indian tanks

Hey, just wonding your views on Indian made gas tanks? Should I avoid?
Thanks

Problem with anything produced on the other side of the world is that it is hard to "Caveat emptor". I like to look at what I am buying. Perhaps a good related question would be "What established parts suppliers stock Commando tanks, and where do they come from".

The tank seems to be a one of the few things on a Commando, which is difficult to repair/replace.

Hi There,
I have painted several Indian made, as well as Pakastani made Roadster style tanks. Of the two, it is my opinion the Indian version is the "better" of the two. However, they have their issues as well. If you have no other choice, and we know how hard it is too find a nice affordable orig steel tank, the Indian repro can be made to look decent. For me, the neck and stamping around the neck are not crisp, bodylines and contours are reasonably good, certainly improved in the last year or so. Also the tunnel area in the front of the tank, tends to look kind of flat vertically. If you are very fussy, you may not want to go this direction.
I put up a post on the forum to show the differences between a paint job I did on an orig steel tank and a pre-painted Indian repro. Here is the link below. Feel free to read the posts and looks at the pictures. I also post some pics of a repro I painted for reference. Also feel free to ask any questions.
the-vintage-vendor-pre-painted-repro-you-decide-t12485.html
Regards,
Brent
www,vintage-vendor.com

Check out this thread in another section of this forum:

the-vintage-vendor-pre-painted-repro-you-decide-t12485.html

Thanks for the other thread it was quite interesting but all this is mainly aimed at the appearance, where I am more interested in the structural side/ flaws of things

The shapes far from a true match on some . . .

Understand. I guess the main thing I would say regardless of which vendor you were to get an Indian made repro from, make sure you can return it, just in case. A local shop here in Vermont got one for a customer and the tunnel was so distorted in shape, the could not fit it over the frame. They are not consistent in shape or "quality." I typically see when you set them on a flat surface, they rock from corner. I have seen a couple of them leak down the line a bit. The gas caps usually do not sit right in the necks, they tend to be a bit floppy.
So beyond the cosmetic issues, those are things I have noticed. One other thing, for whatever reason, they are noticeably heavier than an original steel tank. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of interior liners, but it may be something to consider to prevent a future leak. Of course unless you can use ethanol-free gas, that can be another issue down the line.
Hope that helps,
Brent
www.vintage-vendor.com

Amazing tank painter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsTIMxeO_ng

OMG! Amazing! Sign him up!

powerdoc said:

OMG! Amazing! Sign him up!

Click to expand...

This guy obviously can NOT drink coffee. I'd love to be that good.

Thanks all for the posts on the Indian gas tanks. I know this is an older post but I thought I'd weigh in. I purchased a small hi rider/ss tank about a little more than a year ago from one of these companies and concur with all that has been said, particularly jbbudgor. I received mine fairly quickly and was initially excited about being able to replace my ethanol weakened misshapen tank. That excitement soon turned to disillusion as I carefully inspected the tank. I'm not overly fussy and I don't mind a little bit of "hand made" flaws because in my minds eye I pictured exactly what was indicated in another post, I guy with a hammer on a dirt floor trying to feed his family. That being said, and irrespective of another post on weld integrity, the filler neck was hand made, not square to the tank and not flat on the mouth where the cap washer rests so it would never seal the gas. Then my mind's eye sees the obvious future paint damage from leaking fuel. The rest of the configuration was probably livable, the next worst problem was they did line the tank with something that looked like red lead and dirt from the floor it was constructed on. I contacted the company but just decided to forgo the hassle. Subsequently, I found a replacement neck replacement on EBay, seemingly machine made, and purchased it since it was only $12. Gave up when I couldn't figure out how anyone could retrofit it onto/into the bad neck. So I bought a fiberglass tank from EBay and subsequently read all the posts about failure of snake oil sealers. So now I have three crappy tanks and ready to go to the bridge and jump off.
Sorry for the long post. Obviously I'm frustrated.

What is the vendor's name..??

You have to pick the right vendor with previous posts on good tanks received (not the ebay feedback), some buy good tanks and inspect them before despatch, others buy the rejects and never bother to check them.

It's so hard to get Quality with this subject. I'm sure we would all pay more if we knew we were getting real quality.

I have an Indian Roadster tank, and you can probably find posts on this site when I posted photographs of it. It is satisfactory; but if I were buying now I would get the Emgo tanks; they appear to be better.

if you are looking for a Roadster Tank most good Norton stockists have the EMGO Roadster tank Taiwan manufactured using press tooling so consistant quality and shape

Hi Rider and Interstate will be a crap shoot anything manufactured on the sub continent will be hand made and quality will be variable

There are several suppliers for Norton tanks in India, It should be interesting to know about the experience with the different suppiers of Asian made tanks.

Gnalk, I feel you frustration as I too sometimes take three steps forward & one or two back it seems. I would cut your losses with the tanks you have and buy one of the Emgo tanks. It seems they've made a concerned effort to make them a step above the rest of what's out there. Good luck.

We just got one from Andover Norton and even with shipping it was competitive. That was being sent to the USA. Buyer is really happy.
It was $370.00 with shipping. Extremely well made and heavy steel, he thinks it heavier than originals.
FWIW

Do the emgo tanks have the internal baffles in them like the originals?
Cheers,
Thomas