Bought a cat

[buckeye]

Sure is a lot of good info in this thread.
I don't have a Artic Cat but, if I did, I sure would use this info.

I get your rust issues. I live near the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama
Not only humid like crap all of the time, I am,sure the air is salty as well.
My attempt at keeping stuff from rusting is polish the heck out of it and keep a protective coating of the fancy wax Artic at mini bike mentioned.
You just have to keep up with it.
I keep all my nicer bikes covered with sheets. It helps some.

 

[ArcticMinibike]

You just have to keep up with it.
I keep all my nicer bikes covered with sheets. It helps some.

I find that riding wheelies on it scares the rust away. [emoji1]

 

[dwadholm]

Score!

 

[ArcticMinibike]

I sure hope the inside isn't as rusty as the outside. I use a few cups of carb dip, ball bearings and a handful of playground gravel, maybe some small nuts. Shake shake shake! Works well. Also you can use Evaporust from Harbor Freight. Chemically eliminates rust.

ArcticMinibike - Home

 

[ArcticMinibike]

Jeff Mihalko can help with the decals

ArcticMinibike - Home

 

[dwadholm]

I sure hope the inside isn't as rusty as the outside. I use a few cups of carb dip, ball bearings and a handful of playground gravel, maybe some small nuts. Shake shake shake! Works well. Also you can use Evaporust from Harbor Freight. Chemically eliminates rust.

ArcticMinibike - Home

The inside has only trace amounts of rust.

Honestly, the outside is only surface rust. I could probably scour it off with steel wool.

At any rate, an original gas tank is better than a plastic Honda tank in any kind of condition. I'm super pumped!

 

[ArcticMinibike]

If I were you, I'd use the carb dip and abrasive method on the inside, rinsing well and blowing the inside dry with a compressor. I save my abrasive for reuse. I usually sandblast the outside, then use a little Bondo to fill the pits and dents. They were pretty heavy duty tanks so removing the dents is tough, filling is usually your only option. Then I use an etching primer.

ArcticMinibike - Home

 

[dwadholm]

If I were you, I'd use the carb dip and abrasive method on the inside, rinsing well and blowing the inside dry with a compressor. I save my abrasive for reuse. I usually sandblast the outside, then use a little Bondo to fill the pits and dents. They were pretty heavy duty tanks so removing the dents is tough, filling is usually your only option. Then I use an etching primer.

ArcticMinibike - Home

Thanks, I took your advice and used carb dip, nuts, washers, and some washed pea rocks. I shook till my arms were limp. I'm surprised at the sediment that came out. The top must have been worse than the bottom.

Do you recommend tank liner like Red Kote? My uncle did that with his old Shadow motorcycle and it has worked good for several years now.

 

[ArcticMinibike]

Do you recommend tank liner like Red Kote? My uncle did that with his old Shadow motorcycle and it has worked good for several years now.

You probably had a thin film inside. I bet it looks brighter now. I never bothered with liners if the inside was decent. I always assumed you'd have to get the tank professionally dipped if you were going to do liner.


ArcticMinibike - Home

 

[Mark G]

Do you recommend tank liner like Red Kote? My uncle did that with his old Shadow motorcycle and it has worked good for several years now.

I never bothered with liners if the inside was decent. I always assumed you'd have to get the tank professionally dipped if you were going to do liner.

I've used Redkote on a handful of minibike and car gas tanks with great results. ( It does NOT work well with plastic tanks however) No need to have it professionally dipped as long as the prep directions are followed. There are other sealers out there that also work well, Caswells, Bill Hirsh brand etc.

 

[Havasu Dave]

On an old tank, you always run the risk of a pin hole leak. Not something you want to see after applying a new paint job and decals.

Coat it with Caswells or any other two part epoxy. There is nothing "wrong" with polymers, but they require tank etching that is sometimes real difficult to do. This results in failures more often when using them. I no longer use Creem, Red Coat, or Hirsh because of this.

Note that on two stroke pre-mix applications, none of this is necessary, but with a tank that's been sitting for awhile, why take a chance?

 

[dwadholm]

Interesting about the brass cable ends. He may have found longer ones. They should be long enough to be flush with the outside surfaces of the levers. Any less and they will twist and not seat properly.

ArcticMinibike - Home

Top to bottom they are flush if not a little proud of the levers. Worked great!

Sounds like you got a bad brake assembly. You might be able to true up the drum with a vice or a few strategic taps with a hammer, but you might make it worse. Try putting on your old drum. They glaze up easily so if stopping ability is poor with the old drum, scuff it up with some 60-100 grit paper. I try to do sort of a cross hatch pattern if possible. If the shoe pad looks hindered by the aluminum, see if you can file it to remove the problem area. If you got it from a reliable source, see if they will exchange it. I have a bunch of NOS if you can't get it resolved. The sad thing is that these brakes never worked well.


ArcticMinibike - Home

It seemed to me like the old shoes have more material than the new ones...however, that could be because the aluminum is hiding the padding. I scuffed up my old drum and it seems to be working good enough for now. I mounted the rear brake and it was better but still hung up a little. I am going to keep the tensioner a little looser until the shoes form to the brake drums then adjust it tighter.

