Is my 1970 Fiber glass tank useable??

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aceaceca said:
The frigging bike is 40yrs old for gods sake. Everything about it suffers when I get on it and go. But, I have no fancy upgrades save for a Boyer, and she has 35k miles on her, never been apart, never let me down. Still pulls hard . These rides are meant to have character, kind of like yours, and be ridden. That is what I prefer to do rather than fret about a lot of unnecessary upgrades. I can buy a lot of gas for the price of a tank. So, until the gas starts dribbling on my leg, ride on.
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Now that's the spirit, who needs all kinds of tools and spares when going on a ride, I didn't when I was young and carefree, why should I now? At least I carry a cell phone and I have my CAA (same as AAA) card, and I can take a cab AND I have a trailer which is a lot more than I used to have.

Jean
 
The fact that fuel dumping onto a hot exhaust when you are riding at 100mph could turn out to be very nasty indeed, means that most people probably wouldnt feel an ethanol proof fuel tank was an unnecessary upgrade?
 
Wes my buddy with Caswell thick coated tiny HyRyder tank with JBW patch after wards in tunnel must stop and take what ever fuel is handy which means lots of ethanol top offs, has held up fine for over 7 yr now. My IS tank almost as long and sat with some ethanol in it almost 3 yr before I dumped it to paint again. Will ping back on first evidence of failure, but after this long don't hold breath in our cases. I've read all the posts on this so still a mystery why some many fail until reasonable new tanks available.
 
The reason why Caswells will fail in a fair number of cases is due to it being very brittle, and as its impossible to get uniform covering inside a tank some areas will have a very thin coating, and this combined with the difficulty of properly preparing the inside surface to achieve a good bond, means that cracking is very likely.
 
The reason why Caswells will fail in a fair number of cases is due to it being very brittle, and as its impossible to get uniform covering inside a tank some areas will have a very thin coating, and this combined with the difficulty of properly preparing the inside surface to achieve a good bond, means that cracking is very likely.
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As much as above is reasonable and good advice Wes and I have exceeded those limitations by a good bit and both ok me have crashed to damage both my IS tank and his tiny tank and Caswell did not crack and in fact I think its what saved leaking in my bashed in front of tank. I bashed head steady into Wes's tunnel that leaked alot that got JBW and so far 2 yr now its tight and nice. Maybe Ozark hillbilly's have special nack for sealing against moonshine leaks. You must not have ever used the current Caswell and would be pretty hard not to get a good thick coat, it starts out like honey and then gets thicker as it sets but must keep tank turning for most of 30 min to get it everywhere that way. I personally get a sense its softer more compliant that the resin of the tank. Its not as hard as the gel coats on boats and tanks I've stuck points in to test. A screw driver edge tends to dent it and hang up more than crack it/slide off.
 
If a tank sealing product is very high viscosity, this increases the chances of not getting full coverage. Thicker resins are much more appropriate for purpose though, and simply need to made thinner by applying heat shortly after catalysing.
 
Beat we knew about back then and I beg to differ about the thickness in any way not covering our tanks pores and niches as we kept turning them and you can see its like 1/8" thick at its thinnest on top of the tank tunnel hump. So nothing for it but continue with our experiment and let ya know if it ever fails so others don't waster a couple cigarettes in my case or a smallish cigar in Wes's case of constant attention till set up it didn't flow any more to matter. We ain't talking no 15 paint layer thickness more like urothane coat on expesive boat deck.
 
Orsonoce said:
Jean, does the work you did to your tank work fine? cafe-commando-build-thread-t8372-60.html
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So far so good, no leaks anywhere, but I must point out I used fuel reputed to be ethanol free. Last weekend I was at Mosport and I talked to a guy who makes fiberglass products, fenders, fairings and even tanks if called uppon. He fixed a fiberglass tank for a vintage trials bike and did exactly what I did, cut the tank open, relined it with vinyl esther resin and fiberglass material, then two coats of Caswell painted on, glued back together and sloshed more sealer to cover the seam. He said that was the only sure way of rescuing a fiberglass tank. When everything is counted, fixing a tank that way is a lot cheaper than buying a steel or alloy replacement. It may work very well or doomsday preachers (carbonfiber) may be right, but for me that was an option I could not ignore since my tank is not standard by a long shot, a custom tank would have been extremely expensive.

Jean
 
I heard Shell V-Power gas is ethanol free and then it should be ok for our fiberglass tanks.
Anyone knows if this is true?
 
