Topic: Will JB weld and por15 seal a fuel tank???

[manjisann]

Ok, so the motorcycle Gods have decided to totally rain on my parade. I found out my tank which I had so lovingly painted will not fit on my bike with the different carbs I'd installed. I pretty much had only one option left open to me and that was to move the petcock back on the tank. I did this, but was unable to weld all the way around it do to lack of space between the petcock tube and the side of the tank. Anyhow, so I'm thinking I'll just put a little JB weld in the area I was unable to weld and then do another por15 job on it. The fit is really pretty good so I'm thinking the JB weld will just keep the por15 in there long enough to set up and seal it.

I guess what I'm wondering is if anyone has had good long term results with por15 sealing pinholes?

Am I just crazy here?

Thanks,

Brandon

[kghost]

Yeah por-15 will prolly seal it....

But I think ya know its really not the way to fix that 

[gmonkey]

If there's not enough room to weld but enough room for epoxy, could you solder the hole closed with a torch?

[fmctm1sw]

The POR-15 kit I bought came with a small patching kit.  I'm not certain what level of reengineering you've done on the tank though as far as if it will hold or not...

[manjisann]

If there's not enough room to weld but enough room for epoxy, could you solder the hole closed with a torch?

The problem I run into is that I just spent a fair amount of money to paint the tank and using a torch would destroy even more of the paint than what was already ruined.

Brandon

[fasturd]

POR and JB weld will work... Just not the perfect way to do it. As long as the majority of the bung was welded on nicely it shouldn't be a problem. You would not belive how many american chopper tanks are fixed this way every day...

[Gonzowerke]

I have fixed fuel tanks, radiators, oil pans, and even a corroded piston from a K8's front caliper with JB Weld.

[manjisann]

Just for the sake of posterity, here's a pic of the fix. I circled the area in question, you'll be able to see why I can't get the mig torch in there.

Brandon

[Little_Horse]

it will work, just let a small amount of the Por 15 settle in that area so it is extra thick there. I sealed my tank which had a few pin holes in it too and it worked great.

[gmonkey]

What if you soldered it with an electric iron or one of the ones you preheat?

I'm planning on doing some tank soldering myself.  How did you clean it out and prep for applying heat?  I'm concerned I might set off a bang from gas fumes.  My tank's been sitting with no gas in it for around 6 months now but I was going to rinse it out with acetone and fill with water just in case.

[manjisann]

I rinsed it with water for a while then let it bake in the hot sun for a bit and rinsed it out again. By the time I was done the smell of gas was really pretty faint. As far as using water, the only issue with that is it would be very difficult to heat the metal hot enough to do anything useful without boiling the water out which would have it's own issues. If you are really worried about the fumes I've heard of putting the filler hole over a muffler and running the vehicle to displace the explosive fumes, or running argon or some other inert gas through it as you weld.

Brandon

[Inigo Montoya]

I have not had luck with jbweld on a tank by itself. It held a few days then leaked. badly.
the por15 though should take care if that issue.