Alpina 116

[Lee halsall]

Hi . Just got a 116 Alpina project . Some of the missing parts are seat , elephants foot silencer and airbox /filter .

looking for parts . 

Also advice on the fuel tank , I don’t know if it leaks but the rough inside finish and petriol soaked interior means it can’t be sealed inside against modern fuel ,any suggestions ?

i’m in Scotland so UK solutions would be appreciated

Lee  

[feetupfun]

They are all rough inside and petrol-soaked to start with. The prep work needed for relining includes very thorough degreasing.

There's an Indian company making replica aluminium Alpina tanks but they don't make the 115/116 type (yet). They do make Alpina 85/99 and Alpina 212/213 tanks, neither of which look right or fit your frame.

Second hand 115/116 tanks are available if yours is unable to be lined. I have a couple but am a long way from Scotland.

New replica seats and clubfoot exhausts are available. Good second hand seats and clubfoot exhausts are very rarely seen for sale.

 

 

[Lee halsall]

Re . Lining the tank , when I described the rough inside of my tank ( glass matt sticking up from a badly installed base ) to the chap at tank care products , he said it’s very unlikely that it could be lined .

I don’t know if it leaks at the moment but ir looks terrible inside . Where abouts are you Feetupfun ?

[feetupfun]

18 minutes ago, Lee halsall said:

Re . Lining the tank , when I described the rough inside of my tank ( glass matt sticking up from a badly installed base ) to the chap at tank care products , he said it’s very unlikely that it could be lined .

I don’t know if it leaks at the moment but ir looks terrible inside . Where abouts are you Feetupfun ?

I'm in Australia, and every 1970s Spanish fibreglass tank I've lined looks the way you have described it beforehand or worse. It doesn't matter if it leaks or not before you do the job

[sherpa325]

I have repaired two tanks that were effectively destroyed from the inside out by ethanol and were leaking. I have cut the inside of the tank out carefully with a small dremel cutting disc, so I end up with two pieces, the part that goes over the backbone that you cant see and the outside cover that you can see. It then becomes very easy to clean up the inside of the tank and brush on resin over the whole of the inside. It's relatively easy to reassemble the two pieces as long as you are patient and do not try to do the job in one go. I basically glue the two pieces together without any matting, then fibreglass over the join using matting. When finished I pour a cup of colored resin inside the tank to go over the join from the inside. The last one I completed did not even require painting and both tanks are performing perfectly. This is a time consuming process and is going to take a week to complete, but is relatively inexpensive, the key being to plan where you are going to cut so that you have good access to the inside and the reassembly will be easy.

Cheers Greg

[Lee halsall]

Re . Lining the tank , when I described the rough inside of my tank ( glass matt sticking up from a badly installed base ) to the chap at tank care products , he said it’s very unlikely that it could be lined .

I don’t know if it leaks at the moment but ir

[Lee halsall]

Greg, Do you think this is the right tank ? 

Doesn't seem to line up at all . 

[Lee halsall]

Hi 

[sherpa325]

Hard to say but it looks like a one piece tank off the earlier models. The reason I cut the tank apart was so I could clean up the inside with a sander, removing any matting etc and then paint on a coat of resin to seal it

[feetupfun]

11 minutes ago, Lee halsall said:

Hi 

That looks like a tank for Alpina models 85 and 99. That tank is made for the Alpina frames that don't have the frame element that runs upwards and forwards from the swingarm pivot

[feetupfun]

This what your Alpina tank shape should be to fit your frame. This is a 115 which is the the 250 version. The 115 and 116 have the same shape tank. The 250 has a silver stripe and the 350 has a yellow stripe

Edited February 20, 2021 by feetupfun

[Lee halsall]

Thanks , at least I know how to describe it when I try to sell it to . finance buying the right one . Looking at your photo , the cylinder fins are very different to mine , is it a 116 ? 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Lee halsall

[feetupfun]

2 minutes ago, Lee halsall said:

Thanks , at least I know how to describe it when I try to sell it to finance buying the right one .?

The 85/99 tank you have is more valuable than a 115/116 tank

[Lee halsall]

Not all bad then ?

[feetupfun]

9 hours ago, Lee halsall said:

Thanks , at least I know how to describe it when I try to sell it to . finance buying the right one . Looking at your photo , the cylinder fins are very different to mine , is it a 116 ? 

The photo I posted is a 115 and the cylinder looks different to your 116 because it is a 250 and that is how 250 cylinders looked until around 1974. After they changed the 250 cylinder finning design to a more open spacing, the 250 then looked very similar to the 325/350 cylinder. The common name for motor in the photo I posted is round barrel because viewed from above, the fins form a circle.

The round barrel 250 has poor heat rejection capabilities because the fins are too closely spaced. Bultaco realised it was a problem and when the 325 came out it was made with wider spaced fins that form a square when viewed from above. The 250 was later changed to a similar finning design to the 325.

Other than the motor capacity and the colour of the stripe on the tank, the 115 and 116 are the same.