Hello there!

[Thedoctor]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and thought I'd introduce myself. I live in New England, I've had a couple bikes in the past but mostly dual sports. I picked up a 94 Intruder 800 over the weekend for 600 dollars, the bikes been sitting for years in a barn so it needs some work but it actually appears to runs good. Unfortunately the fuel tank has a few pinholes in the rear corners so I need to figure that out but otherwise I'm excited to get it going. Hoping I can lean on everyone's knowledge here when needed! Nice to meet y'all!

[hillsy]

Welcome - if the pinholes in the tank are just that, then a tank sealer should fix that up. Go for the POR15 kit if you can get it and be meticulous in the prep. Or get another tank... lol...

[Designer]

Welcome to The Board ! Always good to hear from fellow Intruder Owners from Across The Big Pond.

I suggest you might want look into a different Tank as a more reliable "fix".

Decades of Experience has shown me that using a Chemical Tank Liner alone might work for stopping the Gas Leakage, ( and it is alotta work to get it right) but does not address the rusting of the Steel Tank itself.

As anyone who is more than a Shade Tree Mechanic knows, each pinhole will continue to rust out on you.

So if you follow theh advice of using POR-15, you will also need to refinish/repaint the Whole Tank also.

[hillsy]

If you don't get rid of the rust completely before you use the liner it's kinda pointless. Hence my saying you need to be meticulous in the prep. Lots of people think "that's good enough" when it isn't...

I've done many over the years and they will work and last if you do the prep properly and use a good quality product.

[Designer]

Here's the instructions from the POR-15 website.

https://por15.com/products/fuel-tank-sealer

For the preparation required, sadly, they do not say anything about refinishing/addressing any rust the outside of the Tank. And saying ..."be meticulous in the prep"... doesn't directly mention/address the rust situation so that Thedoctor can to know it is necessary either.

Hence my mentioning it our New Member,.... so he has The Best advice in making a choice of what he is looking at coming up,....and going forward.

[navigator]

Designer, New England is just down the road a bit.

[Designer]

Designer, New England is just down the road a bit.

My bad. In my haste, I saw England only. I had in my mind International Shipment of orders for my Springs.

Thanks!

[Thedoctor]

Thanks for the pointers! I actually tried Tig brazing the tank yesterday and it just blew holes through it it's so thin. I ended up cutting out a chunk to see how bad it was. It's not beyond bad just rotted in the rear corners, I'm actually going to try an hammer some copper to fit and Tig braze it on there. The used tanks I've seen are north of 250 and very questionable.. is there any other Suzuki makes that use a similar tank?

[Designer]

Thanks for the pointers! I actually tried Tig brazing the tank yesterday and it just blew holes through it it's so thin. I ended up cutting out a chunk to see how bad it was. It's not beyond bad just rotted in the rear corners, I'm actually going to try an hammer some copper to fit and Tig braze it on there. The used tanks I've seen are north of 250 and very questionable.. is there any other Suzuki makes that use a similar tank?

You have good skills for this undertaking.

Yeah, having the holes keep getting bigger and bigger is what I have often seen when this sort of rust is encountered. The water on top of the gas has a lotta time to work on the Metal inside.

There's really no other tank that I know of that will bolt right on other than the Intruder tank. To me, they are about THE prettiest Tanks out there.

Keep us up-to-date on your progress !

[Thedoctor]

I've actually never tried this with copper before but it sounded like a good idea at the time.. tanks junk anyway so if I can cobble it together again I'll be tickled.

[Designer]

Given the very different coefficients of expansion/contraction of Steel and Copper, I am interested in how the use of Copper here comes out in the long run.

[Thedoctor]

As a quick update I actually ended up just using steel, the tank was really thin in the corner so I cut out everything up to the petcock and replaced it. Not pretty but it doesn't leak and Ive been riding it quite a bit. I will say the seat is not very comfortable though. I feel like I need to be sitting 4 inches more rearwards.

[Designer]

As a quick update I actually ended up just using steel, the tank was really thin in the corner so I cut out everything up to the petcock and replaced it. Not pretty but it doesn't leak and Ive been riding it quite a bit. I will say the seat is not very comfortable though. I feel like I need to be sitting 4 inches more rearwards.

Do you have any pictures of the tank?

You might find that Forward Controls will alleviate the "cramped" feeling you are having.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Welcome to the board

Ride safe and post often