Wooden Boardtracker Gas Tank

skrew37

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12:17 PM
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Feb 22, 2011
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Jeannette, PA
I've searched everywhere and have come to the conclusion that if you want a cool, non-stock gas tank, you have few options:

1. Use a Moped tank.
While this is an option I would've liked to pursue, I just can't justify spending the money that's being asked for these. As a general rule, I don't like to spend more than what the cheap china engines cost.

2. Retrofit a Motorcycle tank.
These look and are huge, and as I perceive it, make the bike MORE top heavy than the little "blister" on the top tube that is the stock tank. Not for me.

3. Build your own tank.
I've seen a lot of fantastic builds on here, unfortunately I don't weld, so that is out of the question. I thought of maybe finding a gas-safe container and modding in a way that would lower the bikes center of gravity and flow with the lines of the bike. I've found many candidate containers, but, well, they're ugly. I've worked with wood in the past and decided that that's the only way, for me, to go.
I use a 3D modeling program as my job requires daily and in some down time, modeled my bike and some different tanks to try. I came up with a simplified pattern that not only is perfect for sheet metal, but also for a wooden tank application. I plan to use 1/8" plywood and make 2 tanks (left and right halves) to straddle the top tube kinda like saddle bags, but ultimately emulate the look of a vintage boardtracker. While I've read it is plausible to seal these, I'm going to use a container inside the "wooden boxes" as this is safer in the event of a crash.
I've included pics of my design; I constructed a 1:2 scale model that might just work for me. Any questions/comments/criticisms are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for reading!
 

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Boat builders use wood / epoxy / fiberglass all the time for fuel tanks, so it's entirely do-able. If you want more specific info on how they do it, google "WEST epoxy fuel tanks" and you'll find several great references on the topic.

I had thought about encasing a metal (possibly tomato juice cans?) or plastic tank in wood but am still looking for better ideas.
 
If done properly, I don't see why an epoxy saturated wooden tank wouldn't work fine. Like I said, we did it in the boat industry all the time.
 
and I bet that it would be strong enough to hold up to a MB speed crash (especially if it's saturated with epoxy.)

if you are still concerned with the wood not being strong enough, you could use fuel bladders inside the wooden tanks
 
i think i will go with the epoxy approach. you guys are right, when absorbed into the wood, i see no reason why it would be as strong at least as plastic. i'll give it a shot. while i'm waiting for supplies, i think i'll do a couple of things like large filipino's clutch mod (if he doesn't mind) and i'm working on some kind of feasible chain tugs for my rear dropouts.
 
wood with epoxy (or fiberglass mat) laminated over it is VERY strong.

your other option for a gas tank is to use one from a jesse james chopper bike. (but it may be too modern looking for what you are wanting to do.)
you can pick them up fairly cheap on e-bay(I paid $10.00 for mine), but they need a lot of work to get them sealed up and looking good.
I've done 2 of them so far and they look awesome. They need some work done on the front to get rid of a big ugly weld that holds the top and bottom of the tank together.
you also need to weld, braze or silver solder all of the holes, and gaps closed and then pressure test it with water and compressed air. then you have to make a gas filler hole and a gas cap, along with 2 fuel outlet lines. then, you have to figure out a mount that's hidden to make it look clean.
then there's the paint job after you get all the work done.
I have about a 2 weeks worth of work in this tank and it is fully functional.
here's what i started with.
tank7.jpg


I stripped all of the original black paint off and then I silver soldered all of the holes and gaps closed. I drilled 2 holes and silver soldered in gas outlet tubes made of copper tubing.
056.jpg


I ground down the ugly weld on the front of the tank, filled and smoothed the front of the tank with bondo. I also filled a couple of tiny dents that were in the tank.
055.jpg


I cut a hole in the top for a gas filler.
054.jpg

057.jpg


I made a push in gas cap out of a chrome push in valve cover oil fill cap. It has a rubber plug on the back, and the plug pushes into the hole that I cut. It's a good, tight seal. I also drilled a vent hole in the top of the cap and covered it up with a hollow backed pewter skull
cap1.jpg


here it is next to a 66 triumph gas tank for size comparison.
2tanks.jpg


I primered and painted the tank with metallic black laquer and clear coated it. Wet sanded it and buffed it out by hand.
tank6.jpg

tank4.jpg


here's what it looks like on the bike. I made a hidden mount under the tank.
chop5.jpg


Here's the second tank that I did. I did everything the same as I did on the first tank, but this one isn't functional. I didn't have to silver solder all the holes to seal it up. I did add the same kind of gas cap tho, just to give it more of a real gas tank look.
I painted this one metallic orange laquer with clear coat, wet sanded and buffed by hand.

newtank3.jpg

newtank2.jpg

newtank5.jpg

newtank9.jpg

newtank1.jpg

jjchop2.jpg
 
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I've seen this (your work) before. Very, very nice! I think at the time, I couldn't find any tanks on Ebay for sale and forgot about it. I've only seen these converted and put on chopper bikes though. Are there any pictures anywhere of one of these tanks on a beach cruiser so I can get an idea of what it would look like and how it would fit on my bike? And you said you only used silver solder? That could be an option too as I'm more set up to do that than weld...
 
if you are looking to just explore tank ideas, this is the tank that I have: Whizzer Fat Tank. Holds 1.8 gallons. Pictures in my profile. The channel is deep enough that the tank more straddles the top bar instead of just perching on top like the stock peanut tanks do.

It's also not too wide that you can't pedal comfortably, which was one of my requirements.
 
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