I applied the tank sealant to the B30 tank today...it was a bit of a drama removing the previous sealer which had failed after being exposed to the 'Ethanol' petrol. The remover didn't quite perform as easily as described.
I have used the American 'Tapox' sealant as a replacement...again rather more involved in it's application than the English equivalent and with a 5 day hardening period (at 20 degrees).
None of that matters if it works well though....I'll let you know the result soon.....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Is that °celsius ? It's a good job that you're on the Devon Riviera then as it's a bit parky over here !
email (option): 79x100@gmail.com
It's not too warm here either Rik
..I'll have to leave the heater in the workshop on for 5 days!
....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
should have taken it to bed good excuse to stay in bed for five days and save on fuel bills
Hi Roger, That would have been an option in the days when I was single
...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Hi Kalle...the previous sealant was Petseal. This was available in 'ordinary' and 'premium' grades. The 'ordinary' will definitely fail, results with the 'premium' seem to vary...sometimes it fails sometimes not. Mine failed.
Petseal have now developed a replacement to solve the problem. However, here in the UK the ethanol content of petrol is only 5%. In France it is already 10% and we are due to have that level at the end of this year. In America they have had 15% ethanol for a while, and that is why I opted for the American product (which is available in Europe)....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Thanks Ron...I got them the wrong way round
...The key point though is that BOTH types of Petseal are likely to fail unless the Petseal used was of the upgraded type...Ian 
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
'Tapox' update....When using this product the instructions tell you (after initial preperation of the tank)to 'rotate' the tank around to cover the entire internal surface and then drain off the surplus.The tank is then left for 30-60 minutes for initial hardening. After this it is recommended to introduce an 'airflow' through the tank for 3 hours at approx. .4 bar pressure. Then a second coat is applied and the procedure repeated. At least it would be...Even with the small (2 1/2 gallon) tank of the B30 and over £40 spent there was insufficient product to do this. Finally a 5 day hardening period is then required at a temp. of 20 degrees or more.....not exactly a simple procedure.
This procedure was followed, apart from the second coat, but in practice it is impossible to drain all the excess product from the tank due to its internal shape and the fact there is only one petrol tap hole.
After 5 days in the workshop with the heater on areas of the tank where the product has 'pooled' are still not fully hardened...this is a very slow curing product it seems....
So far then not a brilliant result. In my opinion the quantity of material supplied is insufficient if you can't complete a small tank to the specifications laid down, and it ain't cheap. If you don't have a compressor it won't be possible to ventilate the tank as described and presumably the long 'cure time' will be even longer. Hopefully when (if)it does finally harden off the resultant lining will do what it says it will do...I'll keep you posted...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
PS...As described by the makers there is sufficient product to line a 15 litre (3.3 gallon) tank with 2 coats...I think not ...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I'm puzzled as to how the difference in Ethanol percentage makes the fuel more dangerous, surely if its the Ethanol doing the disolving even 1% will do the same damage but maybe take longer?
Also I have been told that "Yacht" grade Epoxy resin was the same as the old better grade of tank sealant, but there now appears to be a lot of talk in the boating world about the effects on Epoxy by these new fuels, looks like the RNLI could be quite busy from now on.
It appears the only real answer is to get your tank proffesionally welded, oh and don't let the fuel touch your carburetter
email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk
I wonder if the politicians and petrol companies live in the same world as the rest of us...Peoples bikes and cars (and other vehicles,boats etc.) are frequently out of use for periods of more than a few weeks.
Most vehicles don't have the facility/access to drain the petrol tank in anticipation of such events, never mind the cost of throwing away quantities of expensive fuel. Furthermore, even if the tank is drained the rest of the fuel system is still full of fuel.
The EEC are also currently discussing legislation to prevent people working on their own vehicles. If, therefore, you took the vehicle to an approved garage to be drained how would you get it home again? I can think of other problems as well....
Something tells me that as usual the geniuses that run the world haven't really thought this one through....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Mick are you just rubbing Ian's nose in the fact that he just spent £40 on a product that's not doing what it says on the tin?? Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
I didn't want to hear that...I am already losing the will to live after frigging about as much as I have to date.
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Michael, this is interesting me because mine was displaying these symptoms last weekend. I'd had a couple of weeks when I couldn't get out on the bike and it had been fine before. Last Saturday, it was a bit reluctant to start, spluttered a bit and then seemed to pink sometimes but inconsistently. Retarding the ignition caused a distinct loss of power so it wasn't over-advanced.
I've checked the timing tonight and it's spot on and the carb is clean but the fuel that tipped out onto my old newspaper seemed to have far too much surface tension for petrol (gas). It didn't have the white milky water bubbles that I know from washing bikes with concentric carbs but felt 'watery' between the fingers.
I don't know what I'm going to do about this. I'm getting more than 200 miles per tankful at the moment and much as I try to ride the bike, that's seven or eight hours riding per weekend and parental duties mean that I can't get away with that
email (option): 79x100@gmail.com
Thanks Mick...much appreciated....Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com