Low Cost Tank Repair Technique

[Lee]

A friend of my son who was short on cash showed up at my son's house one day with a dented gas tank. He'd had a mishap and a bent handle bar had dented his gas tank inward about 2 inches. My son's friend asked him if he had any ideas about how to repair it, since he couldn't afford to have it replaced or professionally repaired.

My son said he thought so and proceeded to drain all the gasoline out of the tank. Then he poured about a half a can of ether starter fluid into the tank, picked up a match with a very long set of needle nose pliers, lit it, and held it over the tank mouth.

Bang! A fireball shot about 10 feet into the air out of the tank mouth - instant tank repair.

My son says the dent is gone. And, if you squint your eyes a little, the tank looks pretty much like it did before his friend's accident. But, it's a little fatter now and my son recommends a professional do the work if you want a more predictable result.



Lee

[JOE!!!!!!]

This is either seriously f**kd up or simply brilliant. I've been rolling an idea around in my head on how to bang a dented tank from the inside with a very short blast of very high pressure. Ether?

But a match and needlenose pliers? Your son could've caught some shrapnel. I'm crazy enough to try it, but at a greater distance. With cover. Now I'm really thinkin'...

[Lee]

The word "fire" appeared in my son's childhood many times. Now that he's an adult, well.....nothing's changed.

[snake226]

Holy hell........

How much will he charge to fix my tank?

[Lee]

Holy hell........

How much will he charge to fix my tank?

I'll bet he'll do it for free just to watch the fireball.



Lee

[#1Townie]

you guys should film this the next time they do this.....

[Z4ever]

you guys should film this the next time they do this.....

Yeah, they need some more material for the Darwin awards

[Mel]

so how exactly would that work? I mean, I know the explosion would pop the whole tank out, but tanks like Hondas and Suzukis (for example) have a tank with a lot of molding to them on the sides for legs to tuck into and chin notches. Also, stock tanks have baffles in them...did he just blow the whole thing or what? I don't see that this could repair a tank and keep the shape to it uniformly (fire is very unpredictable).

[Mother Goose]

i have no words for this one

[Lee]

so how exactly would that work? I mean, I know the explosion would pop the whole tank out, but tanks like Hondas and Suzukis (for example) have a tank with a lot of molding to them on the sides for legs to tuck into and chin notches. Also, stock tanks have baffles in them...did he just blow the whole thing or what? I don't see that this could repair a tank and keep the shape to it uniformly (fire is very unpredictable).

Like I said in my first post, my son said if you squinted a little, the tank looked pretty normal, but it was a little fatter than before.

I don't know what make or model of bike this "surgically precise" procedure was performed on.

Lee

[Lee]

This report, just in, from my son:

"Tell them that the old Honda dirt bike tanks were one layer metal without an inside and outside liner. Also note that I lost some facial hair in the process."

I have lost count of how many times in the last 30+ years I have heard the phrase, "I lost some hair....".



Lee

[NealH]

...,
picked up a match with a very long set of needle nose pliers, lit it, and held it over the tank mouth. ....

I would need a ten foot pole to try that one.

[towneh]

yesssssshhh, mileage may vary on this one !!! you could end up looking like something outta a cylinder from the Matrix !

Henry

[RockMtnBusa]

When my Busa went down the tank was pushed down on the top. Pretty hard to get any tools into push the dents out. I bought a new tank for the Busa so,

I would be willing to donate it to the the cause... for the science of finding a better way to repair tanks of course, not JUST to get it on video!

[Lel]

wow, darwin awards is right.

from my experience, the best way is to try and dent it out by hand and then bondo/shape the outside back to correct form.

Ways I have year though, that I have never tried is to pressurize the tank w/ 1-2psi and then w/ a torch heat the dent, it will expand out. I have never seen it done, but have heard of it.

Jason