The Hodaka Club Forum

Just found a small crack on the bottom of the Clarke tank on the 250 ED. I’m not seeing any options online for tank liners that are compatible with plastic tanks. Just want to see if anyone knows of any options for sealing up a plastic tank before I resort to trying plastic welding.

Original tank or later replacement? If later, I would contact Clarke for some advice.

Caswell 2-part epoxy tank sealant works well on plastic tanks. The critical point for success is to follow the pre-treatment tank prep and application process with absolute precision.

I repaired a KTM plastic tank with the JB Weld plastic repair. Was easy to use and worked very well. Victor

I think JB Kwik Plastik has been discontinued. JB has an epoxy plastic repair product but I'm not sure it is fuel-proof. Last time I tried to buy Kwik Plastik, I was told it was no longer available. I have repaired a plastic tank successfully and durably with regular JB Weld. It is fuel proof and adheres well if you clean and rough up the surface prior to application. One additional advantage is that it sands and paints well.

I think it’s an original tank, it has HODAKA in raised lettering on either side of the tank (same coloring so it blends in). Not sure how else to tell if it’s a later reproduction. I do have some JB weld but wasn’t sure how an external application would hold up. What would happen if one were less than ‘precise’ with the 2 part epoxy application? Would it just start separating from the tank?

Clark tanks have a coarser thread on the filler cap. They also use brass threaded inserts for the fuel tap and mounting lugs. Caswell 2part will work as it is an epoxy type of liner.

The most frequent cause for failure (really of any tank liner) is improper preparation of the tank. Gas/oil residue, varnish, or just the typical dirty grunge found in a 40 year old dirt bike tank will disallow proper adherence of the liner. Additionally, and this is especially important for plastic tanks, the inside of the tank must be roughed up to give the epoxy a surface it can grip. For this necessity, what I like to do is throw in a couple handfuls of drywall screws into the tank, wrap the tank with a blanket and duct tape, and tumble it for 20 minutes in the dryer set on air dry (no heat - by the way, this is a project to be done while the wife is away or you will experience serious heat). As an aside, use an alternate means of covering the fill neck or the screws will chew up the gas cap. I took care of learning that lesson for you .I use a plywood disk duct taped in position. The temperature conditions have to be within the proper range for effective curing of the epoxy. Humidity is also a factor effecting cure times. Finally, failure to mix the 2-part epoxy effectively (incompletely or other than a 1:1 ratio) will impact proper hardening. Failure comes in two basic forms: 1) failure to adhere or 2) failure to cure. Neither of these failures are irreversible but the necessary remedy will exhaust your stash of profanity while you clean up the gloppy mess. I'm making this sound like you'll be mixing c-stoff with t-stoff before firing up your ME-163 Comet. Not so. Very clear and straight forward instructions are provided with the product. Follow them to a "T" and you will end up with a solid repair. Finally, make sure you have acetone on hand before you get started if you are using Caswell. It is used during the preparation procedure.

There IS still a JB Wrld plastic repair product available which isn’t a 2 tube, mix and use product! It’s Plastic Weld! Victor