Broken screw on the fuel tank

[rvb1019]

Had the day off today and of course it rained. So I spent time in the ManCave
working on my R bike. My plan was to pull off the flat black tank I have and switch it with the gloss black
one I bought off Fleabay a few months ago. All I had to do was swap out the fuel
pump assembly and the gas cap assembly. Piece of cake right?- of course I
screwed it up.

It took a while but I eventually got the fuel pump out of the old flat black
tank. But with all of the jerking around, I screwed up the flat black finish. No
problem, I thought, I will have the Auto Shop kids at the local Tech Center paint it next month.
I get the assembly installed in the gloss black tank and put it on the bike, reconnect
everything. Fill'er up and it leaks like a sieve. Tank comes off and I look at
the bolts.

There are 6 bolts built into the tank that you screw the nuts on to secure the
pump in the tank. As I'm tightening them- that's right- SNAP! One of the
screws snapped off.

So now what- I have a great looking tank with a busted stem and a screwed up
looking tank with the pins all in places.

My question for the almighty collective- do I try to get the old tank painted
tomorrow and hopefully get it back early next week, try to get the pretty tank
repaired and if so how? I could throw the old tank on but it just looks like
crap.

[towerworker]

That's a good lesson for the rest of us. I've had my filter/pump assembly out and had to struggle with it to get it back in properly. I can see how easy it could be to bust one bolt off. I think a body shop is your best option on repairing.

Here's something to consider looking into: This will not be a quick thing but possibly an avenue to go down.....back in 2000 one of the antenna installs I did in the communication tower business involved installing cellular antenna mounts on top of a water tank. Because the tank was in use and could not be drained to facilitate welding operations (if you weld on a water tank you have to drain and then repaint the interior prior to re-filling). We used a special two-part epoxy to glue the mounts to the tank surface. These were heavy antenna/mount assemblies (125+lbs). After installation I had to belt off to these things to facilitate dressing the coax cables down the side of this 150' tall tank. I'm 200+ lbs so my backside puckered a bit until I knew the glued joints would safely hold me 150' in the air. (I was also tethered to a safety rope). My point is this might be the kind of stuff that may work for a broken tank bolt. There may be some epoxy products in your local auto parts stores to consider, maybe even visit an automotive paint store as vehicles today use a wide variety of epoxy products.

Good luck!

Wayne