how do you make a water bottle gas tank

[mopedmancb]

my tank vibrated so much on my 70cc 2stroke earth cruiser bicycle that it started leaking. i am 15 mile from home i have no money, i have a extra 1/2 gallon of premix, a short fuel line, and tones of water bottles and tape ive got a phillips a flathead and some pliers! does anyone know how to make a temporary gas tank from a water bottle that wont dump fuel on the hot clean engine does any body have a suggestion

 

[eDJ]

Well, #1 you should still be able to ride with your pedal power right ? If you start to ride
back toward your home you will certainly go by a gas station-garage/auto parts store
or someone's place where you could bum a piece of tubing the size that fits your carb. (promise
to bring it back later) You'll need enough to reach the upper frame member or handelbars to get a syphon feed to the carb. (like the Cuban kids do with thier Riquimbili bikes) You'll also need a piece of
wire or string of some kind to tie the neck of the bottle to the frame or handelbars. Fill the bottle half way or so with fuel and connect the line to the carb. Now, place your lips over the neck of the
bottle and try to seal them around the hose too as best as possible and blow into the bottle
so you'll drive the fuel up thru the line where it will travel downward to the carb. If you can hit the
"tickler" on the carb you can bleed the float bowl to assure you have a primed line & carb.
Try to ride and start the motor with the throttle wide open. When the engine starts throttle back
some and then run up the rpm with the clutch disengaged to clear any flooding. Then just ride
easy to get back home.

#2 Depending on how long your line is from tank to carb, you could just hold a bottle with fuel
in it beside the carb and blow into it (as described above to fill the float bowl while holding down the tickler) This will fill the float bowl again. Then ride to start the engine. I'm not sure how many
miles you'll get to a float bowl full of fuel but that would be interesting to know and publish here.



#3 suggestion for the future. Have a piece of line that can splice onto your fuel line at the petcock
with clamps on it that's long enough to reach the handelbars. Your spare fuel (one liter bottle)
should have a wire tied around the neck where you could fit a shower curtain pin under that wire
and slide that over the handelbar and then clip it in the closed position. This way you can run
the piece of hose from the bottle on the handelbar to the existing fuel line and ride home. But
you will have to blow into the bottle with the line in it to get the fuel over the top of the bottle
so it will syphon down to the carb and provid gravity feed.

I think it's an interesting question to pose here. What would be in YOUR emergency road kit ?

 

[Cabinfever1977]

if you go by a gas station they might have gastank stop leak putty.
or hang bottle from gas tank cap/neck,poke 2 holes in bottle cap,put line in one hole and run to carb,push primer button until gas reaches carb.start bike,if not starting prime again.hang bottle upright.

 

[lancewannabe]

there is always an easy solution. never give up looking around corners. there should be an anti vibration method to prevent that crazy problem, like rubber in between the gas tank and frame.

 

[Cabinfever1977]

i have my tank mounted on my rear rack with thick rubber between rack and tank.
i bet everone has some rubber laying around with your spare parts.
but everone can get stop leak gastank putty or some jb-weld or modeling clay in a emergency or if you have to duck tape it,sure to hold for a while.

or take a soda bottle hang from your seat,make 2 holes in the cap,run line from one hole down to carb.the other hole is for vent.prime a couple times then start.i bet it works.

 

[matt167]

the temp gas tank on my '51 Chevy is a 2L soda bottle ( car is in restoration now, and it's just to move it around )... simple.. drilled hole just big enough to fit the 3/8" rubber line thru the cap.. fill with gas from a funnel.. leave cap somewhat loose but as to where it don't leak much, and it works fine, and it sits upright under the hood.... hate to say it tho, it's gonna leak worse than a leaky tank on a MB

 

[Norman]

you can solder your leak shut but you have to flush the tank out with lots of hot water and soap this isn't safe if you don't do it right and can blow up or burn you badly. You can use a innert gas like nitrogen to stop combustion inside of the tank again its not cheap to do. Take it to a radiator shop they might weld it or solder it so it will stop leaking most auto part stores sell a epoxy tank patch might work for a while and it might not. If you are close I can fix it won't charge you a dime.
I live in Pampa.Tx. or you can mail it to me. OOps I see you live east of me quite east but my offer to fix it stands you pay for shipping round trip
Norman

 

[matt167]

a new tank is $30 off Ebay.. probably cheaper than the radiator shop and safer than solder..

 

[Cabinfever1977]

i think some sites sell them for $20 plus shipping.
but i wouldnt buy the same tank on purpose,id go buy a diffrent one.
maybe a small one for a gocart or dirt bike.

 

[Norman]

Matt what makes you think solder won't work look at radiators and the older gas tanks before they were made out of plastic on small engines they are soldered. big industrial radiators are still soldered.

