2 Strokes Down Under

You mean you put it on a bike?!
You're supposed to wrap that sort of thing in bubble wrap and moisture absorbent packs and hide them forever under your bed/ in your loft, just dropping occasional hints on various forums of the great treasure you have hidden away.
I dunno, some people, they don't know what NOS is for.....

When my pristine used RZ tank arrived from the uk I was frightened to death it would get dinged before I put it on the bike - so i bubble wrapped it and stuck it on the top shelf out the way.
last weekend I inadvertently knocked it off reaching for something else and nearly died - but luckily it didn't hit anything and I have those foam jigsaw tiles on the floor which helped. luckuy this time.

I managed to get a bid on that TZ tank via a mate of a mate and its now mine.
When you think about it 42,000 yen for an alloy 1991 TZ250B race tank (they only made that model for 1 year - later ones won't fit) is pretty good.
Thats about $450 plus about $50 agents fees and as it will come back in a container with a load of other stuff shipping should be minimal.

trouble is its a lot to expect these mates to keep on doing that

Have an old rz tank for an experiment. Sending it to a mob in NZ to see if they can "blow mould" a plastic tank inside the steel rz tank. This means cutting the floor out of the tank, so you'd really only have a steel shell fitting over the plastic tank on the inside.
Pro' for this idea are
Plenty of folks have rusted out tanks sitting on a shelf, ideal for this method.
Tanks are approved as this mob makes fuel tanks for all sorts of machines. Farming, industry, road, gen sets etc etc
Best of all, you'd never have to worry about rust again, ever!
Phillipe it would be nice if I could get that old LC tank off you if you're not using it? Or if anyone has an old fubar LC tank that still has good shape? I can then send an rz & an rd tank.
No promises, no guarantee it will work but think it def worth a red hot go....

How will it seal to the original tank/cap?

The original would have to go. To allow plastic tank filler neck to come through which would be threaded. Think of R1 or R6, how they have a fancy shaped shell but hides the black plastic fuel tank underneath.
I think its the R1 I've seen like this. I'm yet to get to a wreckers & check out how the cap etc is mounted. I do know they have the brass threaded inserts moulded into the plastic for mounts, fuel tap etc

Sounds well worth a go.

hybrid wrote:I bought a new LC tank while they were still available, and it was around $550 from memory with paint and decals.

That would have been 10+ years ago.

L.B. wrote:Have an old rz tank for an experiment. Sending it to a mob in NZ to see if they can "blow mould" a plastic tank inside the steel rz tank.

How Much?

Do they re-weld the RZ steel bottom back in place?

(Not that it will help me - my LC 'spare' tank is crushed, dinged and screwed!).

OzzyElsie wrote:

L.B. wrote:Have an old rz tank for an experiment. Sending it to a mob in NZ to see if they can "blow mould" a plastic tank inside the steel rz tank.

How Much?

Do they re-weld the RZ steel bottom back in place?

(Not that it will help me - my LC 'spare' tank is crushed, dinged and screwed!).

Well that would depend if they can get the shape of the bottom or underside of the plastic tank the same as original steel tank. I think it would be better not having the bottom welded on, just have the steel tank shell bolted to plastic tank underneath somewhere.
Its starting to look cost prohibitive anyways. Trying Chineese companies now....

OzzyElsie wrote:

L.B. wrote:Have an old rz tank for an experiment. Sending it to a mob in NZ to see if they can "blow mould" a plastic tank inside the steel rz tank.

How Much?

Do they re-weld the RZ steel bottom back in place?

(Not that it will help me - my LC 'spare' tank is crushed, dinged and screwed!).

Well that would depend if they can get the shape of the bottom or underside of the plastic tank the same as original steel tank. I think it would be better not having the bottom welded on, just have the steel tank shell bolted to plastic tank underneath somewhere.
Its starting to look cost prohibitive anyways. Trying Chineese companies now....

I looked into this a while back whilst getting my replica panels made.
Got in contact with a company who does "rotational moulding". Yes the tanks can be made in plastic - you can even decided what thickness you want the tank to be. Great idea,but it has to be coated on the inside with something - cant remember what it was now,but it all adds to the cost.

For the mould to be made it was coming in at £7000 + that's just for the mould to be made - nothing else.

So you have £7000 ploughed into just the mould,then there is the cost of getting them coated on the inside - ???

You would have to sell a lot of tanks just to get your initial outlay back - even if the tanks were £100 you gotta sell at least 100 tanks even before you start.

Great idea but way to expensive........

Pretty sure Yamaha would have "lost" or "scraped" the original moulds for these tanks.....

why not just use a bladder in the OEM tank?

BRG1200 wrote:Do "we" know anyone in Japan?

Sent to "a friend" in Japan,

See what comes of it. He is a rare parts guy..

"
Hi Miguel,

Wanted to ask if there was any interest from you in sourcing and finding a way to ship any RZ & RD fuel tanks to Australia.. I have a lot of interest on local forums for these items, including from myself, one of each.

Let me know your thoughts, also how much that OVER swing arm is / was..

Cheers,

Peter.."

Greasemeup..

Well, I'm in for a decent RZ tank at the very least, more than one if price is right, and an LC tank for project future proofing.