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OSSA fibre glass tanks.


ossamar
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Best people to ask will be the importers, if they don’t know then they should! They then need to speak with the supplier, you would think with fuel being used in most countries now that attacks, eats and destroys valuable fuel system parts that the makers would be using the latest resins and hardeners to counter act the problem. For the cost of an aluminium tank I would be heading down that route.??

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You're never going to get an answer you can trust in 100%.  If I was buying one I'd line it. 

A few years back I bought a tank for my 340 Sherpa  and never got the chance to see if it was resistant or not as it split first time out along the seam where the upper and lower mouldings are joined (I think it was there anyway) The quality was poor and if held up to the light, looking through the filler cap hole you could see through the bottom in places, it was that thin. The quality of some repro parts isn't always good

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On 14/07/2018 at 2:44 AM, ossamar said:

Has anyone experience with the new fibreglass replacement petrol tanks, coming out of Spain for MAR's and TR80's? Do they stand up to the new fuels or do they have to be lined?

MAR 350 tank.jpg

TR80 tank.jpg

Isn’t that white tank an aluminium, looks very like it to me...weld seams etc. The Gripper looks like an alloy one two, last one I had anything to do with had exactly that.

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They're both fibreglass, Ossa only fitted fibreglass at the factory. Only UK bikes had alloy tanks. The MAR alloy tank is a different shape from the glass tank,  the Gripper alloy tank is the same shape but the tank and side panel are seperate units on UK bikes and the tank didn't use the front fixing bolts

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Two issues with the fibre glass tanks, firstly are they made with the correct resin ? Very difficult to prove as resin is resin, apart from the petrol resistant version is apparently very expensive and has to be purchased in quantities that only a mass producer would use hence the demise of your small producer ( Sammy Miller spares used to do HT5 tanks but were dropped a couple of years ago).

Secondly, accident damage, my last fibre glass tank all beautifully painted up only lasted a couple of trials, a simple drop in a jumble of rocks ended its life, it's alloy replacement has had numerous clouts with hard things and although looks a little secondhand is still able to carry on.

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15 hours ago, section swept said:

Isn’t that white tank an aluminium, looks very like it to me...weld seams etc. The Gripper looks like an alloy one two, last one I had anything to do with had exactly that.

Those "weld seams" on the white tank are present on all the original fibreglass MAR tanks I've worked on

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Typically, the resin used is Vinylester.  Here in Florida, where boats are common, this resin is easily obtained locally and the cost is not expensive. 

Currently, I am helping my buddy repair two oem MAR tanks.  He has been doing the sanding, and I have been doing and teaching him the glass work.  When he returns to Florida this Fall we will finish them.  No plans to coat them, but one maybe both were coated previously. 

To find the leaks, I used a bicycle pump on the tanks vent and sealed the cap with a section of flat rubber.  Submerged in a bucket of water, I added a couple PSI slowly with the bike tire pump.

As for the aluminum tanks, my buddies MAR currently has one of the Spanish aluminum tanks on it.  He bought it new, and from day one it had a leak.  Not bad, but it was on the upper seam.  He rode it this way a while and just recently had it repaired.  Our welder guy is a certified aerospace welder.  Even when super cleaned, he commented that the aluminum is a bitch to weld as the original welding was kind of dirty.  Ultimately, this aluminum tank was welded with the beads left and not sanded.  Plan is to mirror polish it and hopefully not dent it.

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