 

[matt167]

Matt what makes you think solder won't work look at radiators and the older gas tanks before they were made out of plastic on small engines they are soldered. big industrial radiators are still soldered.

never said solder wouldn't work, because I know that it will.... BUT, a soldering torch and gas fumes don't mix... if you don't evacuate the fumes completely.. you could blow your head off... Exhaust can work, water can work, nitrogen can work ect... but if it's not completely evacuated. BOOM..... I restore cars, do some high performance work on engines ect, so a lot of stuff I do, does need to bee brazed/ soldered but because of the danger in welding or soldering on a gas tank, I will not do it myself

 

[bandito]

Ive fixed hundreds of gas tanks................fill with water and make sure theres a lil air pocket in it and stand the leak in the tank upright with the rest of the tank holding the water, make sure the air pocket is at the highest point along with the leak then proceed to repair. A soldering iron will work to but you need a lil experience with those. I mean an old fashion hot iron with no flame. Another way is to steam clean the tank with hot water to get the fumes out.

 

[matt167]

I wouldn't trust steam cleaning.. gas fumes can and never will be cleaned out... steam will only temporarily displace them... my point is, when your dealing with gas tanks, you have to really know what your doing.. someone less experienced ( or no experience at all ) gets 1 thing wrong, and there is too much air and still fumes in there. BOOM..... I'll resolder radiators all day long.. even tho I could do a gas tank, I won't because I don't want it to blow up in my face..

 

[Goat Herder]

A big ol gas tank I would approach more carefully . Little ol china tank prep it good is easy...

 

[Echotraveler]

i would send it to norman, clean it first.....free weld!? NICE!

if you had to pay for the welding, then i would consider buying a new tank.

 

[Norman]

Did you know a full tank is less dangerous than an almost empty tank?
I worked in the oil field for over 35 years we had to clean and weld inside of oil and gas tanks none of us got blew up or hurt.
10,000 bbls tanks down to 250 bbl tanks I do know that I'm doing!
The fuel tank on a bike is no different just smaller and easier to do clean and repair.
Its not for everyone there's people where I worked that would hide when we repaired gas lines 26" dia and no way to wash them out just let them vent and burn while we welded them up. Hot and dirty job. Not really that dangerous we took all kind of safety measures to make it as safe as possible. Life is a risk.
Norman

 

[matt167]

Did you know a full tank is less dangerous than an almost empty tank?
I worked in the oil field for over 35 years we had to clean and weld inside of oil and gas tanks none of us got blew up or hurt.
10,000 bbls tanks down to 250 bbl tanks I do know that I'm doing!
The fuel tank on a bike is no different just smaller and easier to do clean and repair.
Its not for everyone there's people where I worked that would hide when we repaired gas lines 26" dia and no way to wash them out just let them vent and burn while we welded them up. Hot and dirty job. Not really that dangerous we took all kind of safety measures to make it as safe as possible. Life is a risk.
Norman

yes I know some people weld tanks after filling them full of gas, because the fumes are what's dangerous..experience is key here... you have lots of experience with this stuff, and know all the ins and outs, where as some people may not, and it does have the capacity to seriously hurt someone, or kill them if you do somthing wrong.... altho I do have experience welding and soldering. you won't see me welding as much as near a gas tank, not because I can't but because I don't want it to blow up in my face if I didn't get somthing right.

 

[Dan]

Well, #1 you should still be able to ride with your pedal power right ? If you start to ride
back toward your home you will certainly go by a gas station-garage/auto parts store
or someone's place where you could bum a piece of tubing the size that fits your carb. (promise
to bring it back later) You'll need enough to reach the upper frame member or handelbars to get a syphon feed to the carb. (like the Cuban kids do with thier Riquimbili bikes) You'll also need a piece of
wire or string of some kind to tie the neck of the bottle to the frame or handelbars. Fill the bottle half way or so with fuel and connect the line to the carb. Now, place your lips over the neck of the
bottle and try to seal them around the hose too as best as possible and blow into the bottle
so you'll drive the fuel up thru the line where it will travel downward to the carb. If you can hit the
"tickler" on the carb you can bleed the float bowl to assure you have a primed line & carb.
Try to ride and start the motor with the throttle wide open. When the engine starts throttle back
some and then run up the rpm with the clutch disengaged to clear any flooding. Then just ride
easy to get back home.

#2 Depending on how long your line is from tank to carb, you could just hold a bottle with fuel
in it beside the carb and blow into it (as described above to fill the float bowl while holding down the tickler) This will fill the float bowl again. Then ride to start the engine. I'm not sure how many
miles you'll get to a float bowl full of fuel but that would be interesting to know and publish here.



#3 suggestion for the future. Have a piece of line that can splice onto your fuel line at the petcock
with clamps on it that's long enough to reach the handelbars. Your spare fuel (one liter bottle)
should have a wire tied around the neck where you could fit a shower curtain pin under that wire
and slide that over the handelbar and then clip it in the closed position. This way you can run
the piece of hose from the bottle on the handelbar to the existing fuel line and ride home. But
you will have to blow into the bottle with the line in it to get the fuel over the top of the bottle
so it will syphon down to the carb and provid gravity feed.

I think it's an interesting question to pose here. What would be in YOUR emergency road kit ?

Cool idea! Have any pics of the "Riquimbili bikes" setups using that eDJ?

 

[Cabinfever1977]

i have pics.

 

[unior]

Here ya go. This requres one dasani 1 litre water bottle or equivalent with a sturdy cap, A drill bit roughly the same size as your stock chinese fuel filter, and a few zip ties. Drill a hole in the cap, screw the filter/valve assembly in the cap with gasket, zip tie to frame. My water bottle got me to work for 3 weeks while I waited for a new tank.