Tank Repair

[Chrisbo]

Hi,

Have any of you ever repaired sucessfully a hole or split in a plastic tank like the ones on the mid seventies KTM's and if so what did you use?

Thanks
Chris

[Chakka]

Hi Chris,

Yes, I have repaired several fiberglass Penton gas tanks but never a plastic one from 79' or 80'. I used West System epoxy and fiberglass cloth tape availible from:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com

the process was simple. Rinse the tank with acetone to get out old varnished gas and gunk. If the tank is holed I cut away the soft and damaged fiberglass with a razor knife. Mix up some epoxy (it is fuel resistant) cut a piece of cloth to cover the hole, saturate it in epoxy and slide the piece in from the gas cap hole. I use a long wood dowel and a flashlight to help allign it over the hole. I usually use 2 pieces one on top of the other. allow to dry 24 hrs approx and fill the depression from the outside. I use West System high density filler but bondo works as well. Hope that helps
Chris

[Chrisbo]

Thanks for that Chris, I'll maybe give it a try and see what happens

Cheers

[Keithuu]

In a related matter, has anyone used Caswell sealer on plastic tanks? I used the stuff very successfully on my '75's tank but my grandson's XR100 "breathes" enough thru the plastic to totally distort tank graphics[:0] At $35 a pop for NOS Honda stickers, I thought I'd try the left-over Caswell from my Penton project to hopefully stop the wheezing.

Keithuu

I finally got thru to Caswell and they proclaimed the sealer A-OK for plastic. They recommended dropping a handful of drywall screws into the tank (and removing 'em, of course!) to roughen up the inside.