Vincent Technical
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Starter - Paint/Transfers
VINCENT GAS TANKS
AND SEATS
(see
paint section too..)
When I restored my Prince 5 years ago there was
corrosion in the petrol tank.
Having clean it out as best as I could, I lined it with a white epoxy compound
two pack product, very successfully. A great advantage being you can see
the tank contents very easily and any sediment that can later accumulate.
Be careful to mask off the petrol tap threads before carrying out the process
as they are hell to clean up afterwards. The final result is excellent
and very durable.The supplier is :-
C.Wylde & Sons Ltd,
1 Roundhay Road,
Leeds LS8 5AJ (sorry I don't have their phone
no.)
Product :- Flo-Liner White Epoxy Compound ( a
pack contains 1 large tin and 1 small tin and is sufficient to treat a
Vincent tank)
Paul Craven. 3/11/07
There were 4 articles in the 'Throwing
Light on Some Obscure Components' Series describing gold
leaf lining and transfers; the relevant
MPH editions between April and July 94 (was it that long ago?) were:
No. 543 The Petrol Tank
No. 544 Enclosed D Lines
No. 545 Enclosed D Transfers
No. 546 Applying Gold Leaf
Frank Griffin 12/2/06
Tank Sealer:
The best out there is a product called Red Kote. You can get this through
some commercial truck stores or radiator shops. Holt BMW offers this
service for around $80 with about a 2 week turn around. Your original
paint will not be harmed. It's money well spent as it is a PITA to
do this. If your tank already has a white liner in it it will not
work. Red Kote is not compatable with Kreeme which is junk anyway.
Some folks use a product called POR wich is still not as good as the Red
Kote. Plus the Red Kote liner is reddish and it a more of a rubbery coating.
. Holt BMW/Ducati, 15530 US Rt. 50, East Athens, OH (740)593-6690.
BMW message board. 12/08/02
Removing Tank Sealer:
When
I acquired my bike, its fuel tank had been coated (probably with Kreem
although I'm not certain). Surface prep had evidently not been done
correctly, as rust had loosened the coating and chunks were coming loose
and ending up in the carbs. This did not
enhance performance, and created a fire hazard when debris held the float
needle open and the carbs overflowed.
Anyhow, Kreem advised me that their product is
soluble in acetone, so I bought a gallon at the Home Depot. This
worked very nicely; it actually dissolves the coating rather than just
softening it, so you can remove all the material if you're patient.
Also, acetone is one of the less-dangerous solvents to work with.
I'm not sure how universal it is with regard to other brands of coating,
but it may be worth a try. Dave Hartner 8/3/02 (thevincent.com
does NOT recommend Acetone as a solvent. Use of Acetone is better
left to professionals as it is reported to be carcinogenic.)
Your front tank
bolts can and should only be done up to
the shoulder, just captivating the rubber, the tank sits on this. No way
should the tank be clamped by the front bolt. All the clamping is done
at the back, by the two 5/16 bsf bolts two rubbers and a top plate of steel.
The rubber should be fitted with the head between the headstock and the
tank, the bolt should have a washer 3/4" diameter under the head. and the
shoulder bolt should be 3/4" long under the head. So that when the bolt
is done up tight to the shoulder, it lightly compresses the rubber to expand
in gently and grip the tank. should have no effect in clamping the tank
at all. Trevor Southwell 07/05/01
Bob Culver of Letchworth, UK (see
Drat engine case advert in a year old MPH) had Dunlopillo make some
NEW seat foams in the right material a
year or so back. Right shape and "weight" and standard length. Real labour
of love and very expensive at around £50 each. not stocked by VOCS
as they would rather stock something cheaper apparently. Arthur Farrow
12/29/00
Bob Culver has run out of the Dunlopillo
seat foams as of not very long ago. He
is having some polyether ones made subject to getting the underside geometry
of the squab of the correct contour, and the chemical composition of the
mix optimized. About a month he said and about GBP50 delivered UK. His
number when I rang today is: +43 (0)1462 673705. You may get it for this
price in US cos you won't pay the VAT. The seat arches are available from
West Country Sidecars in glass fibre (see MPH). The rest you can
make with your bare hands. Ken Tidswell 02/27/01
The short (old) style seat
is (about) 12" from the nose to the first high point and 22" from nose
to tail. The long seat is 15.5" to the first high point and 26 overall.
