Thanks Dave,

I have a laser guided thermometer - just need to replace the battery, so when I head out later today I'll get one.  

You've kind of reiterated a point made earlier about items like the wiring etc not melting.   So I'm going to go along with the idea of long term deterioration due to heat etc, rather than a specific event that's caused them tank mounts to look the way they do.

Thank you for your response.

Ride Safe. Lin - TCF.