The real story of an Indian made gas tank...

Bit of a sad story to tell, but the information I pass on should help others decide to "never" buy a Indian made gas tank, unless you are able to mitigate some of the potential problems.

I purchased a Norton Interstate gas tank from "vintage_motors_zone" off ebay for $300 plus $80 shipping to Vancouver Canada. After three weeks, I got an email to say the tank they had for me failed a leak test and they had to make another one - another six weeks went by and a parcel arrived from New Dehli - happy days, well maybe not.

The tank was nice and shiny silver metallic with decals and stripes. Hey wait a minute the right side is not the right shape - the curvature is off by about 3/4" and the painted lines exaggerate the issue.



I contacted the seller and was told to return the tank to India. After contacting Canada Post, UPS, Fed Ex - prices ranged from $365 to $780 for basic shipping - this is ridiculous. After some more time passed seller agreed to a $25 refund, which I never received. At this point it is past the ebay timing for a claim and I have not had any contact with the seller since, despite numerous emails.

I decided I would look at fixing the tank, the paint needed to be stripped anyway. Once I started with the stripper on the underside, I found that paint on the top and sides peeled right off, down to the bare metal. I used a scraper only and in 10 mins had the tank stripped. The paint was still pliable and had never had any proper primer coat.

The inside of the tank looked very rusty, which surprised me, since he said they made a new tank for me. The extent of rust as I was soon to find out was significant, like the tank had been left outside for months, or years.



I decided that a filler strip TIG welded down the right side would be a solution, so I zip cut the side off the tank. What I found inside just sickened me. Not only the extend of the rust, but the quality of the welds - they were all contaminated, poorly done and not sound.





I was pretty done with the tank at this point and wanted to make sure it never saw the light of day on a Norton. I sent it to the destructive testing department and watched it succumb to the 20Ton press. What happened next again sickened me - the seam welds just broke apart and popped open. Clearly the welds had been ground back on the top side to the point of no more structural integrity, over grinding/sanding had severely weakened all the seams. Some of the welds were also contaminated and disintegrated under the pressure.





Thankfully the tank will never see use on a Norton and will be kept on the wall as a reminder of my folly.

Looking at the way the original tank is made, it is made from several pressings and machine seam welded - no opportunity for grinding any welds. The Indian method of production is hand shaping many pieces, butt welding together, grinding and sanding into the larger shape. I saw this first hand when I visited New Delhi a number of years back, I watched a chap hand imprinting the serrations of a file on a dirt floor, metal file blank held between his feet, hammering with a chisel to make the serrations, all the while his wife and children were nearby. The process of grinding the seams is where this process is flawed. I wonder about if the tank had come OK to use and I was riding with a full 5 gallons of gas and those weak seams give away and my life ends in a ball of fire - there is no recourse on the manufacturer, no lawyer would be able to extract any compensation for my estate.

Maybe I got a dud, but the lesson here is clearly the original manufacturers products prevail with integrity and safety, even 40 years later.

Jim Bush
Vancouver, BC
71 Norton Interback
69 Norton S
69 Norton R
68 Norton 20M3 Fastback
62 Norton 650SS
52 Norton Model 7

Thanks for that story Jim. I take it you're the same Jim of the Bushman' Carb Tuning. I remember that article in a magazine that you did on your restored '69S. Nice. Nice to meet you and welcome to AN. I hope your stay here will be better than your tank experience.

Dave
69S

I am sorry for you, this tank looked like a piece of crap, and the workmanship is unacceptable by any standard. It's a good thing that no serious accident happened to you as result of this poor workmanship.
This makes me wonder if there are better quality tanks available from India.
As far as I know, there are several different suppliers over there.
Would like to hear from experience with other Indian companies, so that we know who we can deal with , and who to avoid.

Yeap - that's me. Bushman's Carb tuning secrets has been out for a long time now and I am still getting questions and Kudos from it.

I seem to attract adversity sometimes - last Saturday my car was broken into in Seattle, and of all the things stolen was a new Long-range Fastback seat - now that is not going to be any use to anyone except to someone with one of the 400 LR FB's made....

the welds would probably have been fine until some point in the future with an impact caused by you pick the reason, then you get a gusher...

kudos on the bushman carb site, i will be getting intimate with a set in a short while.

I did buy an Indian made gas tank for my Indian chief 1939 .
It was leaking and verry poorly made .

My gas tank for my Norton Commando is leaking , I will get it fix , and will not buy a new (maybe Indian made) tank .

Michael

This is why I consider myself lucky to have started with what was basically a tatty but sound petrol tank and I managed to avoid the temptation to go for an Asian made replica. These people really don't care what they sell and I don't mean that they don't care about the aesthetics of the job; they don't care if it's actually sound or not

I hope you get something sorted to replace it.

My 73 Roadster came with a glassfibre tank which I had to replace in order to get the bike on the road here in Germany. In the deal the seller included an Indian tank. It is clear to me that the paint is on the bare metal. However I have accepted the poor quality but now am sceptical of the structure.

