Steel Interstate Tank

nortriubuell · May 12, 2016

if I needed and Interstate tank, I would buy one of these. I bought my OEM Interstate tank about 11 years ago, and they were scarce then.

blipJC · May 12, 2016

I have not done any work whatsoever to the tank or side covers. What you see is how I received it. Other then the packaging. I plan on having the paint done for next year. I also am getting a new pair of Amal permeir carbs as well so I am in no rush to finish this season. I will keep everyone posted of the progress. I hope ausnorton will also post some pics of his tank when he receives it.

MikeM · May 12, 2016

blipJC said:
I have done the pressure test and it is indeed leek free. The sides of the tank over the side cover is not indented but the lower beveled edge is angled more abruptly toward the the centre of the seat then my original fibreglass one. I have looked at a few photos of steel tanks online and it does seem to match some of the ones I have seen just little more noticeable on an unpainted tank. Once I do a little bodywork and prime and paint it will look better. I put the new petcocks, mounting studs rubber washer pads and tunnel rubber pads in (thicker rear pad may be to thick) as well as the original fuel cap on and the fitment was still good. the split pin hole in the cap mount is a little large and makes the cap a little loose and sloppy when It is open but it latches good and is tight when it is closed. The bike is used for a daily rider and not for show so I am very happy with it for the price I have paid.

I purchased a tank from Commando Specialties over the winter. Not sure where it was made but a good price. I was told to make sure that the cap fits properly before paint. I am in the process of priming the tank to test it before the finish paint job. The tank fits perfectly and looks pretty good. Not quite as defined as the original but I want to get the fiberglas tank off of the bike.
Keep is informed and I will let you know how mine turns out.

http://commandospecialties.com/norton-p ... -tank.html

MikeM

Nater_Potater · May 13, 2016

blipJC said:
Can someone with a original steel tank post some pics of their tank and side covers in position so I can see if there is a difference between the steel and glass tanks or just the manufacturing of the one I received.
Thanks.

Man, it's hard to photo black-on-black! Here's an original '74 Interstate:

As the tape measure's attempting to show, there's about a 1" gap at the rear under the weld seam, tapering down to about 3/4" at the front. Left and right sides are the same.

'Hope this helps,
Nathan

manx850 · May 13, 2016

That all depends on how much high density foam padding you have under the rear of the tank.....

Nater_Potater · May 13, 2016

manx850 said:
That all depends on how much high density foam padding you have under the rear of the tank.....

Good point. Enough on mine that the rear strap makes contact with the frame as the bolts are snugged down.

blipJC · May 14, 2016

Here is a link to the side covers if anyone is interested.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Norton-Comman...Made-out-of-Toolings-/162049713432?nav=SEARCH

gortnipper · May 14, 2016

nortriubuell said:
I bought my OEM Interstate tank about 11 years ago, and they were scarce then.

Yeah, I looked for a LONG time in the early 90s for mine. Pre-Internet classifieds scouring.

Madnorton · May 15, 2016

Kommando, how did you get the tank to fit so that the handle bar lug bottom halvess do not foul the tank on your MK3?

I thought that MK3 tanks got smaller and had different fitting arrangement for the MK3. I might need to swap a unused NOS large interstae tank for a 'slim' one.

kommando · May 16, 2016

Mad, not my bike so can't tell you, I picked it up from the thread on the accident damaged MK3 on eBay uk.

blipJC · May 24, 2016

Any news on your tank yet ausnorton?

ausnorton · May 24, 2016

Just received it last night . It is a beautiful piece of work , much better than I was expecting . You can paint it straight away with minimum prep . Haven't tried it out for fitting as yet , and will post photos as soon as I can figure out how too .

gortnipper · May 30, 2016

I have a nice Interstate tank I have had since the 90s, but I never had the proper side covers and wanted ones with a tool pocket. So, I figured that for $70 (includes shipping) for the pair I could not go wrong. I got my set yesterday, and they are slightly better than I had expected.

