Well after years I'm finally getting my tank done. My brother has split it and we are cutting out the strips to enlarge it and get it done. Will be completing it by tomorrow then primer it and head out of here on Thursday morning heading back to Washington. Now won't have to stop every 90 minutes! 
First we pulled it, drained it, flushed it and then cut it open. We then cut the new pieces of 16ga and welded them in. Then when we got the tunnel tacked back in we put it on the bike to see if we had clearance at the bars and trees. Everything fits fine and looks good. Here are some pics:
Draining the remaining fuel in the tank
Here we marked a line down the middle for our cut line. The other two lines would be the projected piece that we would add to the tank about 3" wide at the top.
Next was to flood the tank with argon to inert the inside so it wouldn't blow up on us. Worked great as we will find out later.
Cutting continues as we remove the tunnel under the tank
Turns out that my tank vent tub had broke away again from the screw I put in the cap bung to hold it in. It was making a lot of noise so first thing I did was cut the SOB out of there! See all the liner material I pulled out!
Next was to cut the bung out. I would be relocating it when we put it back in
Now it was time to clean out the inside of the tank. I could just peel out the lining. This tank was five years old now and there was no pieces of liner clogging the petcock screen but I was able to just grab portions of it and pull it free
Now I had some dirty work to do and that was sanding out all of the inside. I took a sanding wheel to all of it and what I couldn't get with this I used a wire brush which I had to use on the tunnel. Real messy
While I was at it my brother had me sand off all the paint and bondo around all the cut lines where he would be welding. This ensured a clean surface plus keep from burning.
It was dirty and really made a mess but I survived. We had our shop girl cleaning up after us, really she was sweeping up the broken glass from our Beam & Cokes. We seem to always be dropping them
Here my brother is welding/filling in the vent tube plug with I won't be using any more. Then we put the tunnel back in the underside of the tank and prepared to tach weld it in
Moving right along my brother cuts out the wedge that will fill the top part of the tank. We cut this out of 16ga sheet which matched the tank. This would open up the tank real nice and make it fit better on the bike
Once we had the tunnel and top wedge piece tacked in we were ready to throw it on the bike and see how it looked and to ensure we had clearance with the bars and trees
Back on the table and it was time to start welding it up but before my brother would do this he had to go and cut notches out of all the tack welds. Something about a hot weld meeting a colder spot on the tank. He cut then welded, then cut and then welded over and over
cutting & patching
Before closing in the top we inspected the inside using a bore scope. My brother cut out any welds he was suspect of and re-welded them. Look Ma no vent tube!
Using a piece of stock paper we cut out a template for the front gas cap opeing. We transfered this to the sheet metal and cut it out and then tacked it in place.
To shape it I grabbed the bottom of it while my brother applied heat to it and we bent it down like butter and he tacked it as we went following the shape of the tank. Worked great
The rest was just cutting out some more pieces to close up some of the opening and then get them welded in
Now it was time to figure out where I wanted the bung to go in. So we set it back on the bike and using my gas cap I rotated the bars around and decided to move it up and to the right. This way when I'm gassing up I can ensure I get a full tank of gas
Here is my brother posing with the tank he just modified. He also insisted on appling some bondo to the top for my ride home. I just wanted to shoot a layer of paint on it seeing as I was stripping it as soon as I got home for sealing and piant. But he insisted and layed some bondo on it he pulled off his shelf, problem was it was over 5 yrs old and it never hardened. He even used a heat gun on it so finally after attempting to sand it off which only blotched it up more he just shot a coat of black paint on it. Doesn't look like much but it's a good 5 gls now
Inspecting the final product.
Finished minutes before my 680 mile trip North, infact the paint was still wet when I put the tank on. But I can now go 180 between gas stops!!! Now for some fine paint job of a "Pin-Up" girl on top of it.
First we pulled it, drained it, flushed it and then cut it open. We then cut the new pieces of 16ga and welded them in. Then when we got the tunnel tacked back in we put it on the bike to see if we had clearance at the bars and trees. Everything fits fine and looks good. Here are some pics:
Draining the remaining fuel in the tank
Here we marked a line down the middle for our cut line. The other two lines would be the projected piece that we would add to the tank about 3" wide at the top.
Next was to flood the tank with argon to inert the inside so it wouldn't blow up on us. Worked great as we will find out later.
Cutting continues as we remove the tunnel under the tank
Turns out that my tank vent tub had broke away again from the screw I put in the cap bung to hold it in. It was making a lot of noise so first thing I did was cut the SOB out of there! See all the liner material I pulled out!
Next was to cut the bung out. I would be relocating it when we put it back in
Now it was time to clean out the inside of the tank. I could just peel out the lining. This tank was five years old now and there was no pieces of liner clogging the petcock screen but I was able to just grab portions of it and pull it free
Now I had some dirty work to do and that was sanding out all of the inside. I took a sanding wheel to all of it and what I couldn't get with this I used a wire brush which I had to use on the tunnel. Real messy
While I was at it my brother had me sand off all the paint and bondo around all the cut lines where he would be welding. This ensured a clean surface plus keep from burning.
It was dirty and really made a mess but I survived. We had our shop girl cleaning up after us, really she was sweeping up the broken glass from our Beam & Cokes. We seem to always be dropping them
Here my brother is welding/filling in the vent tube plug with I won't be using any more. Then we put the tunnel back in the underside of the tank and prepared to tach weld it in
Moving right along my brother cuts out the wedge that will fill the top part of the tank. We cut this out of 16ga sheet which matched the tank. This would open up the tank real nice and make it fit better on the bike
Once we had the tunnel and top wedge piece tacked in we were ready to throw it on the bike and see how it looked and to ensure we had clearance with the bars and trees
Back on the table and it was time to start welding it up but before my brother would do this he had to go and cut notches out of all the tack welds. Something about a hot weld meeting a colder spot on the tank. He cut then welded, then cut and then welded over and over
cutting & patching
Before closing in the top we inspected the inside using a bore scope. My brother cut out any welds he was suspect of and re-welded them. Look Ma no vent tube!
Using a piece of stock paper we cut out a template for the front gas cap opeing. We transfered this to the sheet metal and cut it out and then tacked it in place.
To shape it I grabbed the bottom of it while my brother applied heat to it and we bent it down like butter and he tacked it as we went following the shape of the tank. Worked great
The rest was just cutting out some more pieces to close up some of the opening and then get them welded in
Now it was time to figure out where I wanted the bung to go in. So we set it back on the bike and using my gas cap I rotated the bars around and decided to move it up and to the right. This way when I'm gassing up I can ensure I get a full tank of gas
Here is my brother posing with the tank he just modified. He also insisted on appling some bondo to the top for my ride home. I just wanted to shoot a layer of paint on it seeing as I was stripping it as soon as I got home for sealing and piant. But he insisted and layed some bondo on it he pulled off his shelf, problem was it was over 5 yrs old and it never hardened. He even used a heat gun on it so finally after attempting to sand it off which only blotched it up more he just shot a coat of black paint on it. Doesn't look like much but it's a good 5 gls now
Inspecting the final product.
Finished minutes before my 680 mile trip North, infact the paint was still wet when I put the tank on. But I can now go 180 between gas stops!!! Now for some fine paint job of a "Pin-Up" girl on top of it.
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:2thumbs:
