How to: Fuel tank rust hole repair using solder. First Time!
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- The last step in this tank repair process I started a while ago was to fix this rust hole on the bottom of the tank. I knew I was going to either solder, weld, or braze is closed but I wasn’t sure what one. Thats is when I stumbled across Tulsa Moto Club’s video of their tank soldering process and I decided to emulate that for my project. I wasn’t confident in the tools I had for soldering, I usually only solder small gauge wire, so I decided to lay out everything I had. To my surprise, all I needed was my little butane pocket torch as well as the solder and flux. Initially when I tried to get the solder to stick you can see how the liquid solder just rolls off the tank surface, at the point, I didn’t have the tank material hot enough to draw the solder into it. Taking my time to heat up the tank seemed to work well once I got the tank position to where to liquid solder didn’t want to run away from the hole. A little more patience, slowly adding solder around the hole to build it up and eventually cover it seemed to work quite well.
Not too bad for my first time! I painted the work area to cover up the bare metal underneath and that’s it. I also added my new petcock as well as buffed the tank with Meruiars Mirror Glaze #7 and it did wonders to that old, dull paint!
Tank is finished! Next up, the plastics.
The products I used in this video will be listed below, please use my Associate links as I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
* Bernzomatic Mirco Torch:
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www.homedepot.com/p/Bernzomat...
* Soldering Paste Flux:
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* Solder:
The solder I used is discontinued but this has the same makeup. Play around with solder selection, a different solder may yield better results:
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* Scotch Brite:
amzn.to/3rUxNOv
* Tank Polish:
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* Fuel tank petcock:
amzn.to/3yGbT5k
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Instagram:
@vegasraymer
@highprioritydiesel
Facebook: / hpdiesel-905314833002911
Here is a link to Tulsa Moto Club’s tank repair video:
• How To Solder Holes In...
► Artist Attribution 1
Dan Henig: Subway Dreams.
► Artist Attribution 2
Dyalla: Benji. - Авто та транспорт
Oh and good patient job soldering with under sized solder but the pocket torch was amazing, i have a couple mower tanks that need some attention, thanks for the insight
I found that setting a small piece of wire over the hole the solder has something to hold it from dropping into the tank.
I will fore sure give that a try on the next one thank you for the tip.
Cool that is what I was looking for great job thank you brother.keep up the good work
I appreciate it! Glad I could help.
I love your shirt with the Datsun 510 on it. Great great great car. 1972 or there abouts. Didnt see many like mine, i shaved the head 10 thousands 3 times and put Hooker headers on and went back to single points with a Mallory condenser. My brother's 389 GTO 4 speed couldnt pass me till he hit 90, them he blew his belts off,, lol
Great Job! I have soldered lots of tanks, its a great way to repair them. I would try a soldering gun, it may be hot enough and you don't have to worry about open flames and fuel vapours.
Thanks for watching Pat, and thanks for the tips! Yea the open flame did concern me a bit, I really need to invest in a quality soldering gun for sure.
So you don't have to empty the tank when using a soldering gun?
@@donnatrump1403 I'm not sure I would solder on a tank when it was full. It's all about the situation really. If the tank is leaking through the hole you want to solder over then you will still have a dangerous situation. You are still best to drain the tank and carefully cleaning the holes and using a soldering iron or gun that gets hot enough. It's one thing to have vapor in the tank, but to try and solder with fuel and vapor in the tank is a whole other thing.
This is great. I've been looking for tank repair videos because the tank on my 2015 V-Star 1300 has a small leak and I want to try to repair it myself. I took it to a shop that tried to fix it with JB Weld and failed miserably (even though they charged me $300). Most other tank repair videos are WAY overkill for what I need. This is the first one I've found that was just exactly what I needed.
Awesome thank you for the kind words! Wow 300 is robbery for a jb weld fix.
Ya but is your bike fuel injected ?
@@williespoonemore3392 -- Turned out, once I took the tank back off, all I had to do was replace a couple of hoses. Basically, something the service department should have done when THEY had it apart.
Good bro 👍
Thanks for watching, hope I helped!
hello friend! Did you use tin or aluminum wire to solder? . Thank you for sharing and Congratulations on your work, it was very good and neat! Health to you, yours, and your people! Greetings, from Córdoba, Argentina.
Hello, thank you for watching. The solder I used was 99.3% tin and .7% copper. Hope all is well in Cordoba!
I wondered what those little flashes were. I thought they might have been mini flashes of tank vapours that made it hard to cover the hole because the pressure exiting the hole was pushing the solder out of it. What do you think they were?
I will watch and see if I can catch that. The tank was rinsed out quite well but I winder if it could have been hot air inside the tank escaping since I was heating it up?
Those flashes were definitely petrol vapour igniting.
It isn't going to bang. The worst that could happen is a pop, and even that was highly unlikely.
It was rosin core solder and the the rosin will quickly burn when exposed to a blue flame. Could've been just the rosin in the solder.
Hey dude good day...try to use nikolite,,,the wire was very tiny,,,,
Thanks, I will definitely check it out.
how did you get fumes out of tank
I flushed the tank with a lot of water, then blew compressed air through it a bunch and I didn’t have an issue.
Did it hold up well?
It’s been leak free for over a year but I have since sold this machine so I can only hope it’s still doing well.
from a
KLT 185 trike
Yes Sir!
What kind of bike is that tank off of
It’s off an 85’ Kawasaki KLT-160 three wheeler that I fixed up and sold.
Lead loading was common in the automotive world for panel joining and dent filling for decades.
Polyester filler has replaced it in body shops but specialists can get a body straight using all metal (brazing and Soldering) so that the paintwork never sinks back or attracts moisture.
Yea that’s right like the old school led sleds right? Chopped and filled with metal instead of bondo filler like today.
You need to have very clean metal, and etch with a highly acidic flux of zinc chloride, then use a 95% tin 5% solder to stick to the steel, then use lead to fill the hole .. clean with baking soda and water to neutralize the hydrochloric acid formed from heating the flux...
Thank you for the input. Is that a special type of flux? Or is all that makeup?
@@HighPriority it's not special, but there are different types of fluxes for different applications... what would work for etching copper might not work for aluminum for example... electronics again a non corrosive flux, with steel you need a higher acid level flux ... temperature of your heat source and melting points of said solder are important to remember as well.
Need to clear fumes and fuel before trying this !!!!
Correct, I did that step just didn’t show it. Even after rinsing, I blew a bunch of compressed air through the thank just to be safe.
My subscribers 120 ... How r u. Can i talk with you sir???
Hey what's up?
A very good video.
Solder is much better than adhesives.
IGNORE THE FOLLOWING ADVICE
I would definitely recommend plumbers 'hard' solder.
I think you were using electrical 'soft' solder.
Also, use plumbers flux, not electrical flux.
If it's a large hole, one could 'tin' a piece of copper and place it over the hole.
Thank you for the tip, I will be sure to try another solder when I get another tank here that needs some love.
@@HighPriority My apologies : soft solder was much better, it has a lower melting point, obviating the need to pre-heat.
I used hard solder, and it was a nightmare.
It didn't help that my tank is nicely painted, and I wanted to minimize the damage to the paintwork.
Your video was what got me started.
Also, I had great success at plastic welding the side-panel clip. The key is to use flexible, stringy plastic. I used the lid off a tile-adhesive bucket. It was wonderful to work with when molten : it didn't burn, it became like sticky toffee.
@@vinm300 cool thanks for trying it out and letting me know. I may have to try that plastic welding you did some time. What did you repair? Was it hard to make look good or not to bad to finish?
@@HighPriority I plastic welded a "C" bracket on the back of a side-panel.
So appearance didn't matter.
Make sure everything is clean.
It only takes a few practice attempts to become quite good at it.
Also, it helps if your soldering iron has a flat end and not a point, mine was 60W, and I'd switch it off occasionally if I felt it was too hot.
@@vinm300 abs plastic can be dissolved with acetone and used like glue
This method is often used to repair cracked window frames in houses.
What you have done may hold but I would not trust lead solder on a gas tank, it is not the best Solder choice, an easier and much stronger repair would be to use silver solder. It requires a higher heat source but the repair strength is a thousand times stronger in all ways.
Thanks for the info as I didn’t know. On the next one I’ll definitely give silver solder a go. Is it any harder to work with?
I'm thinking that's older bike and no fuel injection .
@@williespoonemore3392 yup it’s an 85’ with a carb.
Not permanent
What will happen? Will the solder break away from the steel tank?
??
@@Bikerted88 I don’t know, this repair has been doing just fine for almost a year with a tank filled with fuel. I asked other people how it holds up before I did it and they said it would be good.
Thanks m8 much appreciated, got a pin size hole in the tank I'm working on with my son, I'll give it a try when I'm off work
@@Bikerted88 cool let me know how it works out. It feels a little scary putting flame to a tank but as long as it’s rinsed out well it should be ok. I blew a bunch of compressed air through mine as well to make sure no gas vapor was in there.
Look. If you don't know how to do something.. don't teach other people the wrong way ! Get the metal hot enough to melt the solder... using the flame on the solder IS NOT HOW IT IS DONE. THe solder follws the flux when the metal is hot the solder will flow. A cold joint is NOT bonded and can just fall off under stress. Instant exploding bike. Serious Fail !
Strange never had an exploding bike from a fuel leak . You watch way too many Hollywood movies.
So Fucking Wrong !
Thanks for the input Larry.
It'll be fine.