Bar none, new brakes, levers and cables have proven the best new addition to the bike.

A tech tip for anyone using Manco style brakes like these. A 16 MM washer is the same thickness and inside diameter as the stock bushing and small enough outside diameter it doesn't contact the out bearing race.

 

[dwadholm]

I was installing an 1/8 NPT fitting into the bung above and it twisted right out. Looks like it is just installed with flux? I've never brazed anything so I was leaning toward just JB Welding it back into place... not sure if it would hold/leak though.

 

[ArcticMinibike]

I was installing an 1/8 NPT fitting into the bung above and it twisted right out. Looks like it is just installed with flux? I've never brazed anything so I was leaning toward just JB Welding it back into place... not sure if it would hold/leak though.

Which part twisted, the thick part that is threaded? I'd braize it or have a pro do it. Do not set yourself up for a leak. It's a major fire hazard and although JB might hold it initially, it won't hold up to the vibration or be strong enough when threading the petcock into the base. If you do it yourself, make sure you don't have any fuel or solvent residue in the tank, obviously.

ArcticMinibike - Home

 

[dwadholm]

Interesting about the brass cable ends. He may have found longer ones. They should be long enough to be flush with the outside surfaces of the levers. Any less and they will twist and not seat properly.

ArcticMinibike - Home

Sounds like you got a bad brake assembly. You might be able to true up the drum with a vice or a few strategic taps with a hammer, but you might make it worse. Try putting on your old drum. They glaze up easily so if stopping ability is poor with the old drum, scuff it up with some 60-100 grit paper. I try to do sort of a cross hatch pattern if possible. If the shoe pad looks hindered by the aluminum, see if you can file it to remove the problem area. If you got it from a reliable source, see if they will exchange it. I have a bunch of NOS if you can't get it resolved. The sad thing is that these brakes never worked well.


ArcticMinibike - Home

Which part twisted, the thick part that is threaded? I'd braize it or have a pro do it. Do not set yourself up for a leak. It's a major fire hazard and although JB might hold it initially, it won't hold up to the vibration or be strong enough when threading the petcock into the base. If you do it yourself, make sure you don't have any fuel or solvent residue in the tank, obviously.

ArcticMinibike - Home

Yes, the female end that is (was) in the tank. Came out completely. I'll see about getting it done professionally.

 

[Havasu Dave]

Didn't mean to sound argumentative on the other tank sealant comments. Only forwarding what experience has taught me. All of them are viable and valid products. Just that prepping isn't always good enough to prevent complete invasion of tank sealant bits into every orifice on the carb, as well as ruining a brand new paint job on the tank. You remove bad tank sealant with paint stripper.

With brazing in a bung, you may wish to think a bit more towards sealing the tank. Good insurance.

 

[dwadholm]

Didn't mean to sound argumentative on the other tank sealant comments. Only forwarding what experience has taught me. All of them are viable and valid products. Just that prepping isn't always good enough to prevent complete invasion of tank sealant bits into every orifice on the carb, as well as ruining a brand new paint job on the tank. You remove bad tank sealant with paint stripper.

With brazing in a bung, you may wish to think a bit more towards sealing the tank. Good insurance.

I don't think anybody took it that way. In fact, even though the cleaning took out a lot of the rust it is still visible on the hump and I can feel it on the top of the tank. I think I am going to try Red-Kote because it is available at O'Reilly's and I have read pretty good reviews on it. I will make sure I take the time to prep the tank with Acetone and fully dry it before I do it. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ArcticMinibike]

If you still have rust inside, I highly recommend using Evaporust prior to the prepping process for the tank liner. I honestly don't think you need to line it but if it gives you a better sense of comfort, go for it. I'll be anxious to hear how it goes. I've got a few tanks that might benefit.

 

[dwadholm]

I took the tank in to a professional welder. He recommended we weld in a piece of steel round stock to the bottom of the tank and then tap it for the fuel petcock. Seems logical to me. I told him I wanted to bring in the petcock I ordered before he taps it so that we can make sure it fits.

Then I will do some more work on the inside of the tank and perhaps seal it up.


On another note:

I can't get my handle bars to stay put. The knurling is pretty worn so tried to put in some with a vice grip. Then I used a punch with a knurled outer to hammer the inside diameter of the clamps. Finally, I offset them 1/2" so that it would grab on were the original knurling is good and they contact one side of each of the brackets. I even shaved the clamps down with a belt sander on each side to get them to hold tighter. All that helped but they are not 100%. I can't tighten down any tighter or I'll strip the threads.

Any other suggestions? I might just pin them in place.

 

[Ding Ding]

Glue some heavy grit sand paper to the inside of the clamps?
Get some different handlebars?
Drill though the top handlebar clamps and in to the handle bars, then screw in a bolt to act as a set screw. You would lose your adjustability though.

You could always go with a different style of handle bar clamps, but that may require drilling additional holes in to the top of the fork/triple tree plate.