RED Kote

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Got a picture of the bashed up tank ?
Just so we can empathize of course.
It's fun to smash things.
Plus you are now FREE !
 
ordered emgo one today...……..lawd! I nearly threw a punch today at radiator shop hillbillies..but did indeed feel free..free I tell you..from that CS sieve...by far the worst part of this entire project...will send pic of mangled POS tomorrow...……..wheeee…..
meanwhile......
 
this is the final installment in this nightmare...…….took tank to local radiator shop they put in acid bath and got the redkote out and silver soldered the seam...tank sprung 2 more leaks under pressure...but...…..when I went to get it the thing had two big dents. one in front and one at rear..shop owner said he didn't know how they got there (must have been fairies) he said bondo would fix...also tank was splayed out and bulged like balloon....he said I owed $100 for the repair.....I lost it....flew into frustrated rage and slammed tank on shop floor..twice...lesson learned...don't try to skimp a few bucks on tank..get more expensive better one to start with....end of story.
If the tank was splayed out and dented front and back the pressure testing must have been too high!!
4 psi is the maximum pressure you test a petrol tank at , hope you have the situation sorted with your new tank
cheers
 
baz I think you are right hillbillies radiator dummies said they said they test at 20lbs.
 
... because 20lbs is a common radiator cap release pressure. Look at your car's radiator cap. The release pressure is printed right on it. It makes sense that a radiator shop tests at 20lbs.

At one point my '69 ford split a seam in the radiator and the technician who fixed it by soldering it, sold me a 7lbs cap to replace the 20lb cap, so the extra pressure would blow out the cap rather than the weakened seam that he fixed. Sometimes you have to know what you need to get what you need. Obviously the radiator guy had the tools and skill to fix it right, but his 20lb pressure test probably ruined the tank's shape. This would have happened to me too if I were in your shoes. I learn everything the hard way...
 
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I once accidentally put 18 psi in a BSA A10 tank the result was a dent at the front a dent at the back
And the whole tank had opened up side ways
Cheers
 
learning the hard way is traditional ....that why so many of us older guys know so much !!!
 
RED Kote

RED Kote
 
I've never bought a new tank - I restore old tanks. If they will be painted, I wash them, blast them (outside and all the inside I can), wash them again. If there's a little rust inside, muriatic (hydrochloric) acid sloshed around for a couple of minutes then flushed; if there's a lot, muriatic acid plus old nuts and bolts and sloshed around for around five minutes and rechecked. If there are rust flakes, I use a power washer stuck inside the tank and pointed everywhere possible. I repeat until the tank looks clean inside and water comes out clean when rinsing. Then I pressure test. If there are any leaks, I braze them. At this point, there will be flash rust so a quick muriatic acid rinse followed by a quick rinse and blow dry. Then I put in some WD40 and move the tank all around to coat.

If I were going to coat the inside (I never do), I would do all this except no WD40 before coating!

OEM Norton tanks are much harder to clean than Triumph/BSA due to the baffles.

Last year I rebuilt a guy's original paint, never restored 69 BSA B25. The tank was so bad inside that I started with old nuts and bolts dry and shook for about 5 minutes. The picture shows what came out. Then I followed my steps above - fortunately, no leaks. The guy is riding the bike with that tank. It came back to me this year to replace his ignition switch and I checked the banjo filers - clean.

RED Kote
 
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