Cross-threaded petcock fittings on tank. Fixable?

[CoconutPete]

At night I dream of a french blue tank.
Weathered, but not destroyed.
Dinged, but not dented.
Scratched but not gouged.

One day I will find this unicorn of a tank, and I will buy it.

There is one on eBay now. It fits this description to a T. It is described as "holes for the petcock mounts look cross-threaded"

What are your thoughts on this?

Can this be drilled/tapped or something else without welding/burning the tank?

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

A session with correct sized tap might fix it, if not you could use an insert with some sealer.

 

[nj1639]

Yep, with a thread chaser you might get lucky unless the holes have been ovaled, and even then if the screws can get a holding grip a home made cork base gasket and the fiber washers for the screws might hold back the flow.

How will you get the rust out?

 

[grizld1]

No need for inserts, etc. There are fixed nuts on the inside of the petcock mounting holes, and there's enough meat on them to use a 7 mm. tap. No matter what you've read or where you've read it, in this application there's no need to drill the 6 mm. holes larger, a 7 mm. tap will run right in and get 'er done. You'll need to enlarge the holes in the petcock a tad.

 

[CoconutPete]

Aw shucks. Now I may have to bid on this thing.

 

[gggGary]

You might also be able to retap 1/4 20NC or 1/4 24NF

 

[fredintoon]

At night I dream of a french blue tank.
Weathered, but not destroyed.
Dinged, but not dented.
Scratched but not gouged.
One day I will find this unicorn of a tank, and I will buy it.
There is one on eBay now. It fits this description to a T. It is described as "holes for the petcock mounts look cross-threaded"
What are your thoughts on this?
Can this be drilled/tapped or something else without welding/burning the tank?

Hi 'Pete,
my thought is:- Sure it can be cold fixed but why bother?
Ain't you got an unbuggered tank that meets your dinged but not dented, scratched but not gouged
specification and just needs a French Blue paint job to be the very unicorn you seek?

 

[CoconutPete]

Hi 'Pete,
my thought is:- Sure it can be cold fixed but why bother?
Ain't you got an unbuggered tank that meets your dinged but not dented, scratched but not gouged
specification and just needs a French Blue paint job to be the very unicorn you seek?

Fred: The answer is simple really. This is a bad habit of mine!

 

[fredintoon]

Fred: The answer is simple really. This is a bad habit of mine!

Hi 'Pete,
no, it's not a bad thing but it ain't a habit, more like it's a compulsion?
And I ask you the same thing as I asked a friend who said:-
"I'm retiring next year so I'll have more time to complete my four Norton twin racebikes and put my Vincent Comet back together and fix up
my BSA Gold Star and help in the group build of five BSA B25s and catalog all the bikes in my barn and - - - - "
so 'Pete, do YOU have a foolproof method of living until you are 120 years old so you can complete all this stuff?

 

[kshansen]

Fred, I understand what you were saying when you told that to your friend.

That is the reason last year I called up a guy in the western part of the state who I knew was interested in old Triumphs. See I had this 1966 500 single carb barn find bike I bought as a project close to 25 years ago. After being retired for two year I still had not found the time to start work on it. I offered it to him for $300. and sight unseen he said yes despite my attempts to make it sound as bad as I could! He even had a friend of his pick it up and when he finally saw it he was still happy!

Next on the "I'm never going to live long enough" list is the two XS400's a 1977 and a 1978. found a guy in the southern part of the state who after seeing a couple pictures is planning on coming up this weekend to haul them away one with title and one without title or even a fuel tank. The two of them for $200.

Now if anyone thinks I will be without any bikes or projects I do have a 1988 Sportster with around 120,000 miles on it a 1992 Sportster with a Hannigan sidecar, a 1992 XS650 Heritage Special all three of those have plates and insurance. And there is a 1978 XS650 Special just waiting for me to buy a battery and fresh tires. That one could end up being attached to a Velorex Sidecar that is out in the barn!

 

[gggGary]

Mumble mumble, get em all done i will, (not)

 

[CoconutPete]

do YOU have a foolproof method of living until you are 120 years old so you can complete all this stuff?

Fred:
Nope, don't have a way of ensuring that. I try to enjoy life as much as possible every day because none of us know how long we have. Frankly, if I see the north side of 90 I plan on just not wearing pants and drinking bourbon and smoking cigars all day, because that will have been a hell of a run!

What were we talking about again?

Oh yeah ... French Blue tanks! Oh they're so pretty! Aehmn. Maybe I should ask my co worker who paints motorcycles on the side if he can get French Blue paint...

 

[fredintoon]

Fred, I understand what you were saying when you told that to your friend.

That is the reason last year I called up a guy in the western part of the state who I knew was interested in old Triumphs. See I had this 1966 500 single carb barn find bike I bought as a project close to 25 years ago. After being retired for two year I still had not found the time to start work on it. I offered it to him for $300. and sight unseen he said yes despite my attempts to make it sound as bad as I could! He even had a friend of his pick it up and when he finally saw it he was still happy!

