Other Fuel Tanks Made From Junk...

[Yellowhand]

Pic 1- Aluminum half-gallon tank made from two one-quart paint canisters. The necks of the canisters were trimmed down, but leaving a small 'waist' for a mounting band to fit into.

The two halves were fitted together in a bar clamp, preheated with a propane torch, and welded using an oxy/acetylene #1 tip and a neutral flame with Forney general purpose aluminum flux rod.

Pic 2- The brass band screw-clamps to a steel bung that is just long enough to prevent lateral movement of the tank when tightened without crushing the aluminum shell.

Cap and fittings are brass plumbing items from a hardware store.

Pic 3- Steel tank with mounting bracket made from an empty Coleman lantern propane canister. The brass fittings are brazed to the tank.

Pic 4- Another view...this tank was never painted or coated because it was designed to mount directly to a 15hp engine, and vibrated so badly during testing, frothing fuel, it was eventually scrapped and never finished.

 

[MargayKart79]

Very Nice, Ive been considering making some myself from oil catch tanks. I bought this but havnt had a chance to cut it up yet.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM-300100&N=700+0&autoview=sku

I want to cut it down the center and expand it out.

 

[minidragbike]

If anyone of your guys go into the business of making gas tanks let me know. I'm always looking for a deal on them.

 

[Yellowhand]

That octagonal tank is gonna look cool...reminds me of the old coffin tanks. I have a roughed-out octagonal one in copper about that size...another of my many started-but-never-finished projects.

My favorite gas tank is an old metal piggy bank, preferably brass...makes an awesome oil bag for choppers as well.

 

[Hent]

Nice looking tanks yellowhand. I've been looking at some different things to make a new tank for Viki's Go-kart

 

[Yellowhand]

Thanks, Hent...

Are you gonna get Viki her own set of metal-forming hammers?

My wife (Patricia) likes working with copper and brass...she makes most of the mounting bands for my tanks.

She makes a really cool laminated band...alternating layers of copper and brass, and two-tone bands with the edges of a wider strip of underlying soft copper folded over onto a narrower center strip of brass.

 

[MargayKart79]

That octagonal tank is gonna look cool...reminds me of the old coffin tanks. I have a roughed-out octagonal one in copper about that size...another of my many started-but-never-finished projects.

My favorite gas tank is an old metal piggy bank, preferably brass...makes an awesome oil bag for choppers as well.

Piggy Bank? that sounds awesome. I considered a small keg for awhile but they are just too big.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

What kind of small keg? The minikegs are only 5 liters.....wait, that's pretty big for a minibike.

Something else to look for are old household fire extinguishers. Many have aluminum bottles. Old disposable propane cylinders work well and are cheap.

 

[MargayKart79]

Something else to look for are old household fire extinguishers. Many have aluminum bottles. Old disposable propane cylinders work well and are cheap.

Those are pretty thick metal though, they would make one heavy bomb proof gas tank. Hmmm...Bomb shaped gas tank....

 

[Yellowhand]

The Detroit Brothers are marketing an H-Bomb oil bag...looks cool, but the sphere would be a booger to form by hand. I don't have a photo of one, but they would look cool as a mini fuel tank...

Here's a pic of an oil bag made by Billy Lane of Choppers, Inc...nice shape and mounting straps...has a sight tube to determine the level of the contents.

Billy used to live here in Miami, building bikes with his brother...Warren still lives down the road from me, building and showing bikes here...nice stuff.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

Those are pretty thick metal though, they would make one heavy bomb proof gas tank. Hmmm...Bomb shaped gas tank....

The cheap ABC powder fire extinguisher aluminum bottles are not thick at all. I have a few that might have a wall thickness of .080" tops. They don't need much becauase they are have a sub-200psi propellant. The more specialized CO2 extinguishers are really heavy because they are actually classified 1800+psi high pressure chromemoly(or really thick aluminum) cylinders. I also have one of those in steel that is about 18" tall and weighs ~8-10lbs empty.

The only reason I don't use aluminum is because I have no way to effectively weld it(only a wire welder with argon, no TIG).

 

[MargayKart79]

Ya, Its a shame Tigs are so pricey. If my friend didn't work at a place with one I would have been in big trouble.

 

[joshhoward]

Hey Yellowhand

I was thinking of making my own tank out of 4" steel pipe. Do you need to coat the inside of the tank with anything? Whats a good solid, sealed cap to use? I have a few old metal rectangle tanks. I was thinking of cutting off and welding on one of those. But they dont seal the best.


Josh

 

[Yellowhand]

I helped a guy make a tank from 4" thinwall tubing...turned out nice. We just traced out some round ends on thin sheet steel, cut them out with a saber saw, and MIG'd them onto the tube.

I use a coating product called Tank Creme, from the Harley dealer down the street...about $29 for the whole kit...does several mini tanks.

I usually make the outlet on tanks by welding on a bung tapped for a compression or hose nozzle fitting, but I use all kinds of weird stuff for gas caps...usually just about anything except a real gas cap.

I've made some with corks...there's some photos in my album of one made with a rubber stopper...those seal really good when you run a compression bolt through the middle and tighten it down to expand the diameter of the stopper. That one is vented through a hole drilled through the length of the compression bolt...

Most of my mini tanks use those brass caps seen in the photos...they have rubber or phenolic o-rings on the inside to seal them. Ace hardware, in the gardening tools section...about a buck apiece...they have bungs for them there too.

I love the look of those old round tanks from the 50's, but they're usually really rusty if you can find one that survived...making them is fun...

 

[65ShelbyClone]

I've made some with corks...there's some photos in my album of one made with a rubber stopper...those seal really good when you run a compression bolt through the middle and tighten it down to expand the diameter of the stopper. That one is vented through a hole drilled through the length of the compression bolt...

Another option that is almost exactly like you describe is bilge plugs for boats. They are a rubber plug with the compression bolt, but the bolt has a t-handle for easy installation/removal. Obviously they're not vented, though.

 

[Yellowhand]

That rubber stopper was from the boat supply store...a replacement bilge plug.

I just used a bugle mouthpiece as part of the compression bolt assembly to raise it up enough to make it easy to reach inside that welded-on funnel I made for the tank.

I really like that rat bike stuff you guys in SoCal are doing...Miami is so boring...all metric bikes with way too much billet and chrome.

 

[justjuiceit]

Those are pretty thick metal though, they would make one heavy bomb proof gas tank. Hmmm...Bomb shaped gas tank....

Yeah, check out the pressure ratings on those....they can be used for nitrous tanks(at least the better ones)!

 

[GTO]

Cool tank. :thumbsup: I'm still figuring what to use but my neighbor works for sfire extingusher place so I'll probably go that route.

 

[jimh]

Large diameter conduit woks good.Some of it is aluminized, but very weldable. The last one I made ended up being the oil tank for my Triumph chopper. I used the big conduit, and for ends I used the rear end plates from Chevy starters. They were a perfect fit. I just welded them in, ground it down a little, and swirl finished it with an abrasive disk and clear coated it. for the fill neck, I used a common pipe coupler. Used a plug with square head, drilled and tapped it for bolt on knob,to make it easier to get in and out.
I used smaller couplers for the outlet bungs and male air fittings to connect my hoses to. anyone who has ever made these tanks can appreciate the high $$$$$$ a custom tank costs.

 

[Qucifer]

Hey yellow hand, those are some nice looking tanks. I have been tossing ideas around for building a tank for my bike, and that coleman propane tank idea was mentioned to me by someone on this forum, I beleive MDB. My queston for you is how did you render the propane tank safe to cut into and put fire to? I dont want it to blow up in my face.