Gas tank

[nighthawk s]

I have the rusty vmax gas tank that needs delt with. I know several members on here have delt with this in the past. just wondering what is the best way to take care of this. has anyone used the plastic tanks ? they are larger 5.3 us gallons. I want to do this job the right way the first time. please reply

1.) excatrep new plastic tank $834.00 shipped

2.) schwaben new plastic tank $650.00 shipped

3.) new steel tank around $300.00

4.) have my old tank treated and coated $ ???

 

[caseyjones955]

I cant recall where but I have heard of limited success with the coatings and a robust filter, but I might suggest finding a good clean used one. Guys are always parting bikes out, maybe Sean has a pile of clean previously enjoyed tanks.

I have an 85 carcass up at the cabin, I cant recall if the tank is any good but if it is you can get it for $25+ shipping. It was going for scrap anyway.

 

[one2dmax]

The POR15 stuff seems to work fairly well and if I were to coat one it would be that stuff. Most of what I do is have them bead blasted clean and just run them again.

 

[D-Max2012]

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=44740

 

[nighthawk s]

I was thinking if you did have a tank coated, what is to say it will not peel or flake off later on ? If you have a tank bead blasted clean what is the chance of it rusting again ? why do these tanks seam to rust so easy ? well I went and looked at the maintenance records for my vmax. The records show 6/8/12 inspected, rear brakes replaced, 12,552 miles ... 9/12/17 inspected, cleaned, rebuilt, and synced carbs, drained and cleaned fuel tank, replaced fuel filter, replaced spark plugs, replaced fork seals, changed oil and oil filter, 12,747 miles. I had bought this 11/24/17 with 12,765 miles on it. I'm guessing from 6/12 12,552 miles to 9/17 12,747 miles little over 5 years 195 miles is where this rust issue came from. So if I just replace the fuel tank and fuel filter and fuel lines with all new this problem should be over ? Fill the tank every fall, drain it every spring, fill it with fresh fuel it should be good to go ? If I leave this new tank set 6 or 7 months over winter will the tank rust ?

 

[D-Max2012]

I was thinking if you did have a tank coated, what is to say it will not peel or flake off later on ? If you have a tank bead blasted clean what is the chance of it rusting again ? why do these tanks seam to rust so easy ? well I went and looked at the maintenance records for my vmax. The records show 6/8/12 inspected, rear brakes replaced, 12,552 miles ... 9/12/17 inspected, cleaned, rebuilt, and synced carbs, drained and cleaned fuel tank, replaced fuel filter, replaced spark plugs, replaced fork seals, changed oil and oil filter, 12,747 miles. I had bought this 11/24/17 with 12,765 miles on it. I'm guessing from 6/12 12,552 miles to 9/17 12,747 miles little over 5 years 195 miles is where this rust issue came from. So if I just replace the fuel tank and fuel filter and fuel lines with all new this problem should be over ? Fill the tank every fall, drain it every spring, fill it with fresh fuel it should be good to go ? If I leave this new tank set 6 or 7 months over winter will the tank rust ?

If you have your tanks' interior blasted, after a week or so, you'll be ready to kill that person that did it (LOL).
Seriouly though.. It's got nothing to do with (if/when) the take was cleaned. Other than using Ethanol free fuel, each time you gas up (good luck finding that any more), the rust will return..

The problem is Ethanol.

Ethanol causes water molecules to get drawn in from outside atmosphere..

It's called Phase separation which causes this. Since the tank is steel and was not designed from Yamana to deal with Ethanol fuels, we get rust build up and Foreign Matter (FM) in our carbs.

For this reason, and not wanting to go thru that hell I had with dirty carbs, filters, poor performance etc, over 200 hours of cleaning and at least 8 times pulling the carbs to ultrasonically clean each part,, I finally decided to kill it at the source. I coated my tank.
It's been 5 years now. I checked my bowls before putting her away for the winter and fuel system is still crystal clear.

I used the 3 step coating system from KBS Tank Sealer. It's a LONG and a painful process to do it right. It takes a lot of patients to follow the needed steps to insure the, washing/drying,, chemical cleaning/drying, etching/drying, then prepping the tank to get all areas coated. Coating itself and constant rotations to insure all areas are covered, including breather tube and vent line.. And every 15 minute go back to the tank and rotate it to eliminate pooling up areas until the coating no longer runs.. It is a real P.I.T.A but it works.

Once it's done right, according to KBS Systems, "it's rated to last the lifetime of the bike".

I'm selling the 4th tank I've sealed on that previous link, just FYI.

 

[caseyjones955]

Yup on the ethanol, stuff really sucks for carbs too. When I store for winter or when I take work assignments and have to let the bikes sit for more than a few days I top the fuel up as full as I can get it. I can usually get pure gasoline but not always.

Mine can sit all winter and if I store topped off with pure gasoline and a splash of seafoam then when spring comes I dont even need to shotgun them, just light em' up and go with no hint of tank rust or finicky carbs. With a fractional belly full of ethanol I can only imagine the moisture that would be trapped in the tank and how that would promote corrosion. ******' corn squeezings are the worst.

Sorry you gotta deal with it.

 

[nighthawk s]

well I have a 1983 Honda 650 nighthawk and when I'm done riding it in the fall I top off the tank ride it home, and in the spring drain the tank and fill it up with fresh fuel and it is good to go. Been doing that for last 15 years with no rust.