custom gas tank for vintage (and other) straightbar frames

bairdco

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
i ran into an old buddy of mine that does metal fab, and i asked him about making a simple, in-frame tank for my goodyear bike. he said "yeah, no problem."

soooo, what i'm after is a 2.5" o.d. pipe, 14 inches long, with two mounting tabs for the top bar, screw on gas cap, and the standard petcock.

it should hold a little over 1/2 gallon, which i think is the same as the stock peanut.

i could go all out and have him make something to fill in the entire area, but i want to get the original fake tank and hide the gas tank inside. plus, it's way less work for him, which means cheaper.

we haven't talked price yet, but he told me he'd do it cheap, like under 50 bucks, and before you get your hopes up, he might not be into making a bunch of them, but IF i can get some made, anyone out there want one? i mean, for reals want one, where you send me money and i send you a tank, not you saying "yeah! (maybe, uh...") and i get stuck with a bunch of tanks.

i need to get an idea of how many definite buyers before i hit him up for a number.

also, lemme know what you'd be willing to pay, like i said, they'd be under 50 bucks. (plus shipping of course.) i'm not trying to make any money off these, but since custom gas tanks are hard to come by, and ridiculously expensive, i figure this would be a cool way to go.

i'll let you know more in a coupla days...
 
Look into steel electrical conduit, it comes in those sizes. You could probably score a free cut off peice from a shop!
 
yeah, this ain't happening. when we went over it, the pipe gas tank would be way too small, like 28 ounces or something, and the time and cost to build it just wasn't worth it.

so it was just a "pipe" dream.
 
LOL @ "pipe dream" And my aged mother calls me "Attila the Pun"

Is funny you phrased it as a pipe. Couldn't sleep last night and the kit Tyreslider and I are working on is in need of a tank. So walking around in circles till the wee hours, had a thought. Rack mounted, 4 or 6" threaded pipe. Could easily use reducing to make a fill pipe and vent with a sight glass. (one brass petcock or valve and a brass "T" that would double as a vent. All sorts of ways to make it a lil better looking and the bracket could be made out of flat stock, U-bolts and a drill press. Just went to my local hardware store and priced it out.

Will make one in Jan. I want to aim for about a 3/4 gal cap. Dunno but will report.

Did you catch Slumps post? #27, http://motorbicycling.com/f3/gas-tanks-12525-3.html#post135877
 
it would be prety ez to make a rack mounted tank from 4" pvc pipe, it would be thick enough to thread 1/8 npt for the petcock, ready made end caps, would just need to cut and glue a fill tube/cap in the top.
 
camlifter said:
it would be prety ez to make a rack mounted tank from 4" pvc pipe, it would be thick enough to thread 1/8 npt for the petcock, ready made end caps, would just need to cut and glue a fill tube/cap in the top.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking Cam. Looked it up and gas will hurt PVC and eventually soften it. So either have to go metal or coat inside of PVC.

Nothing easier to work with then plastic. Think "Kreem" would work?

Just read it is for metal tanks. Bummer

Link to Chemical Compatability Results


Cole-Parmer: Compatibility Results
 
Good idea. I had thought about that but would have required me getting up, lol. Found some interesting and dissenting information. This one is cool and has pics; SpudTech Archive • View topic - PVC Pipe Gasoline Resistance Test (hehe, typical forum guys. They all jumped on this guy for extrapolating the thought to his needs. Glad we are not the real interweb!)((You guys, as always, rock))

Have to run to work. Well, it's cold so I'll take the car. But will buy a length of PVC and caps to start testing. Pics and report to follow.

will start another thread. Sorry about rambling all over your thread Baird
 
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