Fuel tank fitment

[oilyrover]

Love working on 30+ year old bikes!

This winter I've been working to convert my Paso fairing to 1/4 turn fasteners. The well nuts offer some alignment flexibility and the new fasteners have less. There was always some weird panel fitment and the opening around the headlight never seemed right.

Yesterday I was looking at how the tank sat on the bike and found some interesting welds around the "tower" under the tank that locates it near the steering head. I'd noticed the paint and primer before but didn't look that closely.

There are a couple of odd touch up spots on one of the fairing panels and the front fender. I thought it'd maybe had a tip over or something. Now I think it took a hit on the tank at some point. Frame looks ok, as does the headlight subframe.

[higgy]

tanks are prone to cracking in that area. Have had my 906 tank welded more than once. Tanks need to be thoroughly washed out and filled with argone before even attempting to weld BTW !

[Mc tool]

Mine too , I cut the mount right off , beat into shape and welded in a bit of 1/8th steel plate about 4 inches square ( cant remember exactly what size it was ) , trimmed the 1/8th off the mount and welded it back on . The whole weight of the fairing and 1/2 the tank hangs offa that mount.

[oilyrover]

How do you manage to get the positioning right?

This one isn't off by much but there are wear marks on fairing panels due to it being off by a little bit.

I wondered if the two threaded bits on the underside were from the factory to locate the mount.

[higgy]

looks like a cracked tank repair to me, most likely you will get the chance to do it again. A reinforcement plate like Mctool did is recommended

[Mc tool]

To get the position right Id probly mock the whole thing up ( with headlight fitted )with the tank just sitting on the mount and get everything sitting as you want it and then tack it with a mig welder .
When I did mine I didnt bother fixing the cracks ,I just welded right round the edge of the patch . The idea of the 1/8th" /3mm thick patch was to spread the load over a larger area than just the diameter of the mount/tank weld . I gotta move this bike soon and it sorta in bits so I could probly get a pic if you want .