The indian petrol tank saga.

[ossie]

don,t go through paradisepark its a zoo my son does part time at in hertford.

 

[daevideo]

Before more bikes get restored with shiny new paintwork spare a thought for all that patina and original paintwork which gets lost and can never be recovered. I have a set of Girdraulics rescued from the scrapman in Tipton 1969 the fellow who sold them to me weighed them in for ..10/-. I'm hoping that it will go toward my barnfresh project, so spare a thought before an original tank gets restored to new.

 

[Chris.R]

Dear All,
Last week I said I would order a petrol tank for my Velocette from India,well here is the tale.

I placed an order with a supplier in India who was advertising on E bay,he promised faithfully that his tanks
were first class and his packaging would be strong and robust.
After a week I received a message from e bay saying that the item had been removed from sale and
a usual cause was that the goods were not to be sold via e bay ? or were an illegal type of product ,it
continued by saying that if the goods had not been paid for then ignore any further requests for payment,if they had been paid for by paypal then I would have to wait until my due expired delivery date
before I could try and claim a return via paypal,if they had been paid for by any other means it was just
my hard luck.
Well after receiving the message all the blood drained from my body,and I stopped eating currys as
a token gesture and went on a complete meat and two veg diet.
My hard earned earthly pounds were disappearing before my very eyes and it looked like I was going to have to look for a well rotten british tank. Well would you believe it,DHL on my doorstep this afternoon,big strong box with my name on it,opened it up its my tank,nearly perfect,one of the front lugs is squashed a little but will straighten and the petrol cap fitting is a strange shape but I can alter that ,the lug must have been done before it was wrapped up, it fits the bike a treat, its perfect.If I could upload a photo I would include it,its even primered underneath. Success

The problem I have is that at some stage in the past work was done on the bike and may have involved Furness and Searle replacing a damaged tank as I am having a difficult time getting the throttle cable to run up from the carb on the COMET I am wondering if the tank cut out at 3-3/4 inches means the tank is from a series `B' this work would have been done in the 1970s F&S were ex Vincent factory workers who set up on their own account. Any suggestions I have had to tilt the Amal pre monoblock carb to get any sort of decent run for the cable.

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

The problem I have is that at some stage in the past work was done on the bike and may have involved Furness and Searle replacing a damaged tank as I am having a difficult time getting the throttle cable to run up from the carb on the COMET I am wondering if the tank cut out at 3-3/4 inches means the tank is from a series `B' this work would have been done in the 1970s F&S were ex Vincent factory workers who set up on their own account. Any suggestions I have had to tilt the Amal pre monoblock carb to get any sort of decent run for the cable.

Chris
There is no such thing as a series B petrol tank. The large cutaway in the tank for the carb didn't appear on std production bikes until around sometime in late 1950 to early 1951 and so virtually every series C made in 1949 & 1950 would have had a smaller cutout tank. So they were used on some series C as well but the exact date / bike number for the change is not known. On the small cutaway tank it is tricky getting a decent throttle cable run on the front of a twin and on a Comet. I usually make a metal tube guide in the approx shape of an not quite complete "S" to replace a short section of the outer cable where it comes out of the top of the carb. I make mine out of a piece of copper replacment brake tube used on cars.

Simon

 

[Chris.R]

Chris
There is no such thing as a series B petrol tank. The large cutaway in the tank for the carb didn't appear on std production bikes until around sometime in late 1950 to early 1951 and so virtually every series C made in 1949 & 1950 would have had a smaller cutout tank. So they were used on some series C as well but the exact date / bike number for the change is not known. On the small cutaway tank it is tricky getting a decent throttle cable run on the front of a twin and on a Comet. I usually make a metal tube guide in the approx shape of an not quite complete "S" to replace a short section of the outer cable where it comes out of the top of the carb. I make mine out of a piece of copper replacement brake tube used on cars.

Simon

Nice to know the tank is right Good idea, I think I know what you are getting at, is that pipe the one that is used on fluid pipes on brake plates? the made bends I bought were never going to fit in the cut-out, I notice that Richardson 1955 says "Earlier tanks did not have the cut-away required to accommodate the T.T. type carb" My comet is a 1954. Today we seem to have got the running right the only significant change has been to put the needle in the 3rd middle notch previously it was in 1st.
Chris

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

Nice to know the tank is right Good idea, I think I know what you are getting at, is that pipe the one that is used on fluid pipes on brake plates? the made bends I bought were never going to fit in the cut-out, I notice that Richardson 1955 says "Earlier tanks did not have the cut-away required to accommodate the T.T. type carb" My comet is a 1954. Today we seem to have got the running right the only significant change has been to put the needle in the 3rd middle notch previously it was in 1st.
Chris

Chris
Yes its the metal brake fluid pipe approx 3/16" O/D or something similar used on cars that I use. If you use the copper version rather than plated steel it bends a lot easier.

 

[Chris.R]

Chris
Yes its the metal brake fluid pipe approx 3/16" O/D or something similar used on cars that I use. If you use the copper version rather than plated steel it bends a lot easier.

Do you get yours from dealers the web or scrap yards?

 

[stu spalding]

Hi Chris, try online for 'cunifer' brake line. Cheers, Stu.

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

Do you get yours from dealers the web or scrap yards?

Any local family run motor factor will stock car copper brake pipe in long lengths and cut off what you require. The piece I have is left over from restoring a car a 30 years ago.
It’s usually a copper nickel alloy and not straight copper.

 

[roy the mechanic]

When I made the cable adaptors on the norvin, 3/16 fits the carb. If you put a piece of 1/4 on the end the cable will have a pocket to sit in nicely.