Next on the "I'm never going to live long enough" list is the two XS400's a 1977 and a 1978. found a guy in the southern part of the state who after seeing a couple pictures is planning on coming up this weekend to haul them away one with title and one without title or even a fuel tank. The two of them for $200.

Now if anyone thinks I will be without any bikes or projects I do have a 1988 Sportster with around 120,000 miles on it a 1992 Sportster with a Hannigan sidecar, a 1992 XS650 Heritage Special all three of those have plates and insurance. And there is a 1978 XS650 Special just waiting for me to buy a battery and fresh tires. That one could end up being attached to a Velorex Sidecar that is out in the barn!

Hi Ken,
yeah, where did the years go, eh? I'm down to an XS11/American Spirit sidecar rig, an XS650 Heritage Special and a Yamaha twinjet that I bought in a weak moment that my son is rebuilding for me.
And I'm thinking of putting that chair back on my Heritage Special and selling off the XS11.
BTW, here's a photo of my Mk IV XS650 sidecar subframe that plugs into the bike frame's centerstand mounts.

The Velorex' mounts wide stance is so the rig would fit on the custom trailer I built to carry the XS11 rig.

 

[kshansen]

BTW, here's a photo of my Mk IV XS650 sidecar subframe that plugs into the bike frame's centerstand mounts.

The Velorex' mounts wide stance is so the rig would fit on the custom trailer I built to carry the XS11 rig.

That subframe looks close to the one I built when I mounted the Velorex on one of the XS400's I'm selling this weekend. Spent many hours fabing it up and then maybe put 200 miles or less on it! No one will ever claim I'm the sharpest tool in the shed!

 

[fredintoon]

That subframe looks close to the one I built when I mounted the Velorex on one of the XS400's I'm selling this weekend. Spent many hours fabing it up and then maybe put 200 miles or less on it! No one will ever claim I'm the sharpest tool in the shed!

Hi Ken,
just so we can avoid totally hijacking Coconut Pete's string, perhaps we can discuss painting your Velorex French Blue?
But back to the XS650 subframe design.
My first attachment used a short rear subframe that plugged into the centerstand mounts and a front mount that had 3 short lengths of 3/4"
barstock that were tapped M10 for the front engine mounts to thread into and with a flatbar welded on their outer ends.
The next two iterations all had full length subframes plugged into the centerstand mounts at the rear and with the fronts bolted to an extension
that was part of an adapted front engine mount.
Iteration #4 the same except the front engine mount (didn't want to cut up a chrome one) was replaced entirely by a custom mount.
What I'm gonna do next time is avoid all that work by staying with the tried & true centerstand plug-in at the rear and use a flatbar on
each side of the stock front engine mount held on by longer bolts or if longer M10 bolts are not available perhaps 3/8"UNFs are?
Or even hi-strength threaded rod?

 

[CoconutPete]

Since this thread has gone sideways anyway, I may as well throw this in there. Hey Fred: There's a 4th of July parade in my neighborhood every year. You can enter any vehicle you want. My wife's boss actually lives in the neighborhood and enters his lawnmower engine powered go-kart every year. I want to enter the XS650 this year and want to somehow hook the Radio Flyer to the back of it and tow the kids in the parade. Any ideas?

 

[fredintoon]

Since this thread has gone sideways anyway, I may as well throw this in there. Hey Fred: There's a 4th of July parade in my neighborhood every year. You can enter any vehicle you want. My wife's boss actually lives in the neighborhood and enters his lawnmower engine powered go-kart every year. I want to enter the XS650 this year and want to somehow hook the Radio Flyer to the back of it and tow the kids in the parade. Any ideas?

Hi 'Pete,
finally, a practical use for an XS650 eh?
About the bike,
will it go slow enough to run at parade speed without continuously slipping the clutch &/or do you have a 38T or larger back sprocket?
About the Radio Flyer hook-up,
solo bike tow hitches are available and you can look 'em up on the 'net but you don't need to go into debt for one
at the slow speed parade use you need a hitch for.
I'd buy two 5' or 6' lengths of 3/4" diameter electrical tubing (conduit or EMT, one's thinner wall than t'other; use the thinnest)
pound the bike ends flat & drill them so the bike's lower shock bolts fit though them.
Bend the tubes over your knee to make a shallow Vee that'll give a Y-shape when they are bolted together.
Pound the Radio Flyer ends flat in the horizontal plane and join them with an exhaust pipe U-bolt that'll trap the 'Flier's pull handle.
I'd advise you wrap the hitch to 'Flier connection with a good wrap of Red Green's "handyman's secret weapon" Duct Tape to reduce joint flex.
And drive careful, Kids are a real bother to replace and if you lose or even damage one you'll never hear the end of it.