Bugger!

[fossie]

Blew the carbs out with airline , then the tank....it looks very clean inside ..........but with airline scuttling around a fox brown haze is wafting around in an artistic fashion .

Time for a liner I believe. Recommendations ....?

[PaulD]

Personally I don’t like liners of the three people I know who have tried them two have had problems with the liner breaking up after only a few months use. The resulting mess took six months to clean up!
The third user is me the tank had a liner fitted when I got the bike much to my horror

[fossie]

The older type liners are destroyed by unleaded petrol ,newer ones are designed to withstand ethanol, such is the name I seek. NO unleaded with be added anyway, as I only use super.
The issues with this bike are caused by the tank being empty and dry for so long.....with the cap off and tap off in hope of allowing airflow, best laid plans and all that.

[Kryten]

I have used one on my Kat. It has been in there for the last 5 years and has not shown any sign of deteriorating. <touches wood/head>

Unfortunately the seller I got it from is no longer active on that website, he was a french chap and used a Kat tank in his adverts!!! So clearly of no help whatsoever to you now

I am going to try out a Flowliner sealer on the Speed Trip as the plastic (nylon) tank has expanded and distorted.

[Uncle Bob]

I had thought about this for ages after the 750 popup I had years ago rotted from the inside. I never got round to it on the Kats though.

When I got the TZR250 there seemed to be enough posts about the tanks being thin to save weight and them rotting that even though the inside of it was perfect I decided to get it done. For various reasons I decided to use a local guy up north Norfolk way. He sells the DIY kits if you want to do yourself, but will do for you. This saved posting.

https://www.tankcareproducts.co.uk/ has videos on use as well.

Dropped the tank off after being quoted £130 on the phone. Picking up he asked for £250! He had decided to cut a hole in the bottom (of my lovely tank!!!) and grit blast the inside (as he said it was to good to get a good adhesion), then welded up and painted with undercoat. He thought he had called me to agree this but he hadn't. As I only had £150 on me he said that would do and I took it away, not entirely happy for the welded patch and blasted insides.
The tank stayed petrol free while I restored the bike for about 9 months, then it got used, but after about 2 months I could see the lining was coming away, so I took it back to him and left for him to decide what to do. Looking at it he did say he didn't do that good a job with the grit blasting in the places where it was pealing from. He also said it was the first time he had seen that (he has been going a while and on his shelving had lots of tanks in for him to do himself, so I assume that was possibly the case).

I know when I put the petrol take off back on I had to file away the lining from the hole so the filter would fit and it was solid there.
Also when I got the bike I'm not sure what fuel it had in it but it did not smell like petrol at all - it had been raced so don't know if they used some sort of other fuel and maybe that caused issues? Had a strange smell but not petroly at all.

Anyway, when I went back, he had decided to remove the old liner, blast again and redo. Originally the sealant he used was a cream colour and on picking up again it was a grey colour which he said was a new sealer he was using that was even better. Looking at his website the (new) Sureseal Titanium looks grey so I assume he used this. As the bike is still off the road waiting on the barrels to be rebored (must chase that) the tank has sat in the shed dry, so can't comment on the new sealant yet.

So to cut to the chase, if my tank was very clean inside (like my Katana tanks are) then I would not get them done - just use Sta-bil in the petrol and 97 octane fuel.

If rusty? Then although I had issues with the first sealant and I wasn't so happy with the cut and shut on my tank, the new Sureseal Titanium does seem fine at present (dry) and I was happy the guy resolved the issues with no fuss, which goes a long way.

I guess another thing is, on my tank it was decided by the professional to cut and blast and this really isn't so much of an option for the DIY.

UB

[johnr]

por15, used it 4 times on bikes now, never had it fail. had tanks done with petseal, the ethanol destroys it pretty quick. you can remove it with acetone, but you need to take care not to get it on your paintwork. por15 is silver in colour, in fact, its almost 13L i get the full kit (you can just buy the liner, ) but the kit comes with a degreaser/tank cleaner and a primer that preps the metal surface to accept the liner. it works pretty well and ive no problem recommending it as ive used it and it works.
the problem with modern unleaded isnt really the ethanol, its the water that the ethanol absorbs (ethanol is hydroscopic so it absorbs moisture from air) eventually water will drop out of solution and sit in the tank bottom eating its way out.

[Nicky Dodds]

My por15 is 4 years old with no problems so far.

[PaulD]

Uncle Bob, the none petroly smell in your TZR was probably Avgas (aviation fuel) which is comonly used on race bikes both two & four stroke. It enables you to run higher compression and more importantly on a two stroke close the squish up.

[fossie]

POR 15 seems to get a vote then , It seems a waste of time and money to renew the tap the float valve without doing the tank aswell, so after Denmark I will sort it . Ta!

[KeKat]

I have used por15 on about 5 or 6 tanks, with no problems. I have even used it to fill holes in the bottom of a ducati tank, by using ductape over the holes, before pouring in the sealent. Years later it still doesn't leak.