Hole in my fuel tank

[Head Bone]

Hello, 
So after much head scratching wondering where my fuel was leaking from, I located a tiny hole (2-3mm) in the bottom of my year 2000 Fazer. In the area where its close to the bike frame. 
Rather than buying a 2nd hand tank, is it possible to get a weld on it to seal the hole? 
While I'm here, any advice on how to get the crap and gritty rust out of the tank?         

[Post moved to General Chat: GrahamM - Moderator]

[Grahamm]

If it's rusted through, I'd be concerned about what other damage is not visible inside the tank.

Simply patching one hole isn't going to fix the fundamental issue.

[Head Bone]

I see what you're saying, and I've thougt about buying a replacement. The one I saw ebay this morning was in much worse condition and were asking £115.00 ?
Maybe that's the going price?

[Trebus]

I’ve done similar repairs using JB Weld. As long as you prep it well it can be essentially permanent. Not very elegant but needs must!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=F...&_osacat=0

or put out a request for a tank in silver on partfinder - https://partfinderuk.co.uk/

[Schomosport]

Last year I soldered a pin hole - and I mean pin hole - on my tank. I used an old fashioned BT soldering iron, the type with a solid copper bit which you can heat up with a blowtorch WELL AWAY FROM THE TANK. Did it in the winter and only just managed to get enough heat into the tank for the solder to flow, might be a bit easier this time of the year. I used Bakers Fluid flux and some old, probably full of lead, soft solder that had been lying around since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The tank had also spent the winter indoors by a radiator to get rid of any remaining petrol fumes albeit the downside was it dried out so thoroughly that I was plagued with loose debris geting into the fuel so had to put in a couple of in-line fuel filters. Repair is still good a year later but it is a bit of a wing and a prayer, if a 50 year old tank has rusted to produce a pin hole leak the metal is probably pretty thin in several other places.

Prior to attacking the tank I did a test on a bit of scrap steel with a 1.6mm hole drilled in it which it flowed over and filled easily. 2 - 3 mm might be a different problem particularly with rust contaminating it - my freshly drilled hole on the test piece was nice and clean.

An alternative is one of the kits you can buy that forms a plastic liner inside the tank however I have never used one, they are said to be dificult to apply effectively and unless you are incredibly careful you will probably end up needing to respray the tank. Imagine putting a litre of rust remover in the tank and then shaking it around for ages without at least some of it escaping out of the cap.