Fuel tank rust repair

**prvoke** · 24th November 2008, 09:25

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** · 24th November 2008, 11:05

98tls is your man he has just done his

**slimjim** · 24th November 2008, 11:09

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** · 24th November 2008, 12:05

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** · 24th November 2008, 15:03

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** · 24th November 2008, 15:12

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

**The Pastor** · 24th November 2008, 15:26

Originally Posted by imdying

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

are you being serrious?

**imdying** · 24th November 2008, 15:47

Petrol fumes won't fuck with carbon monoxide

**crazefox** · 24th November 2008, 20:16

Originally Posted by renegade master

are you being serrious?

Yip it works i do it before welding on tanks

**hayd3n** · 24th November 2008, 20:41

Originally Posted by crazefox

Yip it works i do it before welding on tanks

maybe the heat dries it out faster

**imdying** · 25th November 2008, 07:26

Originally Posted by hayd3n

maybe the heat dries it out faster

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

**prvoke** · 25th November 2008, 10:15

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** · 25th November 2008, 14:19

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** · 25th November 2008, 17:49

Originally Posted by 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.

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

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.