gas tank divot broke off

swest wrote: Could fill it with water if it doesn't leak, then weld it.
Steve

And Steve is right. If you ARE going to weld/braze it, the only truly safe way is to totally fill it with water.

Shop I used to work for would weld anything in steel an inch or so for free. Guy I took my swingarm to (didnt wanna refill my gas) charged $35 to weld shock mounts on an alloy arm. And I have zero sandpaper in my house unless it is needed, OP says he is an apartment dweller so unless he is like my neighbors, and rents while doing a complete remodel it is slightly doubtfull he would.

And I purge tanks with argon while welding on them, after a thourough rinse and alcohol wash. There are shops too small to turn down any work that make their money $5 and $10 at a time.

I’m not going to get in a war of words with you, floivanus.

The OP looked like he was asking if there were alternatives to welding. I offered a workable, cheap solution that could last for years if he prepped it and applied the product properly.

Around here you won’t find a welding shop that does anything for free, or for $5-10 for that matter. OP’s location is Washington, DC. I’d imagine he’s in the same situation.

As far as welding gas tanks goes – the historic race car shop that I worked in back in the late ‘70’s/early 80’s would always do a pressurized detergent/surfactant flush and then fill with water. Old school, I guess.

I would try JB Weld. I use it often, and most the time if used in a logical manner it works. I can't even begin to guess how many projects and repairs I've done using JB Weld, but all added up over 100, and most of them worked and lasted. Just in the last couple weeks, fixed a chainsaw with an oil leak that would require completely new cases, and a pinball machine with parts no longer available. Both in my opinion after repair are an improvement over the original parts.

floivanus wrote: Shop I used to work for would weld anything in steel an inch or so for free. Guy I took my swingarm to (didnt wanna refill my gas) charged $35 to weld shock mounts on an alloy arm. And I have zero sandpaper in my house unless it is needed, OP says he is an apartment dweller so unless he is like my neighbors, and rents while doing a complete remodel it is slightly doubtfull he would.

And I purge tanks with argon while welding on them, after a thourough rinse and alcohol wash. There are shops too small to turn down any work that make their money $5 and $10 at a time.

I have heard of this. Purging the tank to make it safe to weld using a method like you mentioned to make it absolutely safe.

Ideally, I would like to remove all the tubes under the gas tank & take it to a welder but all tubes were tightly zip-tied on to their fittings and there are quite a few to deal with in that area. Maybe I'm making that part of the job out as being more difficult than it really is?

Anyway, thanks everyone fpr all the recommendations. I'm going to have to mull it over because I'm going out of town soon, or so I'm told.