T: Fuel Tank VOC Spares Petrol Tanks

aluminiumbronze

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Evening all, are the the tanks offered for sale by the VOC Spares Indian tanks being resold or are they made by made by someone else and does anyone know if they fit properly and easily?
 

vibrac

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
They are not from India I believe all samples from there were not up to standard I expect Bob will tell you for certain
 

Ian Savage

VOC Vice President
VOC Member
Unfortunately Vibrac has jumped the gun and has given some incorrect information.
We initially looked at a few of the tanks that came directly from India and they were not acceptable.
We commissioned a batch of tanks via Fritz Egli using jigs supplied by the VOC Spares Co that were made in India by the supplier to Egli.
These were a very good fit and a lot more costly as they were made properly to our specifications.
Now that Fritz has sold his business we don't know if we can get any more but we are investigating.
 

Shane998

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Evening all, are the the tanks offered for sale by the VOC Spares Indian tanks being resold or are they made by made by someone else and does anyone know if they fit properly and easily?
I bought an unpainted tank from VOC spares The quality seems quite good My mate was almost ready to fit the tank of comet he was building so I gave him my VOC spares tank to try when he was ready He told me it was easier to fit than the original
 

Jim Bush

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I ordered a bare steel tank from India before COVID and it arrived this week. My expectations were that I would have to finesse the tank to fit in someway, but at the price point it was a risk I was willing to take.

The tank arrived and very impressed right out of the box with how well it was made - new clean metal, shaped properly, good looking welds. It is made from only a few properly shaped panels so the inside was very clean. It even had bottom panels with similar pressings as the original., albeit hand hammered.

I immediately offered it up my Rapide and was surprised at how perfectly it fit straight off. Installed the front rubber buffers and bolts, the rear bracket is spot on, the oil tank filler central. Wow..

I asked a few of the local lads (Dan S/Robert W) about the rear bracket - the welds on the underside look clean and strong, but it is missing the 1" stitch weld on the top, which will be an easy fix.

My original tank was really in a sorry state - a failed liner and 2 really big previous repairs with about 2 pounds of added bronze weld and a full 1/8" layer of polyfibre filler over the whole tank. Not knowing if I could source a reasonable replacement tank after enquires on this forum and no stock at VOC, I opened the bottom up (for its 3rd time), removed the liner by hand, bronze welded up, pressure tested and Redkoted the inside. The outside has now received a proper HRD paint job with 22K gold leaf lines and it looks pretty swish right now. I will use it initially, but becasue of the amount of repair I am less comfortable keeping it in full time service.

I sourced my tank from well known Royal Choppers <royalchoppers1@gmail.com> from ebay seller "vintage24x7". I have advised them of the missing weld and they are looking at that for future tanks. I would not get a painted tank, better to work from a bare steel base.
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stu spalding

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
It would be interesting to know what the capacity of these tanks is. I was supplied with an Indian made tank by the spares co and it only held 3 gallons. It has since grown to 4. Cheers, Stu.
 

Chris Launders

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
It would be interesting to know what the capacity of these tanks is. I was supplied with an Indian made tank by the spares co and it only held 3 gallons. It has since grown to 4. Cheers, Stu.

What did you do, use an air hose to see if there were any leaks. :oops:
 
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