J'ai aussi commandé mon tank en Inde et je conduis depuis deux ans avec, sans problème
oops I can not post pictures

There are HORRIBLE Indian-made tanks, there are BAD Indian-made tanks, there are FAIR Indian-made tanks, and there are DECENT Indian-made tanks. On this very forum are reports of each of those, I don't recall which are which, but I believe at least one reputable seller that is regular here, sells the decent ones.

I think this is where most of their raw material comes from. No wonder quality is all over the board.

This older post may help a little? The Emgo tank is a good one, but it is made in Taiwan.

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/new-steel-fuel-tank.20385/#post-303731

I too got an Indian made gas tank about a year ago for an Interstate I was restoring. If you go on Ebay the prices are all over the place. The tank was shorted that a stock tank, the contours weren't the same and the fuel tap boss was a mess. The tank wouldn't fit over the backbone of the frame. Like you sending it back would cost more than it was worth. Lesson learned.

John in Texas

My experience with the emgo tank was not good. After one season of riding it started to rust inside. I used Por 15 to deal with the rust. Sealed it with bill harsh non eth sealer. Rust bubbles started to appear along the bottom the tank. Also on the seam in the middle of the back. Then a rust thru leak appeared on the front bottom of the tank at the curve by the front mount studs. Obviously the rust was already there when I received it. The vendor I purchased it from gave me the sargent shoults routine. I purchased another tank from commando specialties to use. I think I will send it back to emgo with a letter saying it is now yours. Your product is sub standard. Keep it!!!!!

It is somewhat ironic that some of the Indian tanks are crap, as the original Commando tanks were made in India (maybe all or maybe some). I cannot remember his name, but I once had a conversation with the gentleman that had worked for Norton and eventually went to work for Harley Davidson to help develop their rubber engine mounts. He was speaking to a small group of us at the BBC rally in Wisconsin. I do not remember the year (seems to be a memory issue here, hmm,). He told us the at one point they were having fitment problems and had sent him to India to straighten it out. When he got to the address there was only a very small building. He went through this building into the back yard where he found a group of men sitting cross legged with hammers, dollys, and a pile of sand making fuel tanks. This is an incredible story, but he gave us no reason to not believe him.

In building a Cafe Racer from a 1982 Yamaha XV920RT for my brother, he insisted on having a Benelli Mojave 350 gas tank. None could be found anywhere so he opted to buy an Indian made one. Not expensive, I think he paid $125. After many weeks of no shipping and excuses (don't laugh this is the actual truth) like a terrorist attack at the airport, family illness and the usual BS ones and starting a complaint process with PayPal, he finally shipped the tank. Looked pretty good, had some red looking sealer and tin work that would have to be skimmed over to make true and smooth. Took it to a radiator shop and had pressure tested and got the ok. Didn't leak, had sealer in it so good to go. Painter did a great job on tank, it looked beautiful. Happy guys. After 3 months of gas in it up pops a quarter size blister lifting the clear coat at the forward seam. Back to painter for fix. He found another blister developing under the rear of the tank at a seam. He used an automotive type wire camera and looked inside. Ugly rust all over, sealer mostly gone and just plain bad. Looking back I should not have bought the tank and I should have had the insides stripped and a Por 15 3 step process to seal the tank. Do not, I repeat, do not buy any tank made in India period. You will be the next victim guaranteed!

Love my fiberglass tank.

XTINCT said:

It is somewhat ironic that some of the Indian tanks are crap, as the original Commando tanks were made in India (maybe all or maybe some). I cannot remember his name, but I once had a conversation with the gentleman that had worked for Norton and eventually went to work for Harley Davidson to help develop their rubber engine mounts. He was speaking to a small group of us at the BBC rally in Wisconsin. I do not remember the year (seems to be a memory issue here, hmm,). He told us the at one point they were having fitment problems and had sent him to India to straighten it out. When he got to the address there was only a very small building. He went through this building into the back yard where he found a group of men sitting cross legged with hammers, dollys, and a pile of sand making fuel tanks. This is an incredible story, but he gave us no reason to not believe him.

Click to expand...

I think it was Norm Thompson? Not sure of the last name, but he also introduced Harley to the diaphragm clutch as well as rubber mounts.

After what I went through slicing wedges out of the Indian-made sidecovers for the SS clone and having them tigged back together, I would never buy anything directly from an Indian supplier. I was able to get them (after a lot of communication issues) to refund half the price, which I spent at the welding shop. The covers came covered with rust inside and out and I would imagine tanks are the same. Something about all those years in the ocean seems to make their steel especially rust-prone.

XTINCT said:

It is somewhat ironic that some of the Indian tanks are crap, as the original Commando tanks were made in India (maybe all or maybe some). I cannot remember his name, but I once had a conversation with the gentleman that had worked for Norton and eventually went to work for Harley Davidson to help develop their rubber engine mounts. He was speaking to a small group of us at the BBC rally in Wisconsin. I do not remember the year (seems to be a memory issue here, hmm,). He told us the at one point they were having fitment problems and had sent him to India to straighten it out. When he got to the address there was only a very small building. He went through this building into the back yard where he found a group of men sitting cross legged with hammers, dollys, and a pile of sand making fuel tanks. This is an incredible story, but he gave us no reason to not believe him.

Click to expand...

I know for sure the OEM tank on my '74 Roadster was formed with dies, in a press. Not "artisan made on sandbags". YMMV