Old style gas tanks

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Scott58 · #1 Post by **Scott58** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 3:56 am

I'm looking for a replica gas tank of a 1912 Harley-Davidson. I have an 04 spitfire cub-24 which is a 48cc motorized bicycle. I have replaced the fenders with 1912 vintage replicas and it's really starting to look good. the gas tank will be the finishing touch. Right now its a metal flake blue, but i'm going to paint it the original harley colors. I found a guy who would make one for $800, but for that price he can paint it, install it and fill it with gas for a few years. i 'll do a $3 to $400 range. other then that I may have to get into the gas tank making market. Any thoughts?

TechTMW · #2 Post by **TechTMW** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:39 am

That's a rough one. I think you'd be best off having one made. I think if you shopped around, you could probably get a better deal. It's not that difficult to fabricate, as it's pretty much straight panels - not round.

earwig · #3 Post by **earwig** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:43 pm

TechTMW wrote:It's not that difficult to fabricate, as it's pretty much straight panels - not round.

Heh... you better be a kick-butt welder to fab a tank and actually have it hold gas.

Kal · #4 Post by **Kal** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:18 pm

This is a replica you are putting together right, it dosnt have to be an exact match?

Could you fabricate a shell and place a scooter (or something like that) tank inside it???

TechTMW · #5 Post by **TechTMW** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:04 pm

earwig wrote: Heh... you better be a kick-butt welder to fab a tank and actually have it hold gas.

Actually, I don't think you have to be kick-butt anymore. You can use a por-15 coating on the inside of a leaky tank (Even one with BIG leaks) and not have to worry about it. The polymers in Por-15 are impervious to fuel - I've seen plenty of rusty, leaky tanks reliably fixed w/ this stuff - no reason why it wouldn't work on a fabbed tank as well.

earwig · #6 Post by **earwig** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:18 am

TechTMW wrote:
earwig wrote: Heh... you better be a kick-butt welder to fab a tank and actually have it hold gas.
Actually, I don't think you have to be kick-butt anymore. You can use a por-15 coating on the inside of a leaky tank (Even one with BIG leaks) and not have to worry about it. The polymers in Por-15 are impervious to fuel - I've seen plenty of rusty, leaky tanks reliably fixed w/ this stuff - no reason why it wouldn't work on a fabbed tank as well.

Yeh... true. I guess I am just against fixing shotty work materials made to fix problems

Scott58 · #7 Post by **Scott58** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:22 am

Welding is the problem. I can do it i'm just not good at it. It took me 5 tries to fix a leaking tank once and it wasn't pretty. I was just glad my weld was underneith so I couldn't see it. I really want to stay away from polymer coating if at all possible. Guess i'll have to keep looking. I was also thinking about just purchasing 2 cylinders like you see on small air compressors and using those, but i'd really like a harly replica tank. it amazes me that some of these manufacturers don't make 1929 and below replica bikes. they'd be alot cheaper to make then the high tech stuff we have now. Alot of people just like to putt around at 65mph or less it sure seems there'd be a market for this type of motorcycle if they'd just sell them for what the manufacturing cost was rather then what they think they could get. dream on right?