Following on from this topic :
http://www.thumperclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=6588.msg43681#msg43681When I said the tank appeared to be in nice condition, I was soon to find out that appearances can be deceptive. I spent a day transferring the black mudguards and tank from the project bike on to my original runner so that I could still use the bike while my tank was being repaired. With all the black parts fitted, I happily filled the tank up with petrol and thought I was all set to go for a ride the next day.
When I looked at the bike the next day, all the petrol had vanished ! On removing the tank, I found that the recently applied paint had started to bubble. Further investigation revealed several holes rusted through the bottom of the tank.
Hmm, so that was two tanks in need of repair then !
Ian had put me in touch with his very clever friend who sorted out the tanks on his lovely bikes, so I delivered both tanks to him to have a look at and to work his magic. It turned out that the first tank, the one I had dented, was already in worse condition than the sieve-like one and had filler all over the place. It was looking like a bit of a challenge ! Anyway, I left them in his expert hands and those of his welder friend and hoped for the best.
This was the dent in the tank (I dropped it in a bollard while attempting to kick-start with the bike in gear...):
Yesterday, I collected the finished results:
These are clearly far too smart for either of my bikes so some tidying up is needed. On the downside, the MOT expired on the day I got the tanks back and I don't have any spare dosh at all as OH is out of work again
Last year I was told off a little for my noisy exhausts so I decided to investigate the exhaust on the project bike, which turned out to have the original standard Yamaha system. After liberally squirting all the rusty fasteners with WD40, they were surprisingly easy to remove. More difficult was actually extracting the system from the bike. The downpipes were too snug a fit in the collector box to move in situ so I ended up removing the small crossbar at the front of the frame so I could remove the whole system in one go. Then I was able to wiggle the downpipes out of the collector box fairly easily. The collector/silencer has surface rust but appeared solid so I attacked it with a wire brush and wire wool. I found three small holes under one of the brackets so I've treated the whole thing with Krust and I'll bung them up with exhaust putty as I can't stretch to getting it welded at the moment and I suspect the repair will last a long time.
I'll give it a spray with black paint tomorrow (weather permitting) and polish up the downpipes and the heat shield. I'm feeling pretty pleased, to be honest - I still think I've done pretty well out of the £165 ebay bike.
I'll have to be quite patient with the project bike and just slowly plod on with the things I can do that don't cost anything - but that's plenty to keep me busy and I should have my baby back on the road soon
