Stage 4: Even your friends and family say you need help…

EzPete said:
Also need to trim the kickstand down or bend it out slightly. With the bike so much lower it’s really sketchy unless you find a slope and kind of lean it downhill.
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I lowered my 450 1.5" and I had the same problem. I shortened the the length of the foot of the stand and it helped the bike lean over a few extra degrees without shortening the stand's length.

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Also dragged it in corners during our recent mountain rides, first time ever. Slightly softer springs on the rear shocks are likely the reason.
 
A little hot in Texas these last couple weeks. Rode the bike to work the past few days and I guess the tank was getting super thin and has now permeated. In case anyone was curious about 2K Spraymax, it can apparently function as an exterior tank liner. Not a drop has leaked out - the bubble itself is just vapor/gas. However, just my jeans seem to have scraped/chipped the clear.

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Well - time to take it down to metal and see how serious this is.
 
boddy said:
That's a shame to get this far and have a pin hole leak put a wrench in the works.
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No doubt! It's likely just from how aggressive I had to get in rust removal. Between that and having to park in the sun today outside it was just enough. Should be within JB weld territory, provided it wasn't just the paint holding it together. GL500 tanks are a tough find so if it does vaporize under a wire brush the welding skills are going to get a workout.
 
EzPete said:
No doubt! It's likely just from how aggressive I had to get in rust removal. Between that and having to park in the sun today outside it was just enough. Should be within JB weld territory, provided it wasn't just the paint holding it together. GL500 tanks are a tough find so if it does vaporize under a wire brush the welding skills are going to get a workout.
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Definitely a bummer, hopefully you can salvage it after all that effort and nice results.
 
Found the culprit.

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Not even remotely where I thought the leak was until I got the tank off. This isn’t even a “functional” part of the tank, just the two layers pinch welded together to attach the side cover to.

I had debated trimming that part of the tank off to give the bottom a clean line and decided against it - kicking myself now.

Well. Replacements (only one available on EBay for $500) are not in the cards, so JB weld to the rescue here.
 
That does bite! Just glad I've never had to deal with rusty tanks. $500 for a tank, ouch! I do some fixes with baking soda and super glue. Don't laugh, it works good on a lot of things. I don't have much JB weld experience, but hopefully something will work to plug whatever hole you have there.
 
Well. The flaws in the original build, along with some byproducts of experimentation are starting to rear their head here with ‘Ol Jenny…

Most pressing is the steering. The original GL tank is just too fat for the CBR front end and clip ons. Since every single cable and hose and harness is predicated on that alignment, it’s the tank that’s got to go.

Good thing, because I couldn’t trust it. Thing’s got way too much JB weld and solder holding the tail end together to not worry.

So, this leads to the tank rabbit hole. Based on some ancient posts in the CX forum (which is just about all their content is unless you want to pay) the CX500D tanks are a straight bolt on.

Indeed they are - solves the problem of the tank with extremely minor mods (needs the larger style rubber mounts and fabricating a rubber tail mount)

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Does not work at all with that seat. Looks like a bulbous blob (could be that orange) and the one semi-undented tank on eBay could be cleaned up, repainted and a new seat/fiberglass tail cowl with a wider pan, finished sides to continue down and align the tank - essentially fabricating a rear fairing or tail tidy with a more traditional sport seat. Not like this thing is very comfortable to ride anyway.

But why just bolt on and fiberglass?

Let’s lean into the spirit of this thing and continue a series of bad choices and over fabricated solutions.

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For $25 on eBay I found this “open box” generic tank that has a pretty easy repair and absolutely fits the theme, requires no seat mods and frankly looks way better.
Would need a tail mount fabricated, not a bolt in.

Also needs new front mounts in a rather awkward area.
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I could likely get some kind of bolt-in angled mount off that bottom rail to avoid welding and having to respray the frame.

The real problem is the petcock. IMG_2443.jpeg
That’s inside the outer rail of the frame, which means probably notching the frame right there to take a divot and provide clearance. Aaaand, we’re back to welding.

Probably pushing this to a back burner and shopping some more tanks since I’ve got the other bikes staring at me when the sun’s out.
 
Ol' Jenny is such a fuss, but starting to look nice without the bulbous blob. Too bad the discount tank has issues.
 
RobMan said:
Could the petcock be relocated?
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I don’t see a way to do that - that part of this tank that looks so good is how tightly it follows the outer frame loop. I’m going to try and fab it up into place with some cardboard aided design and see if taking a divot out of the inner side of that frame rail would leave enough room for the nut of the petcock (plus enough room to allow for vibration without transferring that straight to the tank).

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kbongos said:
Ol' Jenny is such a fuss, but starting to look nice without the bulbous blob. Too bad the discount tank has issues.
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I haven’t written it off all the way. It looks really good on there if I can figure out the petcock issue.
 
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Got it to work - at least in a mock up.

Took a whole lot of combing through different petcock designs to come right back to an aftermarket CX single-outlet that is actually slightly offset.

It’s flipped backwards and on the inside of the “outer” frame rail so I’ll just have to remember that horizontal is off - and it’s a different size fuel line from the GL.

The last thing on this bike that is stock is the engine and rear wheel.

Now onto filing the steering stop down, which is what started this whole thing to begin with.
 
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Got quite a bit more steering travel, and got the tank mounted properly - which turned out to be pretty straightforward.

Probably going to leave it primer for a bit to test the funky petcock/fuel line, with the petcock output a 5mm and the carbs a 6.5mm I spliced two lines together with a reducing barb.

Next up, figuring out how to shorten the center stand to allow the exhaust to run tighter to the swing arm.
 
Couldn’t help myself. Still have some clean up to do on the paint lines - couple of spots it ran a bit thick next to the tape and left a ridge that needs to be knocked down before clear.

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