanent seal.


The composite is designed to seep into the pitted surface and bind the rust into a smooth and corrosion-proof lining.

How to use petseal?

Remove the taps and block the holes.

Put a handful of nuts and bolts into the tank with a pint of petrol and shake it about. Drain off the petrol and repeat. Keep doing this until the petrol comes out clean. remove all the nuts and bolts and leave open to allow all of the petrol remaining to evaporate.

Mix all of the Petseal and pour into the tank. Keep moving the tank around to ensure all surfaces are covered. After a few minutes leave with any known leaky area downward. The Petseal should start to 'go Hard' after 15/20 minutes.