Kz1000 Carbon Fiber Fuel Tank

unbelievable.....i have a hard time checking my oil window right...you may indeed have mucho skills....
p.m sent..pic post tomorrow....

Skills? No, not really. Determination to learn...most definately! I suppose you could say I'm not your average, run of the mill turd puncher :laugh:

One item I require for the tank top mold prep are emblem locating studs. I made these out of some scrap 1/4" round stock I cut off of an old steel bunkbed. Ain't recycling great? :laugh:

I turned the ends down to .115 and threaded them with a 3mm .5 pitch die.

Here are the studs installed on the tank

Why go through the trouble you ask? Because I want the stock emblems to bolt on in the stock locations. Sure, it's a little more work to do this rather than just fill in the holes and make it smooth, but I think the stock emblems on a carbon tank will just POP! As you can see from the pic, I also have most of the flange in place. Tomorrow I will set the top flange I cut out today, finish the paper flange and coat with PVA. Then I'll start laminating the right half of the tank top mold :woohoo: If you're wondering about the studs, I will dip them in PVA, then mold around and over the bottom half of them, creating a boss in the mold for each one. That way when I layup the carbon tank, the studs will sit in the bosses at the correct location, angle and depth, holding a nut of some sort that will be the new emblem mount.

Nice work as usual. Is the laminate going to be thick enough to bury those 3mm nuts or will you have to seal them in on the back side when you lay it up by adding some layers behind the nuts? When you pull off this body set, you might want to take some Japanese lessons. I think you may find a market for your bodywork.

Thanks Josh. I think that it may be thick enough on the sides, but I don't think it matters. The first few layers will be slit right over the inserts, but the remaining layers will cover the back. After that I'll seal the tank, so I don't anticipate any leakage from the emblem mounts. The tank will have varying layers throughout, with more kevlar on the sides.

Does anyone have a pic/pics of a crashed Kz900/1000 tank that they can post here? I'd like to see the damage sustained to the fuel tank in a lowside/highside. This will help me determine the layering I need and where I need it. I learned that the carbon case savers have 10 layers of kevlar in between 6 layers of carbon. I was also told that they need to be replaced after a triple digit crash, but that they maintain their integrity. While I'm not looking to put 16 layers in the tank, I may come close to that in the vulnerable crash areas

in my experiance its usually the end of handlebars that smack the tank in a lay down,so just figure where your bars would hit

PLUMMEN wrote:

in my experiance its usually the end of handlebars that smack the tank in a lay down,so just figure where your bars would hit

I'll do that plummen. Just the same, some pics of tank carnage would be great as well :ohmy:

And back to our regularly scheduled programming
I finished the paper flange by covering it with packaging tape and filleting the gap to the tank with modeling clay. then I affixed my parting board on the top of the tank. I put some modeling clay on the tailgate of my truck to warm and soften it, then put a thick strip along the bottom of the particle board and pushed it into place. I filleted the mold side of the board and used a putty knife to cut it clean

The left side of the tank I taped up to protect it from any overspray, and put a thick clay fillet on the backside of the parting board to help anchor it in place. I just finished spraying the pva, so gelcoat is next :woohoo:

Top mold, right half, first coat.

I sprayed this with a harbor frieght primer gun, and it works...ok I guess. But I mixed this batch a little hotter than the last time I sprayed, and it kicked off in the gun before I could get it cleaned :whistle: There's $20 down the drain! I'm going to let this coat sit for a while before the second coat....I don't want any trouble like I had with the bottom mold :S

I have made a few molds in the past and my uncle owns a fiberglass shop. your process looks good, but What are you using as a mold release agent? If you are having trouble getting the mold to release try a wax toilet ring. it works great as a release agent. looks good man keep it up.