I started cutting up one of my stock peanut tanks today to get it to sit further down on my top tube. Made a new tunnel out of 1 1/2" steel tubing & some sheet. I bent the tubing to match my top tube, then sliced it in half with the cut off wheel Gonna make tabs at the front & back kinda like a whizzer tank, and run a flow tube underneath the top tube so the gas can cross over from each side. Thinking about shortening the gas filler stem too. I'll post pics tomorrow. This is what it looks like now, accept I put 26ers on it.
Very appealing bike. Wonder how it would look if you left the 24" on there and put a skinny 26 or a 700c on there 24 on the front? Great ides about tunneling the tank. I've Got a new one I might try to do. Did your tank have gas in it before? They've been known to explode from vapors cooked out of the metal when welded without extreme caution. One old school saw done once was to fill the tank almost full with water before welding and weld where the air pocket is. Had to leave a way the pressure to get out You can use chrome plastic door edging from AutoZone ect on the seam flange. Really looks good.
Dig that bike's stance, looks comfy! One of my brothers had those same grips on a bike, were very nice. Plump in the middle, much nicer than my too-thin Electra Stream Ride grips. No hand cramps. Nice work, man! And like Wayne said, the door edging stuff works well. Lining my Wald fenders with that stuff is an old trick of mine.
I've got a stock tank on the way to your house now. When you have time please beat it into nice aluminum alloy gas tank like yours. If it's not too much trouble can you beat some black power coat on it too?
BEAT IT! [beat it] BEAT IT! [beat it] Get yourself a torch and heat it! [oh yeah...] Get some rolled steel! Get a ball peen! Womp on that sucker 'till it's long and lean, and just BEAT IT! (apologies to Michael Jackson.)
So, I didnt do any more work to the tank today, but i did rebuild my motor mount, replacing the pipe clamps with inserts to bolt it to the frame. Also i chopped my muffler off & made a rubber mount for the exhaust, sounds *****in! I think it looks better with the 26ers! Check out my new hat, its sweet~
Here's some pics of the tank i chopped to bits, ideas for improvement & comments are always welcome. I also switched over to opti-2 80:1 mix and ran it all over town, soo good!
One more of the side view, when i get more done I'll show you what it looks like on the bike. This is a pic of the bike it came off of.
@ biknut- I might, but it'll have to wait til i get the tunnel in or ill have a million pieces to weld together. @ wayne z- The stretch is a Micargi bronco & the blue one is a felt sunliner
The problem with that tunnel in the tank is fuel will get trapped on one side and never make it to the other side with the petcock. So it will run out of gas with half a tank left. You need to add a crossover tube on the bottom of the tank. Nothing big or fancy - just a small hose fitting on each side connected by a piece of tubing under the frame tube that will allow fuel to equalize between the left and right tank halves.
good idea, thats just like whats on my 1970 indian 50-4 dirtbike (realy awesome but its a bit of a work in progress)
Also since you tunneled the tank why not use that to mount to your frame just like a motorcycle 3 bolts easy 2 front 1 rear thats how i mounted mine .