On this one the nose appears extended up the tank a bit and this part of
the extra length
doesn't help my own big end much. I find it less comfortable than the
short one also because the foam comes up more steeply to the middle crest
and makes it harder for one to slide back against it. Mike Hebb 12/29/00
Large
Petrol Tanks:
The large tank fitted to
Charlie Cannon's bike is not a Montlherry tank as it is the wrong
shape. I have been fortunate enough to see an original Montlherry tank
some time back, belonging to Pat Highsmith from Northern California. (currently
owned by Jim Baltusnik 5/06) These tanks were
identical at the front to the standard tank but were raised at the rear
by a couple of inches to give a capacity of about 4 1/4 UK gallons. On
side profile the top of the tank was almost horizontal. Charlie's tank
is a "one off" from an unknown source.
Things start to become interesting when you talk
about the correct locations for the gold lines and transfers. Series C's
are fairly straight forward, if you took the mean average of all the tanks
you could measure then you would not be far out with the positioning on
the transfers etc. The series B tank was something else. When I first
started painting tanks I went to Alan Lancaster's pub where on the wall
was an original advertising poster from the factory. It had photographs
of both sides of the same Series B and I had brought all I needed to faithfully
record the positioning of the gold lines etc. I was wasting my time, this
show model had the HRD about 1 inch out, in relation to the opposite side.
In truth you cannot see both sides of the tank at the same time and the
factory had not expected someone to inspect their poster years later with
a slide rule.
I have since taken detail measurements from several
so called original tanks and yes they are different, the gold lines were
applied by hand without the obvious use of a template. Very few people
will be able to draw an identical arch to the left and to the right freehand,
so don't let anyone tell you the lines on your tank are wrong.
A word of warning for anyone about to use Series
D Black Shadow transfers from the spares club. They look OK but over
the years the water soluble glue has disappeared from the backs and it
is only possible use them by painting them with a replacement glue.
For anyone who is interested the older tradesman
in Southern England (as described by Robert Watson) is still producing
4 3/4 gallon aluminum petrol tanks to my design but they now sport flush
aircraft fillers as the twist neck type appear unobtainable. If you know
different please mail me with the source. If you are interested in getting
one (photos available) then order early as the old guy only works one day
a week. Paul Adams 12/05/00
Vincent Colours: I've
actually seen pictures of one of the blue ones. It was called "Egyptian
Blue".It was a Touring Rapide. A few years ago, some NOS blue touring fenders
turned up. I also came across an orginal Shadow that was sent over for
the New York show. It had chrome hardware(this was common on show bikes)
and a blue tank. Over the years I've also come across original Touring
Raps that had red fenders and tanks. Charlie Taylor told me about having
a Shadow go through his shop that had an orginal red tank on it. Red was
not popular then. I've found several red raps over the years that were
repainted black upon removal from the crate. Some red ones also had white
seats. There were 17 Red Comets made, making them one of the rarest of
all Vincents. Somer Hooker 12/09/00
Rare Colours:
Perry Osgood's Shadow is a Red" White" Shadow with a 1A number. There is
another one too. One
of my friends found it a few years ago.He happened
to pull in into a service station on his Vin..A guy in there commented
that he knew where one of those was(Meaning a Vincent)It was still in the
hands of the orginal owner. See what happens when you RIDE your Vin.
Somer Hooker 12/09/00
Rare Colours:
On one of the sets of cases I just recorded for Gordon (Mr numbers) Powell
he said it was a "Red/Black" Rapide, which "I think the red/black ones
were black frame and fork parts with red tanks and mudguards (fenders?)".
Perry Osgood's bike was originally sold in Vancouver and has a /1A/ engine
number, painted red with polished cases but would question the touring
statement John! Although I'm sure Gordon or Perry could clarify if you
really wanted to know. I question it as Perry does not have touring
fenders on it and I know he wanted a very original restoration. Robert
Watson 12/09/00
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