Anyone had a tank hinge brazed locally?

[scott_araujo]

Mine may be leaking   I have a couple of people to contact who may do it but I'm not sure if they're into welding gas tanks.  Just looking to find someone who can do it and keep the tank cool enough not to spoil any visible paint.  I don't want to repaint the whole tank just for this.

I need to keep reminding myself that working on thin sheet metal full of explosive fumes is not a good first project to take on but it just sounds so seductively enticing!

Thanks,

Scott

[SaltLick]

Mine may be leaking   I have a couple of people to contact who may do it but I'm not sure if they're into welding gas tanks.  Just looking to find someone who can do it and keep the tank cool enough not to spoil any visible paint.  I don't want to repaint the whole tank just for this.

I need to keep reminding myself that working on thin sheet metal full of explosive fumes is not a good first project to take on but it just sounds so seductively enticing!

Thanks,

Scott

JDucati had his done at Macs radiator shop in portland, i think he said it cost him $75. Not sure if he had to take all the inerds out or not and wash the tank out. Thats the big pita.

[JDucati]

Total it cost me a little over 100 bucks... I had a local ducati shop take all the guts out and put them back in for me so I knew it was done right. (note I uninstalled the tank from the bike before taking it to the shop then reinstalled it myself)  Do not take a chance with your fuel tank.

Macs Radiator did a pretty good job.  Just stress that you are not going to repaint the tank.  They will take it easy on it.

What color is your tank?

~JD

[scott_araujo]

Thanks for the info guys.  The bike is all Dark.  I don't mind tearing the guts out myself and washing it out so I suppose I only have to pay for the brazing.  I don't mind a rattle can touch up on the bottom where it gets brazed and even up behind the nose of the seat.  Just don't want the visible parts marred if I can avoid it.

JD, was yours leaking at the hinge or did you get it done for some other reason?  Did you also do a coating on the inside of the tank or did the brazing seal it?  I'd rather not coat the inside if I don't have to.  Which Mac's location did you go to?  Did you deal with someone in particular at the shop?

Scott

[SaltLick]

Thanks for the info guys.  The bike is all Dark.  I don't mind tearing the guts out myself and washing it out so I suppose I only have to pay for the brazing.  I don't mind a rattle can touch up on the bottom where it gets brazed and even up behind the nose of the seat.  Just don't want the visible parts marred if I can avoid it.

JD, was yours leaking at the hinge or did you get it done for some other reason?  Did you also do a coating on the inside of the tank or did the brazing seal it?  I'd rather not coat the inside if I don't have to.  Which Mac's location did you go to?  Did you deal with someone in particular at the shop?

Scott

Just some observations since i went through this whole process about a month ago. Hopefully this will save you some heartache.

Tearing the guts out are the easy part, the hard part is getting the fuel pump back into the clip. I spent 2hrs trying to get that back in there, in the end i got it but my arm was bruised and i was about ready to throw it out the window. Put lube on the fuel pump housing. If you do have to wash out the tank, put some dawn liquid and hot water in there and let it soak for along time, then slosh it around and take a wash cloth and get in there with your hand and scrub the walls of the tank. Do over a period of a couple days (wash, rinse repeat let dry overnight, wash rinse repeat let dry overnight) as far as coating the tank....i did not coat mine i was going to but was told by the techs at ducati that if it pressure tests, dont coat it.  They said they have seen so many tanks that have been done wrong with coatings and its coming off that unless you really know what your doing or have someone that knows what they are doing dont coat it if it pressure tests. So i didnt, mine is holding up well without the coating and mine was welded in 6 different places. Pressure tested with no leaks.
Do yourself a favor and in the end take your tank to ducati to have them put the filler cap back on. I spent a while trying to figure out the trick, finally took it there and it took 2 of thier techs 30 minutes of struggling with it before they gave up and called another guy over that popped it in within 10 seconds. There is a trick to it, give it a go and good luck. Oh yeah, when hooking up the fuel lines back to the tank be sure to hook up the right ones. Nothing worse than getting it all done, filling the tank then realizing after 10 times of trying to start it with no luck that you hooked up the fuel lines backwards.  Now what? Yep, gotta drain all the gas out so you can lift the tank all the way back up so you can then get to the gas lines. Pull the gas lines, gas goes everywhere while you switch them in a panic.  Good times ill tell ya.

[scott_araujo]

Thanks Salty.  I was looking at the exploded diagrams and there's a lot of crap in there.  I'm sure it won't be fun.  No worries about getting the filler cap back on, I did it this past weekend when swapping the fuel filter.  It was a bit of a hassle to get the gasket on and get it straight but only took 10 minutes or so.  And yeah, so many stories about peeling coatings is why I don't want one.  I read Duc Painter's write up on POR-15 and some other stuff about it, that's what I'll use if I have to.  But yeah, I'll have Mac's pressure test it and skip it if I can.

Still not sure if it's leaking or not.  I was down cleaning up the garage a bit and took a look in there.  Nothing wet, rubbed my fingers around, nothing smelling like gas.  Maybe I just sloshed some down there while I was swapping the fuel filter.  I'll need to take a closer look soon.  It wouldn't surprise me if it is leaking, I did a lot of work with it propped up a while back.

Thanks,

Scott

[JDucati]

Portland Macs Radiator main location.  Mine is dark also so no worries there. I had the hinge leak as well.  Just get the guts out.  They will take care of the rest for ya.  Don't worry about washing it out.

Just be clear that you dont want to repaint the tank.

 I will look at my receipt and figure out who I was dealing with.  Just gotta find it first.

~JD

[scott_araujo]

Tore the guts out and it's ready for the shop now.  It was less involved than I thought but the fuel pump is pretty hard to get out.  I'm glad I just re-read this post, I'll definitely lube the pump before trying to get it back in the clip, thanks for the tip Salty

Most Mac's have Saturday hours so off I go!

Scott

[scott_araujo]

Dropped it off with Brad at the Mac's on SE Foster.  They've got 16 other tanks to repair before mine so it will probably be a week or more.  That sucks   He said they should be able to clean it out and repair it without damaging the paint.

Scott

[duc_fan]

Good to hear!  Here's hoping you get it back all repaired and with no paint damage. 

[JDucati]

16 tanks?  holy geebus... must be summer coming.  Brad was the guy I dealt with.  Good man he is.

I will bet it will be ready in 3 days...

Good luck

~JD

[scott_araujo]

Yeah he was a nice guy.

"What kind of time frame are you hoping for?"
"I want it done today man!  Can't you see it's sunny out?"
He laughs, I say whatever and he told me he has 16 tanks lined up before mine, probably be a week.
"But it's going to rain all week anyway."
"Not if my tank's in the shop!  C'mon you know that's how it works!"
He laughs again.  Nice guy.

On the other hand, if the paint suffers I think I'll do a quick touch up for this season and then repaint the tank and fender over the winter.  Maybe metallic green or green and silver two tone with some pinstriping.   Maybe copper and silver?  We'll see, hopefully there will be no need to paint.

Scott

[krolik]

  Maybe metallic green or green and silver two tone with some pinstriping.   

Scott

Green Monster!

[scott_araujo]

Yeah, I'm trying to think of non-stock colors that would look good with the black frame.  Taking the tank and fender off are easy but tearing the whole bike down to get to the frame would be a pain.

I think I dig the green because I never had one of these when I was a kid and I still want one:
http://www.marxtoymuseum.com/_borders/greenmachine.jpg
http://ohitson.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/original.jpg
Scott

[Bendy]

This is the green machine you're looking for!