Indian fuel tanks

Don't tell me the ethanol rusted your tank, John?

You can't get a wideline rear mudguard either, the club ran out of stock ages since. Add tanks to the list!

I have read on this site some owners having some success with Indian tanks, sometimes after modification. The way things are it is in our interest that accurately made tanks are available, though I'd rather they were made locally.

I have an alloy wideline tank on my poor man's Manx, excellent quality and made in Wales. If push comes to shove, John, you can always turn your bike into a cafe racer!

Thanks for the clarification , John, you did leave that open to speculation.

You could maybe do a running restoration, if the bike is still in running order. A sort of pay as you go. When you get down to the final bits that mean taking the bike off the road, many of the parts will have been replaced or restored.

Do let us know if you get an acceptable tank.

I don't know about Wideline tanks from India, but due to the ravages of ethanol my original Fastback tank started to deteriorate very badly. After asking many people and getting negative feedback I reviewed the feed back itself. 99% was from people who had never purchased a tank from India. Their view was generally based upon opinion given to them by a friend, who worked with a cousin of a bloke in the pub who in turn had heard from his ex-brother in law about a bloke who had a bad experience about 5 years ago. I priced up aluminium tanks and with VAT they generally came out at about £800 plus a 6 or 8 month wait.

I decided to order a tank from India on the basis that I could actually afford to buy 4 tanks to get a good one, or I could get a good welder to cut and reweld them to make a good one.

I pressed the BIN button and was asked if I would like to make a best offer, so I knocked about £75 off the asking price and the seller agreed.

12 days later a beautifully tank arrived. All the threads were correct, and in the right place! So I decided to fit it as a final check. Bingo a perfect fit. I took it to Faircharm Restorations in Leicester for painting, which was done beautifully. It cost more to paint it than the tank cost, and it took about 6 weeks before it was ready. However I did pressure test it before painting.......NO leaks were found. So mine is actual experience of the product and Iwas, and still am, extremely pleased and impressed with the product. You can see the bike with tank fitted on Faircharms website incidentally. Hope this helps.

Previously michael_jobson wrote:

I don't know about Wideline tanks from India, but due to the ravages of ethanol my original Fastback tank started to deteriorate very badly. After asking many people and getting negative feedback I reviewed the feed back itself. 99% was from people who had never purchased a tank from India. Their view was generally based upon opinion given to them by a friend, who worked with a cousin of a bloke in the pub who in turn had heard from his ex-brother in law about a bloke who had a bad experience about 5 years ago. I priced up aluminium tanks and with VAT they generally came out at about £800 plus a 6 or 8 month wait.

I decided to order a tank from India on the basis that I could actually afford to buy 4 tanks to get a good one, or I could get a good welder to cut and reweld them to make a good one.

I pressed the BIN button and was asked if I would like to make a best offer, so I knocked about £75 off the asking price and the seller agreed.

12 days later a beautifully tank arrived. All the threads were correct, and in the right place! So I decided to fit it as a final check. Bingo a perfect fit. I took it to Faircharm Restorations in Leicester for painting, which was done beautifully. It cost more to paint it than the tank cost, and it took about 6 weeks before it was ready. However I did pressure test it before painting.......NO leaks were found. So mine is actual experience of the product and Iwas, and still am, extremely pleased and impressed with the product. You can see the bike with tank fitted on Faircharms website incidentally. Hope this helps.

Michael,

Who did you buy it from in India? That may make a difference.

Well said Michael and the post John has been waiting for. I for one won't give an opinion on products I have not used but was curious to see if ethanol caused the need for a new tank, In Michael's case it was.

We are going to need a lot of new tanks in the future because of this solvent, so who makes the best tank at the best price is important to know now, not just when you need it!

My experience was very different.

I ordered a Manx Replica 5 Gallon tank off ebay from a India. I specifically requested evidence of pressure testing with the threat that if none was provided it wouldn't be accepted and immediately sent back.

Upon opening the package there was a hand written note saying how it had been pressure tested which was barely legible but I figured at least it had been done as requested.

1 Month later, having polished it and got it ready for mounting I filled it and it had at least 4 leaks. The seller refused any responsibility and wanted to charge me £80 to send it back. In the end I got a local firm to fix it, and there is still a slow seep evidenced by a discoloured area on the tank.

I find the fitment pretty poor, it just doesn't sit right. It does however look "OK".

If I had to do it again I'd spend the extra and get one made in the UK.

Attached is the tank in question.

Cheers,

Dave

David, who did you buy the leaky tank from, so no one has to repeat the same problem.

My research has shown for BSA Spitfire/Hornet tanks then Pummy8081 is good, for Commando Interstate tanks RSvintage2014 makes them from tooling as opposed to hand beaten. Now we have Royal Enfield King for Fastback tanks.

There are only 2 or 3 tank makers in India but lots of sellers, the key to getting a good tank is finding a seller you can trust. They can pay less by accepting rejects so going without a recommendation leaves you open to the sellers who sell the rejects.

Hi,

I just checked and they're "No longer Registered" was over a year ago though, seller was :

vintage-store 24x7

Previously david_veevers wrote:

Hi,

I just checked and they're "No longer Registered" was over a year ago though, seller was :

vintage-store 24x7

For any EBay user, you can click on "View User ID History" and see who they were before and how long they have been using their current ID. Of course, the disreputable may have covered their tracks well.

Still, it would be helpful to know who Michael's good tank came from. It is more likely they will sell another good tank.