The tank came from British Only Motorcycle and Parts in the US. It is an Indian made tank.
I was comfortable to buy it because a friend of mine ex British Spares in NZ had dealt with British Only and said they were reliable. I also talked to Scott on the phone and he inspected it before me and told me the quality was reasonable. I had also talked in the past with Don in the Philippines and he said he had found some Indian Interstate tanks that were OK.
Basically the message is that its risky. 20 % are OK and the rest can be pretty bad but I felt in this case I could rely on the vendor.
So far I have only very quickly offered it up to the bike. There is a fair bit on this site about getting mounting rubbers etc right and I'm just starting the fettling !!! I also have to match it up with an Interstate seat and sidecovers. At this stage there seems to be an issue with the taps. They splay out too far and are not vertical but I think this will be easily solved.
Once I have everything fitted up then I will test the tank. Maybe with pressure. Very low pressure - it is very easy to ruin a tank with pressure. And also with a full tank. I have guys here who can build a tank from scratch (at a very high price) but at least I can get them to repair any issues if it leaks or needs modifying.
I am in no hurry but will report back on any issues.
OK. Perhaps when I get this finished I will report it in a different thread with a more relevant title.
Tank progress.
I should try photos but for the time being -
- The tank has a good shape from above and is even and symetrical.
- It is the right lenght and fits well with the Leighton Interstate seat and steel sidecovers sold by RGM
- It has minor rust inside and I will give it a good clean and perhaps rust kill before testing
- I will test it after the work described below is completed.
- The petrol cap fitting closes with a new Andover Norton cap from British Spares - but the spring return that flips it up is fouling. So I can close the lid but it will no open up fully again. I think it will need a little modifying and bending of the fitting. Not a big issue but it certainly doesn't work from out of the box.
- Petrol taps location and angle. These are definitely wrong. There is no way the standard fuel pipe fitting will work and if you extended the pipes long enough it would look horrible. There is a seam joint along the bottom of the tank and the correct location for the taps is where this seam is. The taps have been moved further out which means not only are they too wide but also they are splayed outward by the curve of bottom of the tank. Plus the seam on one side actually fouls the tap lever so you cant turn it on. I know a brilliant engineer who will fix this for me - not cheap but I expected I would need to do some work anyway. He is rather unusual in that has a real mechanical engineering university degree but is also a toolmaker/body builder/ fitter. So he can do the calculus and the machining. Has built and been a mechanic for world super bikes. There are very few people like that. In his 70s but fit as.
- I compared the tunnel area of the tank to my original steel 1974 roadster tank. It is a bit tighter and will need modifying to clear cables and wiring in the head steady area. I could do this myself with a bit of heating and tapping but will leave it again to my friendly engineer.
- Front area around the steering head and mounting brackets. This was the bit that concerned me most because while the taps are a nuisance cutting into the steering head area of a tank is more of a challenge. The base of the tank where the mounting studs screw in is not exactly the same each side. The studs are in the correct location however. After some muttering about modifying original frames I removed about 5 mm from the end of the frame mounting brackets and now there is plenty of clearance both sides. Until the work is completed opening up the tunnel area I will not be certain but I think there will be enough clearance each side of the steering head. At present it is not sitting centrally because the tunnel has insufficient clearance around the cables and wiring on the right hand side.
So in summary I happy with the shape. The underneath has clearance issues but should be fixable. I will check for leaks after all the fettling is done.
I'd give the tank a 7 out of 10 overall and a 9 out of 10 in the bits you can see.I agree with the reasonable assessment made by Scott at British Only and think that in the end I will have a good tank.
But all this does beg the question. Why is it so easy to buy good quality new Roadster tanks - made in India and Taiwan - but so difficult to buy good new Interstate tanks ? There is a market I'm sure because I have friends looking for them and every name vendor I contacted - Andover, RGM etc - said they cannot source good Interstate tanks.
