I’ve now got all the rear end stripped out, the last thing was the fuel tank this afternoon. In spite of all the horror stories I’ve heard about tank removal, it was actually a breeze – although it probably helped to do the job without the axle in the way! I’d left all the bolts soaking in WD40 since last weekend, with a reapplication on Wednesday, so it all came straight out, no problems.
The tank itself is pretty rusty, so I think I’ll probably play it cautious here and replace it. All the fittings are fine, though, so they can be reused – just the pipes and hoses to replace.
On the bad side, the panel where the filler cap goes is a mess – a mass of rust, filler and what looks like silicon sealer. Something’s going to have to be done about this, I’m just not sure what yet – I might take the opportunity to fit a later type locking cap if I can – I’ve never been too keen on having a non-locking cap on there!
Now everything’s off, I’ve started attacking the underseal – what a bitch of a job! Some of it’s coming off fairly easily, but I can see this is going to be a long, hard slog. Lovely.