Jeandr said:
Orsonoce said:
Jean, does the work you did to your tank work fine? cafe-commando-build-thread-t8372-60.html
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So far so good, no leaks anywhere, but I must point out I used fuel reputed to be ethanol free. Last weekend I was at Mosport and I talked to a guy who makes fiberglass products, fenders, fairings and even tanks if called uppon. He fixed a fiberglass tank for a vintage trials bike and did exactly what I did, cut the tank open, relined it with vinyl esther resin and fiberglass material, then two coats of Caswell painted on, glued back together and sloshed more sealer to cover the seam. He said that was the only sure way of rescuing a fiberglass tank. When everything is counted, fixing a tank that way is a lot cheaper than buying a steel or alloy replacement. It may work very well or doomsday preachers (carbonfiber) may be right, but for me that was an option I could not ignore since my tank is not standard by a long shot, a custom tank would have been extremely expensive.

Jean
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If a GRP tank is lined properly, ideally before being effected by Efuels, there is no reason it shouldnt work perfectly well. However most people seem very confused about how to go about this, and take the BS put out by those selling totally unsuitable epoxy resins as being completely accurate.

Personally if I was going to the trouble of sectioning a tank to ensure it was resistant to Efuels, then I would mechanically abrade inside surfaces, and then add a chemical resistant layer comprising 2 layers of synthetic veil using a novalac VE resin, and post cure both parts, before bonding back together using bonding paste made from the same novalac VE.

VE resins which are not novalac based are more chemically resistant than polyester, but are not something I would want to use anywhere near fuel personally. Use of very brittle tank "sealer" products is something to be avoided if at all possible, but modifying these materials by adding filler such as chopped GRP strands will make them more durable, and reduce the chances of cracking.
 
I don't know how it works in CA, but here in US, it is up to the states whether or not to display on pump if it contains ethanol. Here in VA display is required, but I think in NC and SC it is not required, so you don't know what you are getting in those states. You can test for ethanol by mixing water in the gas and the ethanol will mix with the water and you can see it separate out. I wouldn't trust just asking. Doesn't take but a few minutes to test.

Dave
69S
 
I think it was some time in the '70's that fiberglass tanks were banned for safety reasons. Fiberglass really isn't a suitable material for gas tanks on a motorcycle. Add to that the fact that fiberglass only becomes more brittle with age and that ethanol has been added to gas since then, it goes from unsuitable to crazy. Steel or alloy tanks are spendy but they do increase the value of a bike if you ever sell it and you get the peace of mind while you own it. Have your cake and eat it too.
P.S. forget about buying a steel tank for right now, you see what just happened on the Dow? :o
 
Oh, wow, I guess the price of my bond funds will be going up enough I can buy that steel tank!!

Dave
69S
 
rpatton said:
I think it was some time in the '70's that fiberglass tanks were banned for safety reasons. Fiberglass really isn't a suitable material for gas tanks on a motorcycle. Add to that the fact that fiberglass only becomes more brittle with age and that ethanol has been added to gas since then, it goes from unsuitable to crazy. Steel or alloy tanks are spendy but they do increase the value of a bike if you ever sell it and you get the peace of mind while you own it. Have your cake and eat it too.
P.S. forget about buying a steel tank for right now, you see what just happened on the Dow? :o
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Many things were banned because of safety reasons, not because it happened ALL the time, but in some cases with the right phase of the moon and the wind blowing just so, an accident occured. With the right (read wrong) conditions, nothing is suitable to make a gastank, in fact, gas is very dangerous and should be banned for use by unqualified users :!:

Jean
 
GRP tanks were banned for road use in the UK in the 1970s, and this was a result of several serious accidents which involved bikes fitted with poorly made GRP. In actual fact a properly made GRP tank is probably a great deal better than poorly made steel tanks from India or Pakistan, and should work equally as well as far more costly alloy or original steel tanks (which will often be suffering from corrosion).

However lack of understanding of how to go about making a GRP tank which is fully resistant to modern fuels, leads to the ridiculous situation where recently made GRP tanks are likely to fail due to Efuel attack. This tends to mean all GRP is regarded with suspicion, and I would suggest that unless the seller of a recently made GRP tank can provide a 2 year written guarantee, that its a good idea to avoid recent GRP.
 
Motorcycles are known as death machines and by all rights of logic and evidence they should all be outlawed for the health and welfare of the world's children. I think I've found a place that can 3D print a SS pattern out with internal bracing and baffles and lid hinge as one piece heat fused to full metal strength. No id on cost yet.
Other materials available but have not checked them yet either.
 
Jeandr said:
Many things were banned because of safety reasons, not because it happened ALL the time, but in some cases with the right phase of the moon and the wind blowing just so, an accident occured. With the right (read wrong) conditions, nothing is suitable to make a gastank, in fact, gas is very dangerous and should be banned for use by unqualified users :!:
Jean
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You're right. Most products that are banned didn't have negative outcomes for ALL the users. In fact, if you asked former owners of Pintos what they thought of them, most would tell you it was a damn fine car.
 
I guess all those people that had Pintos and didn't get smacked in the rear end and burned to death it was a fine car. Didn't GM have one like that too? You pays your money....

Dave
69S
 
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