Undenting an '86 VF100R tank

Hey-

Almost done restoring this bike and finished most of the repaint. The last fly in the wrench is that the top of the tank is pushed in a little. Those tanks have the 2 small flats on top, a large one underneath the smaller one where the gas cap is mounted. The bike was in a storage unit for a long time and my guess is that someone piled a heavy weight atop the tank, slightly crunching the top down. The spot with the cap caved and had
minor kinks on each side. The larger flat, around the base of the cap area, was also pushed down around
1/2 or 3/4 inches but not kinked. I used a 5/8 threaded rod and trimmed the sides of a big washer so it could be inserted underneath the cap sealing flange then drilled a hole thru a short section of 2x4 and was luckily able to raise and straighten the cap area. The "kinks" were on each side of the cap where the paint is missing. Was hoping it would also spring the larger area back into shape but I stopped pulling when fears of distorting the cap area in the opposite direction took over. The tank is in decent shape except for this one "dent". A major road block into making a fixture to seat directly under the pushed in area is the short inner neck which extends around 1.6 inches down from the top of the tank. I tried the "pops a dent" type stuff but it's going to take more force. Thought about trying epoxy instead of hot glue but if that worked, it might result in a bunch of small "hills" at the pulling points. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

thanks,
bill

 

ok i tried lots of things. I finally came up with "The Handle". Really crude but effective. I had hoped the thing would just POP back into it's original shape on the first push but I believe the biggest size of the "pressing head' that would fit thru the hole was too small to apply force to the required area size for that so I had to move around the rim a few times. There are
a couple of high spots now but they're minor and will probably just tap down flat. Everything has now been repainted except for the tank. I'm guilty of blasphemy by changing the shade of blue but I never liked that metallic color. I hope to be done with the tank by Thursday or so.

The goop remnants on the tank are only hot glue from when I first thought it might pull up...

 

So yesterday, even though it was probably too humid to paint, I went ahead and painted the tank after noticing that the white stripe under the clear coat was undamaged. The red was almost as good except for a few very minor nicks, and both decals were still in perfect shape under the clear. I'm only an amateur "ham and egger" when it comes to body work but, hoping to save LOTS of time and work, I thought I'd take a chance by not respraying all 3 colors and making a big mess by replacing a couple of perfectly good decals. So I sanded the clear coat over the decals, white and red paint with 2000 grit paper after filling a couple of small red chips in the paint, then masked off the decals (slow going there!) and red and white, then sprayed the upper blue part (I changed the color- probably blasphemy but this looks better) . I lucked out. It came out fine and looks brand new again. (Lines appearing to be streaks are reflections from the plastic hanging "walls" on my make shift paint booth) . There is a little orange peel but not sure if it's enough to compound and polish the tank.

 

At long last

 

Looking good!

 

What paint dija use ?

 

Been having good luck with paint from my local NAPA store. Primer/sealer: I usually go with "ACME Finish 1" catalyzed gray. I've used it on the
last few bikes with no issues. Paint: They offer a couple of versions of Sherwin Williams base coat. It doesn't take much for a bike so I get the the best stuff. For multiple colors, NAPA will make you a high quality rattle can of reduced base coat if you have the paint code. I don't know if they will do metallics but the it's a great way to go when painting a bike. The spray fan is nice for a bike and it saves the hassle of mixing and cleaning the gun. Clear coat- Back to "ACME Finish 1" "FC 720" and I always use fast hardener when painting in my garage. I've had good luck with this stuff so will probably keep using it. Painted an '86 GSXR 1100 last year using all that stuff. No issues other than my own sloppiness.