Thinking about tanks for my upcoming build, I will be using a Huffy Cranbrook I picked up for $25 on CL. I want to do something for the gas tank other than the stock peanut.
While I would LOVE a moped style tank like the one Imperial Cycles sells, $135 is way more than I would like to sink right now. I am going to see if I can find anything comparable in the local slavage yards, but my hopes are low.
Since I do not weld, but have a neighbor that I can bug for some small welding tasks, I was thinking of going with a canister style gas tank in the frame, mounted "sideways". It looks like a cylinder of 3.5" OD will fit pretty well.
A rough mock up, from the side:
I was thinking 3.5" OD, 9" long. Since the bottom frame rails are 3" apart, that leaves a 3" overhang on each side. I *think* that will not look too bad, and I plan on cutting some aluminum or tin sheet to "fill" in the rest of the open area. That would give me about 0.25 gallons of gas. Not much, but enough to get me to the store and back and just cruise around town, which was my goal.
As far as constructing it, from Googling, it looks like a 3.5" OD, 3" ID steel pipe is pretty common, and the "drive on" end caps are pretty cheap. I figured I could get the drive on end caps, and solder them with a torch and solder from Home Depot. (Why solder for the end caps? I am not sure how well my neighbor welds, so figure soldering them myself would mean less grinding for cleanup, lol)
Then get the vented filler cap and bung from BungKing and either get my neighbor to weld it on, or use JB Weld. Or, would solder work for attaching the bung to the cylinder? I figured since the cylinder is a curve, that solder would not be able to fill the gap.
The same with a bung for the petcock, either get my neighbor to weld it up, JB or solder.
How does that look to y'all? I was considering going with a pork and beans style tank behind the seat, but with the layback seat post I am looking to use, I do not think it would look right to me.
Will it look goofy? I really have a hard time picturing it... I might just have to mock one up out of PVC tonight...
While I would LOVE a moped style tank like the one Imperial Cycles sells, $135 is way more than I would like to sink right now. I am going to see if I can find anything comparable in the local slavage yards, but my hopes are low.
Since I do not weld, but have a neighbor that I can bug for some small welding tasks, I was thinking of going with a canister style gas tank in the frame, mounted "sideways". It looks like a cylinder of 3.5" OD will fit pretty well.
A rough mock up, from the side:
I was thinking 3.5" OD, 9" long. Since the bottom frame rails are 3" apart, that leaves a 3" overhang on each side. I *think* that will not look too bad, and I plan on cutting some aluminum or tin sheet to "fill" in the rest of the open area. That would give me about 0.25 gallons of gas. Not much, but enough to get me to the store and back and just cruise around town, which was my goal.
As far as constructing it, from Googling, it looks like a 3.5" OD, 3" ID steel pipe is pretty common, and the "drive on" end caps are pretty cheap. I figured I could get the drive on end caps, and solder them with a torch and solder from Home Depot. (Why solder for the end caps? I am not sure how well my neighbor welds, so figure soldering them myself would mean less grinding for cleanup, lol)
Then get the vented filler cap and bung from BungKing and either get my neighbor to weld it on, or use JB Weld. Or, would solder work for attaching the bung to the cylinder? I figured since the cylinder is a curve, that solder would not be able to fill the gap.
The same with a bung for the petcock, either get my neighbor to weld it up, JB or solder.
How does that look to y'all? I was considering going with a pork and beans style tank behind the seat, but with the layback seat post I am looking to use, I do not think it would look right to me.
Will it look goofy? I really have a hard time picturing it... I might just have to mock one up out of PVC tonight...
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