Rusty Honda Fuel Tank Repair
April 11, 2005
This is a fuel tank from a 1984 Honda VT500 Ascot that sat for an extended period. I've bead blasted the lower edge, to remove surface rust and the paint to expose the damage.
It's pretty bad, but the metal around the holes doesn't appear to be too thin. There may be enough left for a repair.
After a bit of work with a dremel cutting wheel, I've got the tank split next to the flange where the upper and lower halves were originally welded together. Time for another trip to the bead blaster.
Cutting a fuel tank can be dangerous, but this tank was removed and flushed a few years ago, so there was no danger from explosive fumes.
April 12, 2005
After blasting the interior, the damage looks a little worse than it did last night. There are a few places that are perforated too badly for any repair other than a scab patch. I managed to get a little time with the TIG welder, today, and filled a bit of the gap, but I definitely need more practice. I scrounged some sheet steel to use for patches, so maybe I'll have time to cut and fit a few patches, tomorrow.
April 13, 2005
Didn't have much time to work on the tank, today.
Here's a quick sketch of an idea for painting the tank. Still needs a lot of work, the neck is too short, the wing isn't quite right, etc. But paint is something to worry about at a much later time.
April 15, 2005
I got three patches formed and tack welded in place. I still need to form some more patches for the left side, tack them in place, and weld the whole works.
Then I can get started on the upper section of the tank.
April 23, 2005
Didn't have as much time free for the tank, this week, but I did get the rest of the patches tacked on the left side and finished welding the small holes in the front corners.
May 7, 2005
Finally had a couple of days that I could spend some time with the tig welder. I globbed too much rod on for most of the welds, but started getting everything right for the last couple of inches (how did I know that was going to happen?). Since this has to hold fuel, there's a few spots that I have to grind off and redo, to get rid of pinholes and cold welds on one side.
At least I've gotten plenty of practice before starting on the top half of the tank, where the mistakes will be harder to hide.
On to the next step
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