welding on a motorcycle gas tank

O

OJ86

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What is the best way to get all of the fumes out of a motorcycle tank before welding on it?

I washed it out 3 times with warm soapy water and stuck the hose in it for about 10 minutes and just let the water overflow out. Fumes scare me though.. Any tips?
 
I run a hose in to the tank and pump car exhaust into it for 10 minutes works everytime.... just did another one this weekend.
 
I have just always trusted that it worked. lol The first few I did I tossed a match at to test them. Yeah very scientific right? Now once the smoke clears you shouldn't really smell the gas fumes anymore. I did an atv tank last week and a truck tank this week. IF you are still worried call a radiator shop. The one near my house does gas tanks also. See what they do. I learned by watching the guy.
 
I worked in a couple motorcycle shops during high school and right after graduating. i would just take the steam cleaner to the inside of the tank for a minute or so.

Never had so much as a flash from one of them and I did quite a few. The Honda Trail 90 was notorious for breaking the mounting tabs off the bottom of the tank.

Want to be extra cautious, take a hose and run tig or mig gas, or the co2 from your keggerator,nitrogen from your paint ball gun, or any other non combustionable gas into the tank as a purge while welding. In the pipe fitting trade we purge nat gas lines and such with nitrogen.
 
Here is what I am working on. I just want to fill on all of these craters with weld. The flush cap sits a hair above the surface, but that is aluminum and really thick so I will just file that flush.

They had filler piled to the edges and on the first fill up it somehow spilled over and got between the tank and the filler and caused it to lift. Thats my best guess anyways. 20120422_143749.jpg
 
Tanks with recessed caps like that one are a bitch to keep the paint good.
The fuel will get under the edge of the paint and wick its way into the paint and lift it is my experiance.
Never have seen a fail safe technic to stop it, maybe one of the big dogs here knows the solution!

The jap sport bikes have a similiar setup but there is a fuel splash tray around the fill hole which has a drain hose on it. Any overages drain and the area dries pretty darn fast.
That tank is a mess, but you already knew that :)
 
I think im just going to lead it all in flush, file it down and use minimal filler to clean it up. Then epoxy prime the snot out of it.
 
orangejuiced86;19567 said:
I think im just going to lead it all in flush, file it down and use minimal filler to clean it up. Then epoxy prime the snot out of it.
Click to expand...

Was my next suggestion.
 
20120512_002655.jpg


Ended up just leading it in and finishing off with some epoxy and G2. Painting now, bored and figured I would post a pic.
 
Black... Is there any other car color?? lol... Looks great brother!!
 
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