help needed, in the land of confusion...

[Sapper77]

Dose anyone know what the false tank is made of? I had figured cast aluminum or pot metal from the interior texture but after filing a small edge it almost looks like some plastic or resin. I am wanting to dish the sides of the tank cover but before I go wailing on it with a body hammer I'd like to be sure of the material. I may have to approach this a different way. Any suggestions are appreciated as always.

[chewy999]

This isn't much help, but I always thought the false tank, (GL1100), was made of a type of plastic, certainly on the outside. Tried Googleing but not much help there. Perhaps a customiser who has cut into one can confirm.

[sunnbobb]

Moved to the tech forum. The how to forum is for How to.

[sunnbobb]

It's made of plastic

[ericheath]

I believe it's abs plastic like the side covers.

[rnelson]

It's definitely plastic. Because of it's stiffness it might be nylon, but I'm not positive. I am positive that using a hammer on it will produce unwanted results. Good luck with your project.

[Sagebrush]

Look up Greg Foresi's White Trash build thread. I'm pretty sure he used PVC pipe to contour the side of his shelter to make room for velocity stacks coming up from his non-OEM carbs. Not sure how he mated the two different materials but I think he just glued them together.

[gregforesi]

Yes they are some sort of plastic, and I'm pretty sure it is not ABS. There is no filler in the resin either, so it isn't polyester or epoxy resin. The 1800 is ABS and all the square miles of plastic on it have a different "feel" than the plastic panels on the 1000.

Sagebrush's observation is correct. I used 3" PVC pipe shaped to fit, then glassed the banana shaped pieces into the shelter covers with polyester resin as the binder. Bondo (a polyester mix) completed the finish work and they have held up over the years. The same holds true for filling the holes in the side covers.
My repairs to the sidecover tabs didn't hold up though. That's another one of the reasons that cause me to think that the stock plastic is not polyester based.

Epoxy resins or glues don't bond at all well to the stock plastic, but polyester does OK.

[ericheath]

I used abs glue on the side panels and it melds right into it. Actually I think I used bits of abs dissolved into acetone. I haven't tried it on the sides of the false tank. On the bike in my avatar I sliced the rear section of the side covers off to match the frame mods and glued abs sheet plastic to it. Still holding up after two summers. It may not be abs, but abs works with it.