All right, I had two separate threads going that gave the back story on what happened to my XS2 and why I’m rebuilding it again.
But here’s the thumbnail version, in case you missed it, Marbles Motors in Texas installed a liner in my tank when they painted it. It failed, in fact it literally melted, as I wrote about here,
http://www.xs650.com/threads/failed-gas-tank-liner-marbles-motors-got-it-wrong-twice.58302/
The failed liner trashed my motor , as talked about here,
http://www.xs650.com/threads/mailman’s-xs2-pulled-the-engine-for-top-end-repair.58865/
There was a lot of cross talk and diversions in those long threads so this thread will cover moving forward with rebuilding the motor and replacing the gas tank all in one place.
In this first post I’m going to focus on where all the problems started, The Gas Tank.
I am not going to try and salvage my original gas tank, at least not now. There are just too many problems with it, so I put on a search for another one. @GLJ had a couple he offered up, so did @gggGary and @Beags64 . Thank you all gentlemen, these are not exactly easy to come by. In the end I found one on EBay that I bought. The guy that sold it didn’t know what it was for, he wasn’t into bikes, to him it was just something to sell. Photo from the ad
It looked straight and fairly clean inside from what I could tell. I offered him a lower price and he took it.
When I got it I was delighted to see that it looked very clean inside , probably 75% rust free with a few rusty patches, and it came with both petcocks, side emblems and gas cap. ( all of which I am going to attempt to restore )
I was so excited that this tank was in really good shape, that I started disassembling it as soon as I removed the tank from the box. That’s when disaster struck.....of course!
The pin that holds the gas cap latch was bent, I was trying to drive it out, tapping on a punch with a plastic hammer and it got stuck, I tapped harder, probably too hard and POP ! I broke one of the ears for the gas cap latch off! 
50 years this tank survived with almost no rust or dings and I break it within five minutes of getting my grubby little paws on it! I just about blew a fuse. And with that I walked away for the day.
I returned to it the next day with a plan and unfounded optimism. I removed all the paint from around the mounting ears , ground the paint off of the mounting ear and ground a bevel on the sides and top of the ear.
Then checked my alignment.
I applied JB Weld in the crack, and underneath the ear and pushed it place and then for good measure a small amount on the end.
I gave that 24 hours to set up. The next day I scuffed up the surface of the JB Weld and built more up until I eventually had epoxy all the way around both ears, for symmetry a strength.
Another 24 hours later and I started contouring the JB Weld with a Dremel. ( This was not the final appearance, it got better.) Then I put the gas cap on and checked function and fit, the repair will be hidden beneath the cap, and it feels very secure.
To be continued in the next post........
Stripping the tank and rust remediation.
But here’s the thumbnail version, in case you missed it, Marbles Motors in Texas installed a liner in my tank when they painted it. It failed, in fact it literally melted, as I wrote about here,
http://www.xs650.com/threads/failed-gas-tank-liner-marbles-motors-got-it-wrong-twice.58302/
The failed liner trashed my motor , as talked about here,
http://www.xs650.com/threads/mailman’s-xs2-pulled-the-engine-for-top-end-repair.58865/
There was a lot of cross talk and diversions in those long threads so this thread will cover moving forward with rebuilding the motor and replacing the gas tank all in one place.
In this first post I’m going to focus on where all the problems started, The Gas Tank.
I am not going to try and salvage my original gas tank, at least not now. There are just too many problems with it, so I put on a search for another one. @GLJ had a couple he offered up, so did @gggGary and @Beags64 . Thank you all gentlemen, these are not exactly easy to come by. In the end I found one on EBay that I bought. The guy that sold it didn’t know what it was for, he wasn’t into bikes, to him it was just something to sell. Photo from the ad
It looked straight and fairly clean inside from what I could tell. I offered him a lower price and he took it.
When I got it I was delighted to see that it looked very clean inside , probably 75% rust free with a few rusty patches, and it came with both petcocks, side emblems and gas cap. ( all of which I am going to attempt to restore )
I was so excited that this tank was in really good shape, that I started disassembling it as soon as I removed the tank from the box. That’s when disaster struck.....of course!
The pin that holds the gas cap latch was bent, I was trying to drive it out, tapping on a punch with a plastic hammer and it got stuck, I tapped harder, probably too hard and POP ! I broke one of the ears for the gas cap latch off! 50 years this tank survived with almost no rust or dings and I break it within five minutes of getting my grubby little paws on it! I just about blew a fuse. And with that I walked away for the day.
I returned to it the next day with a plan and unfounded optimism. I removed all the paint from around the mounting ears , ground the paint off of the mounting ear and ground a bevel on the sides and top of the ear.
Then checked my alignment.
I applied JB Weld in the crack, and underneath the ear and pushed it place and then for good measure a small amount on the end.
I gave that 24 hours to set up. The next day I scuffed up the surface of the JB Weld and built more up until I eventually had epoxy all the way around both ears, for symmetry a strength.
Another 24 hours later and I started contouring the JB Weld with a Dremel. ( This was not the final appearance, it got better.) Then I put the gas cap on and checked function and fit, the repair will be hidden beneath the cap, and it feels very secure.
To be continued in the next post........
Stripping the tank and rust remediation.
