Your tank is sweet

[locOleoN]

Hey leoN,
I am still planning on doing something with my tank and I was wondering if you had a thread where you described how you stripped and treated yours.
One of the other guys in the thread made it sound like it was risky to remove the rust protection but I don't see how a few coats of clearcoat would be any worse than regular paint...??
Thanks for your help,

- Chad

Hey Chad,

I didnt initially strip that tank down, it was Tim who did it with a hand sander. However, I did the exact same thing with my cb350 and my cb750f tank. I sanded it down to bare metal by hand with first 60 grit sand paper then 80 grit.
Surprisingly with both tanks, the stock paint came off real fast.

On the bare-metal cb550f tank thats on my bike now, ( I got from Tim on a trade), I just simply clear coated on a hot day with 2 cans of Canadian Tire clear coat.

HOWEVER.... if you polish and buff the tank to a chrome finish, the clear coat will not stick and peel off like wrapper.
I made that mistake the first time I clear coated that tank and had to redo it again after sanding the tank rough again.

I plan to do the same thing to one of my cb750f tank again, but this time, buff it to chrome finish, then brush-on some Exterior Hardwood floor high-gloss lacquer clear varnish finish that you can buy at Home Depot. Apparently, from what I hear from others, that will permanently seal the outside of the tank and stop it from rusting and you can have a tank that looks like its alloy, even nicer than Tim's!!.. LOL..

I plan to strip down my other cb750f tank next weekend. I"ll post some pics

I hope that helps!!

Cheers
N

 

[CanadaDan]

Brush?!? Are you kidding?

Really... seriously... are you kidding?

Is this some guy you don't like?

 

[locOleoN]

LOL... Apparently, when I re-varnished our stairs over the Christmas holidays, the lacquer varnish I used, (same stuff that I plan to use for this tank project), was real thick and heavy. When I brused them on to the stairs, it was so thick that it covered the lines that were made by the brush. Apparently, you can't get that stuff in a spray can...

 

[FIsh]

Wow - kudos to whoever the first person was who tried hardwood lacquer on their tank
Can you buff clear-coat?
It seems like the main concern would be ensuring that whatever you used stayed bonded to the tank. I have polished up certain aluminum bits on my bike and the consensus seems to be that you can't clear-coat polished aluminum because it's too smooth and the coat wont 'stick'.
If the lacquer/varnish will bond to it, that's the tough part right? If I did manage to get brush marks (possible with me), could I buff them out? Maybe shoot a top coat from a can?

This site is starting to eat at my brain. Before I I came hereI firmly believed 'stock is best'; however, now I get strange thoughts when I look at my bike...

- Chad

 

[locOleoN]

LOL... yep, you can actually resand the varnish lacquer with 200 grit paper till its smooth again, then reapply another coat of varnish.... At least that what I did on the stairs, but you have to wait till its perfectly hardened. I wouldnt bother putting the clear coat on top of the varnish. The varnish will become real solid...(figure that it was designed to be walked on with shoes, etc..etc..)

Im guessing that the only thing you'll have to worry about is the drip marks.

I"l'l try it over the weekend and see what happens.

PS... dont do it to your nice tank. Get another tank and try it out...If Ur stock tank is that nice, It would be ashame to sand it down. That's why I traded my perfect sunflake orange tank with Tims, ugly blue tank that he strippped down for me. Tim eventually sold that tank + perfect matching side covers that I traded him, (so that I can paint it black), for over $200 Us on ebay!!.. LOL...

 

[CanadaDan]

LOL... yep, you can actually resand the varnish lacquer with 200 grit paper till its smooth again, then reapply another coat of varnish.... At least that what I did on the stairs, but you have to wait till its perfectly hardened. I wouldnt bother putting the clear coat on top of the varnish. The varnish will become real solid...(figure that it was designed to be walked on with shoes, etc..etc..)

Im guessing that the only thing you'll have to worry about is the drip marks.

I"l'l try it over the weekend and see what happens.

Ahhh... theoretical advice

 

[locOleoN]

LOL... nope. not theory.. I spent all Christmas vacation sanding down and re-varnishing the stairs so I know that it works...
Infact, on the stairs, I put 3 coats of varnish after each coat, I was instructed to sand down lightly with 200 grit paper so that the next coat will stick nicely..

 

[chrisf]

FWIW, I plan stripping my tank, then filling in the old Honda wings with weld bead. Of course, it will be sanded smooth. For the finish, I'm sending it off to HPC coatings to get shot with HiPerCoat HighLuster--which can be further polished using a buffing wheel. The olny bad thing about the finish is that it must withstand 400 degree heat for a while while the process is baked on, so no body filler.

It's actually cheaper than one might think. I got a quote for $150-$175 for my tank. I told them I'd stabalize the tank and strip it. They would just dip it, shoot it and bake it.

http://www.hpcoatings.com/products/appearance.aspx

--Chris

 

[Tim]

Do you need to mask it? If the coating is fuel resistant you should get them to coat the inside too! How wild would that be, albeit impractical to get a decent finish on the inside.

I wonder if I could mail them my entire engine

 

[FIsh]

Sweeeeet. I also like the idea of coating the tank in a protective armor like that. Doesn't look like there is a location near me though. Maybe I should plan a bike trip down there one day and just roll my whole motorcycle in the door and tell them to go to town. Be sure to post pics of the finished product.

I like the looks of LocoLeon's tank, even with the rougher finish - I'm thinking that's the best option for someone with limited skills and a limited budget like me.

- Chad

 

[locOleoN]

AMen to that... LOL... For some reason, Im always broke.... I cant figure it out!!.. LOL....

 

[Nate]

Hey Loco, when you do the next tank it would be real helpful if you put a step by step for buffing and finishing, I have an xtra XS750 tank that I was gonna try that on and wanna see how you do it.....