1970 Roadster fuel tank question (steel tank)

Afternoon Gents,

Below are some photos of my fuel tank, my bike is a 1970 Roadster with a steel tank. Which I am guessing is off a later model 850 roadster.

The front mounting hole are 5/16 UNF, with the rubber exhaust type rubber mounts.

Questions:

1) Is the rear mount supposed to be the "rubber ring strap" or the "metal tank strap" ? (the rear bolt holes are 5/16 BSF).

2) Where are the two rubber mats supposed to be glued to the tank ?, is the big one at the front or back of the under side of the tank ?.




Who wants to see a picture of my cock ?.

LMFAO @ LAST PHOTO

The "rubber band" at the rear was used on the Roadster fiberglass gas tanks. They had little "nubs" sticking out the back that the band attached to. The steel tanks do not have the "nubs" ... they have a curved metal strap that attaches to two rubber bushings at the rear. I have found the rear strap to be unnecessary IMO. I would however, put a soft pad at the front of the tunnel and one at the rear. On yours currently, I don't see a front pad, and rear pad looks very worn. (I would remove and replace it.)

Any rubber padding an inch or so thick works great. The front should have studs, and you use however many rubber washers to cushion it and make the tank level. Then use a fender washer and a nylon locknut. Works great !

Yes ,the previous is all you need to know, now what about the rooster ? Does it wake you up at 4:30 A.M. ish ? Any photos of it doodooing on the gastank ? Chickens, roosters and livestock are illegal in my city , is it a criminal rooster ? These things all help so is it enslaved or employed to polish the Norton?

Hi- one more suggestion that works very well on my '68 Commando w/steel tank. You can go to the hardware store and get some pipe insulation- it's a thick semi-dense foam to wrap hot water pipes- the largest diameter they have is for about a 4 inch pipe. I cut a length of that to cover the backbone tube, and doubled it at a few strategic spots; then trim a narrow piece or two and contact cement it to the retaining strap at the rear of the tank. When you tighten everything the tank and strap are nice and snug and secure against the backbone, with no rattles. Works well for me. Good luck!

Rooster, I live in a rural area, so Roosters are allowed.

Yes the little bastards crows at 430am, that is why just last week, at approximately 431am, one Rooster became two peices of Rooster.

Josh Cox said:

1) Is the rear mount supposed to be the "rubber ring strap" or the "metal tank strap" ? (the rear bolt holes are 5/16 BSF).

2) Where are the two rubber mats supposed to be glued to the tank ?, is the big one at the front or back of the under side of the tank ?

Click to expand...

http://www.oldbritts.com/1973_g28.html Roadster steel tank support detail at upper left. Thick pad at the rear. The two rear tank studs and rubber washer assemblies are shown in some parts books as metalastic rubber mounts.


I cartainly would not recommend leaving off the rear retaining strap as somebody mentioned, because where the threaded tank mountings are fixed is not particularly strong. If the tank is not supported and fixed correctly then the area around those two front mounts can start to fracture-resulting in fuel leakage from the cracks, and if left it can result in the mountings being torn out of the tank (imagine the consequences of a one inch hole suddenly appearing in the bottom of your fuel tank!).

I'm with LAB on this. Without the rear strap, the rear of the tank will be lifting over road irregularities and under braking and this will stress the front mounts.

The thin pad goes at the front although in my experience, with the correct number of rubbers on the front mount, it doesn't seem to carry any load. The thick pad at the rear on the other hand compresses quite a lot as the strap is tightened. All the rear mounts that I've seen have been of the silencer rubber type.

The Roadster strap is slightly curved and has a rubber pad on it. It's easy enough to make if missing.

My neighbours have poultry, I sometimes hear him if I creep in as the sun comes up but I've never been woken by him. Who are these insomniacs ? :roll:

79x100 said:

Without the rear strap, the rear of the tank will be lifting over road irregularities and under braking and this will stress the front mounts.

The thin pad goes at the front although in my experience, with the correct number of rubbers on the front mount, it doesn't seem to carry any load.

Click to expand...

I've noticed the fuel tank also has a tendency to rock from side-to-side at certain engine RPM, which I'm sure also puts strain the mountings and the front pad does seem to help reduce that side to side rocking motion.


Some while after I bought my Commando I noticed the two (steel Roadster) front tank mountings appeared to have been 'reinforced' with epoxy. As I'd already heard of the mountings' apparent weakness-I thought no more about it at the time, until one day I noticed fuel had started to leak from one of them-so I thought I'd better investigate? After chipping away the epoxy (which was already beginning to detach itself due to the fuel contamination) I found the mounting boss had almost broken away from the underside of the fuel tank-and the other front mounting was in a similar condition, so the epoxy 'reinforcement' had been a potentially dangerous bodge!
I repaired both mountings with braze, and then applied further glassfibre reinforcement over the area, and to date, the repair has proved successful.

L.A.B. said:

Josh Cox said:

http://www.oldbritts.com/1973_g28.html Roadster steel tank support detail at upper left. Thick pad at the rear. The two rear tank studs and rubber washer assemblies are shown in some parts books as metalastic rubber mounts.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I would like to know if a 74 steel roadster tank will fit my 71 frame which was sporting a fiberglass roadster tank?

Any modifications needed to the tank or frame?

T95 said:

I would like to know if a 74 steel roadster tank will fit my 71 frame which was sporting a fiberglass roadster tank?

Click to expand...

Yes, it should fit without any modifications.

Oops. That's why I like this forum. I too WILL be using the metal strap at the rear when I mount my next Roadster gas tank. I sure don't want my tank fracturing ... due to my laziness of not installing the rear metal strap. Sorry I gave ya some bad advice on this ... I stand corrected by L.A.B. Cheers !

Woke up to snow on Crazy this day so hibernation to set in ,in cave-thing. Will unbolt tank for repainting as fuel crept under cap area paint and commenced to lift up . Use locknuts on fuel tank studs. My latina wifey is the insomnic ,found her once at 4:30 A.M. in Mexico chucking stones up the hillside to stop a rooster. Went out to investigate, then pull her back as stones started zinging back at her in the dark. Also in Mazunte she actually ran out naked with an axe for one perched directly above our cabana, screaming it's head off ! Her .02 worth...ALL ROOSTERS SHOULD DIE ! Norton owners of the world unite ! Drive over all roosters while you can, squish them . Merry X-mas and peace be to all (except the roosters).

you think Roosters are bad.... ???? try Peacocks.....

Hi Josh,

I fitted a Roadster steel tank to my 850 that originally had a steel Hi-Rider. The exhaust cotton reals at the front of yours are a popular AM change. Original front mounts are studs with various pack washers of rubber. I prefer the exhaust cotton reals! I turned up some alloy spacers with a step in them to fill up the large holes in the frame mounts. I purchased the correct rear steel strap mount, but buggered if I could get the mount to fit, It seems really hard to get your fingers into the nuts. But my steel tank has the little studs on the rear for a rubber band mount also. I bought the correct rubber and found it too long and spongy, so in the end I used 2 thick orings and joined them with a cable tie so I can adjust for a perfect crush on the rear rubber. I ended using a kids disuded floaty (thick dense foam) for the rear rubber, works nicely.

Aussie make do ingenuity I guess.

Cheers mate.

Wow, I learn something everytime I'm on this forum ! Never knew that ANY steel Roadster gas tanks had the little nubs on the back for the rubber band. I have never seen them on any steel tanks I looked at. Is yours a non-USA steel tank stockie1 ?