The poorest thing was actually the packaging, which was done as a single lump with the two covers nested together with no bubble wrap between them at all. This caused a bit of marring on the inside of the right cover.

The right cover will need some work, as you can see, but no more so than any used cover would I think.

Left cover is pretty good.

gortnipper · May 30, 2016

The sides will need some work.

Rohan · May 30, 2016

Thanks for the sidecovers report, useful info.
Seem quite good value.

Just for comparison, I'm in a similar boat, had a tank for yonks, need sidecovers.
I went a different path, hunted down old ones - took ages really.
Not easy to see here, but once stripped back bare, they have a number of tiny little marks and corrosion spots, that will similarly need attention.

Yours are probably better value, separate postages really bumped the price up for me.
Folks are starting to ask silly $$ for original too, so replica are a useful way to avoid that.

I was quite surprised to see in the stripping process that what seemed like
a silver paint job was red underneath.
http://s33.postimg.org/d1qsgz6tb/Sidecover_hotubbed.jpg
And once cleaned off, they were quite flimsy steel - and rusted very rapidly if left !

blipJC · May 30, 2016

Gortnipper, when I received my side covers the were wrapped separately in a thin layer if bubble wrap and then all wrapped together in one lump of bubble wrap. Have you tried to fit them on the bike yet? When I installed mine the oil tank side cover was a little tricky to get both bolts in. I will have to enlarge the rear hole in the side cover to get the bolts to both go in smoothly. Years ago I had to make a minor repair on my oil tank to get it to mount to the frame properly so that may have something to do with it as it seems like the side cover was not tooled deep enough to line up with the threads in the oil tank. Once they are lined up and in place the cover looks just as good as the original. The finish on the side covers is a little undesired as I will probably blast then and start with bare metal for paint prep. the under side of the tank I received has the same finish and will also need some work before paint. All in all I am very pleased with the quality and fitment of both the tank and covers and they will work just fine for replacements of my original glass parts.

gortnipper · May 30, 2016

blipJC said:
Gortnipper, when I received my side covers the were wrapped separately in a thin layer if bubble wrap and then all wrapped together in one lump of bubble wrap. Have you tried to fit them on the bike yet? When I installed mine the oil tank side cover was a little tricky to get both bolts in. I will have to enlarge the rear hole in the side cover to get the bolts to both go in smoothly. Years ago I had to make a minor repair on my oil tank to get it to mount to the frame properly so that may have something to do with it as it seems like the side cover was not tooled deep enough to line up with the threads in the oil tank. Once they are lined up and in place the cover looks just as good as the original. The finish on the side covers is a little undesired as I will probably blast then and start with bare metal for paint prep. the under side of the tank I received has the same finish and will also need some work before paint. All in all I am very pleased with the quality and fitment of both the tank and covers and they will work just fine for replacements of my original glass parts.

No, I haven't tried to fit it, as my bike is almost completely disassembled right now as I have started a resto-mod on it. And in its next incarnation, it wont be Interstate compatible anyways, with drag bars. The covers are really for the parts bank for later.

muttster-long-slow-resto-mod-t24529.html

ausnorton · May 31, 2016

some more pics, complete with roadster side panels and seat . This is only a mock up but the side panels still fit with the tank though the seat will need modification . The tank also clears the handlebars on full lock , so all looks good . I've just got to pressure test the tank and will coat the inside , get some fitting hardware and she will be ready to go .

ausnorton · May 31, 2016

pics keep disappearing . I'll try again.

gortnipper · May 31, 2016

Looks better than my used tank when I got it. Take care of the rust before coating it

Steel Interstate Tank

nortriubuell

blipJC

MikeM

Nater_Potater

manx850

Nater_Potater

blipJC

gortnipper

Madnorton

kommando

blipJC

ausnorton

gortnipper

gortnipper

Rohan

blipJC

gortnipper

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ausnorton

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ausnorton

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gortnipper

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