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The problem is though,Polyester is pretty brittle and without the fiber in it, this can happen;

Other products are available,I know and far better suited for this but I had the polyester left over, so I did the whole process again but this time I stuffed it with fiberglass.

Not as beautiful, but a good bit stronger. I sanded it back,drilled and countersunk the bolt holes and fitted it (very carefully).


Ill polish it up eventually, when I get round to it.

i like that you had go at the cable end and the clutch adj.cover.
not necessarily the way i would have gone about it.
but you have opened my eyes to a couple different ways of doing things that i may be able to incorporate into future repairs.
btw,are you a member of advrider.com/ it is a good resource and place to make connections for that tet/tat/rtw adventure ride you are planning.

keep us posted,

leon

Nice job on a cable and cover. I hope the cable end stays put for many miles.

Yup,the cable is still to be properly tested. I havent touched the bike in months. Sitting out the winter,waiting for spring. (Still riding the Bandit to work every day though).
I did charge up the battery last week and if we get a mild enough weekend, Ill give it a good wash behind the ears.
Leon,Im not a member of advrider,though I think Im in the facebook group. Theres a lot of these type of groups and to be honest the names all tend to blend together. I am
keeping tabs on the TET group,as thats a European group and more relevant to what Im intrested in. Im 'Hoping' to head to the Pyrenees this summer (on the XT) and do a bit of offroading there.

So, another year come and gone and I have barely touched the bike. As in my last post,waiting for spring! I still have a list of things that need done,one of which is the fuel system. As I mentioned in earlier posts,Ive had problems with the petcock and problems with the carbs.I ended up fitting an on/off tap between the two. This was meant as a temporary solution and worked well but I want to sort the problems properly. I'm convinced the tank is dirty/rusty and this is whats causing the problems.
I have cleaned the petcock countless times and fitted a rebuild kit twice. I reckon something is getting into the diaphragm and stopping it from closing properly.
So,the plan (as soon as the weather improves) is to pull the tank and carbs,flush everything,clean everything and replace what needs replaced.

With this in mind,I was thinking about what to do to the tank,as I dont trust just flushing it and refitting it. A new/2nd hand tank is out of the question for many reasons,as is tank sealer. So,this morning I had a bit of a brain fart and got to thinking about zinc or nickel plating the inside of the tank.
Would this be possible? Technically, yes. Would it be wise?? Thats a different question. Ive never heard anyone talk about this as a solution to rusty tanks. There must be a reason. What am I missing?
Has anyone tried this or knows why I shouldnt?

Plating zinc, or any other electroplating process, runs into issues with enclosed spaces in metal. The term is called a Faraday Cage. The enclosure creates a weird electrical field of varying directions which inhibits the plating process. Do an internet search about it. It would not be technically doable to try and electroplate the inside of a fuel tank.

A galvanic zinc and nickel plating needs a 100% clean and rust free surface you will never get inside the a fuel tank.
Best solution is to get a POR15 cleaner/sealer kit. I did it 20 years ago on my fuel tank and didn´t have any rust problems until today inside my fuel tank.
If the anode and kathode is inside the fuel tank electroplating should be possible. You will find a lot of youtube videos of de-rusting fuel tanks the same way.

Spring has sprung,though another year since my last post.Last year I decided to try and sort out the fuel system.Pulled the carbs,tank and fuel tap all off to attack each one at a time.
Fuel tap was just a case of stripping,dipping,cleaning,polishing and reassembly. Carbs also pretty much.Though I did end up re-plating a lot of the smaller bits. I also invested in a powdercoat set up and thought it would be rude not to treat the tops and bowls to a nice powdercoated finish. Thats all done now. and Ill post some photos when Ive finished reassembly.
 So,now just the tank!!
I did quite a bit of research into plating the tank. Nobody on the internet had had a go,as far as I could find. A lot of people said that it couldnt be done but couldnt give a good reason why. I dsicounted the Faradys cage problem as I reckoned if you can strip the rust off the inside with electolysis, why not the other way round?. Getting the tank totally clean is also not such a big deal. Done it before.(Though other problems lay therein!) So, in the name of science,I decided to have a go at it. What have I got to lose?
 First thing was to clean it out and get the rust out. Ive had success in the past with brown vinegar.

 
 
A very messy process but it works.

 
The problem though!! Is that normally,I would rinse it out with soda to neutralise the vinegar then spray it with WD40 to stop the flash rust. This is no good for plating as it needs to be rust free AND grease free. So,I ended up with flash rust.
 

Well,I have to say I tried this a few times.Trying different things after the final flush.Stuffing towels into it,putting it on the radiator,A hair dryer. Nothing worked. Always flash rust starting to appear almost instantly.
Eventually,I figured that the only thing that might work would be to dump the electrolyte straight in after the final flush.Not giving the air a chance to hit the steel.Of course,I was doing the flushing out in the shower upstairs and the plating down in the basement,so, once the electrolyte was in it (filled to the brim) I had to get it downstairs without spilling it everywhere.
 Once I managed that, the anodes went in very carefully and I connected everything and got the power on.

 
 

 Well, To cut a long story short. At the best,I would say it was a partial success!

 


In other words it didnt work. I was convinced that it still COULD work but not by me. I know that there are a lot of factors at play in plating, Electolyte makeup,temperature,voltage/amperage,timing. Im sure the amount of stuff I know about plating is far outweighed by the stuff I dont know!

 Anyway,I didnt give up on it.I became a bit obsessed with the idea.I wanted to know why I couldnt do it. So, looking further,I discovered that there are 2 different processes for plating. The first,what I was doing,through electolysis, the 2nd, a hot dip type of thing.This is used for heavy steel construction,gates,lampposts,street furniture,thing like that. It involves dipping the piece in a (very) hot bath of chemicals. I found a local company that does this and asked them about my tank. They said that as the temperatures are so high and the tank steel is so thin, that chances are it wouldnt survive.They were willing to try it though!
 Then I found a guy in the north who does electroplating for a living and he explained that the main reason I cant plate the inside of a tank is that the the anode needs to be the same size or bigger than the piece being plated!
 So,there you go.I got my answer,which Im happy with but It doesnt help me with my tank!

Hi Davido, is there a specific reason why you are going this route as opposed to installing a tank liner. I ask as I am about to start an 82 ltd Resto-mod build (I stumbled on your build thread last year and loved what you had done with your CSR)

Flush your tank with denatured Etylalcohol or Bio Ethanol to prevent flash rust.



 

wrote:

Hi Davido, is there a specific reason why you are going this route as opposed to installing a tank liner. I ask as I am about to start an 82 ltd Resto-mod build (I stumbled on your build thread last year and loved what you had done with your CSR)
 

A tank liner seemed to be the only option and Ive heard too many nightmare stories about them. Sure there are people that have had great success with them but for every positive story there seem to be a lot more negative stories. From what I understand, IF it goes wrong, that's it. You can say goodbye to your tank.So I was looking for an alternative. I had some success plating small brackets,nuts and bolts etc,so I thought why not. Scale it up and have a go at the tank. Its a non destructive process (thought the vinegar knackered my paint!)
If it works,it would be a cheap and durable solution and there would be great rejoicing amongst those afflicted with rusty tanks!!
 But. It didnt work.