I had delayed preparing the Gold Wing side tanks all Summer and finally had the time to start work on them once we were here.
The Emblems were simply glued in place so came off without a fight. With not much Paint Stripping experience, I purchased a spray can of paint stripper.....the paint partially came loose but they were quite a mess when the can ran empty.....the next day I bought a quart can of "brush on" stripper which worked quite well. After 3 applications all paint was gone...took a lot of scraping & scrubbing but finally was removed. I then scrubbed them with SOS Pads.....and some fine grit wet sand paper....finally polished them with "Mothers" Aluminum Polish. Not overly shiny but I wanted the "raw" appearance.
I mounted the tanks as I figured they should be mounted but they crowded the foot pegs quite a bit. did not like that at all....found by reversing the tanks there was a lot more foot room and the lower mounting bracket holes were right above the passenger foot peg mounts.
I had a few old BMW Airhead fender washer plates which were the exact length needed. Just had to ream out the holes a bit. I removed the rear passenger pegs as they are never used anyway, but they would still fit if needed.
I found this schematic for plumbing in the tanks somewhere. I order two petcocks as I'm not sure the fuel would draw evenly from the tanks with one outlet?????....maybe some smart Engineer could educate me on that matter.....or I install one petcock and give it a try.....but maybe it would be better to be able to isolate the individual tanks using two petcocks, which I ordered.
Kind of an "Aluminum Overload" in their "Raw" state....I ordered a pair of simple "Honda" emblems to attach to the sides. Don't think I'll paint the tanks. If I decide to sell them down the line color match won't be an issue.
One has some minor "road rash" damage but nothing some alloy filler couldn't fix. Was going to buy some Aluminum "propane only" brazing rod but haven't been able to find any other than on EBay....at $30.00 + with shipping.
2 comments:
The tanks are so much lower than the carb. Does the Honda have a fuel pump?
I have a pair sitting on the shelf for the airhead that I've never gotten around to messing with. But the bottom of the aux tanks is just above the carb bowls.
I've the same tanks.
If using a single petcock, and filling the tanks completely, the right tank will overfill the left causing the excess fuel to exit the overflow/vent and pool on the ground.
BTW, you have them mounted correctly. They are not reversed.
I use 4" rear peg extensions for better passenger foot position.
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