Aluminum, Carbon Fiber, Gas Tank Thread

I've got the stuff, but I lack the confidence in my welding and just can't seem to bring myself to try it.

Lay it all out,bend what needs to be bent,and put alignment marks on everything and send it my way,,I'll get it welded for ya. This right here was a quick put together weld up on a 15 minute break at work.

Very Nice Scooby!!!

I'm a machinist but not a welder... I am more than confident in my design capabilities but to put together a complete tank by myself is a little overwhelming. I could mock a tank up out of foam or cardboard fairly easily. But the welders that I have talked to aren't interested in design work they just want to weld it from your specifications, which is understandable.

That's why I hope Dave can give us the hook up from over the pond!

Not a 09 125 owner but you all know I still have a passion for the smallest Husky. Anyhow........was thinking outside the box (as usual) and was tooling with the idea of others that the tank should use the low space under the tank down near the engine for the obvious reasons and was thinking .............why not a second tank that feeds the carb and the stocker feeds it. I mean...why re-invent the wheel when you have almost 2 gallons there already and it rides nice. If something could fit..........not obscure the plug and head/cylider/powervalve, mount nice and secure, and have a top and bottom fitting for stock tank to new tank hose and new tank to carb hose, it might be an easier build/fabrication. Your thoughts? Blue and Norm? Scooby.....it might be an easier fab/weld that even Mac could do (he'll kill me for that!)

Joe

Lets talk about our options for getting a larger tank for the new generation Husqvarna's.

A friend of mine owns a machine shop also and I've been trying to talk him into making alum gas tanks,,but a big problem is the liability insurance for covering the business in case of a tank failure and somebody tries and does sue you. One of the biggest problems is that he has to convince the 2 other partial owners of the business that there is a market for aftermarket motorcycle parts. If I had all the tools at home to make alum tanks,,I would of made a couple hundred of them by now. I like to design and make things as a past time. Like Joe said,,,the spot below the tank on the 2 smokes is a good spot to pick up extra fuel storage. One thing I will tell ya is if your going to design an alum tank,,keep this in mind... The tank can be a continuous curve and not need any support on the inside,but as soon as you go flat or a very little curve to it ,,,you have to weld bracing inside the tank,,otherwise the alum will warp when welding it.

Thats all I'm missing is one of your bikes to make a proto type of. I could make a tank like that without a whole lot of problems I think. Sorry Dave,,,we'll get out of here now. Please do let us know what you find out about that tank though.

What do you mean by continuous curve? Most aluminum tanks i've seen are very "square" looking.

Why doesnt someone contact P3 and see if they will make a tank providing 3-4 guys commit to buying one. They built the tank for Kearneys WR300.

OK scooby, you get to be the welder. Nice welds.

If you can throw that together in 15min. then you shouldn't have any problem with a tank.

Any of you know anything about CF lay up?

I talked to a guy that makes tanks He makes alot of the tanks for the flat track racing
Harleys .Also some custom road racing tanks and some vintage stuff.He said he could make us some tanks no problem but they cost cheapest tanks he makes start at like $ 550.00 and goes from there .He wanted me to sent him some pictures of maybe a stock tank and then maybe a picture or a quick drawing of how we want a bigger tank.
does any one have some pictures of the tank on Glens 300 or a better picture of the
aluim tank on the 125 from Europe It is worth a try to send him some pictures and see where it goes from there
I would like a new 2009 but with out a tank i could not race it in the desert

I spoke to Lindsey Pirie of P3 today. He will build carbon fiber '09 WR/CR125 tanks, but it will be expensive...... $2000 for prototype build up and the mold and $500-600 for the tank. Even if we got ten guys it will be $200 + tank price for each one. I'm going down soon to bring my bike for the pipe guard and skid plate molds to be made. I'll talk more to Lindsey and Eric about the tank.

What is this that you welded?

I was bracing myself for that. When he says for "factory teams only" he must really mean for "people with deep pockets."

I would love to have a CF one but I almost guarantee someone can build an aluminum one for cheaper than that. Talk to him a little more, get him down to the $500 range and we will have a deal. Make sure he realizes that if he is the only one making tanks then his time spent on labor/mold should be well rewarded. Demand is the KEY!

Good deal,,because I was starting to feel bad about messing up Dave's section of this forum.

A little spare gas tank so I won't have to walk home or back to the truck one of these days.

I think I might be able to build a bike frame that is also the gas tank for that kind of cash....I don't blame them charging that much because cf can be a PITA to work with at times,,,and real cf isn't cheap either..

Look at a semi truck fuel tank sometime,,pay close attention to the ends of the tank. You will see that they have a slight curve to them. This helps from keeping them from warping when being welded.