Gas Tank Fix - never say never

Thanks to VFR World., I learned once more to never say never.

I was trying to find a replacement gas tank for my 86 VF500F which had a pretty major dent. A couple of PDR guys locally and body shop guys said could never be fixed, easily.

Through a thread on the early VFR's the name of VFR World member Bill Rothwell came up as a guy who has done some amazing work in saving and fixing gas tanks. I reached out to Bill, sent him photos (which I have attached) and asked his thoughts. Bill was unbelievably considerate. He gave me ideas, approaches, and cautioned that because of the filler neck on the tank the chances of a PDR fix were slim, BUT if I was up for it and was patient he would like to give it a go.

The outcome is, he did it. The dent is gone! (after photos attached)

I can now fix the paint as I have the factory match, I have found the Honda wings from Fast Guy Stuff in Fort Scott KS.

The tank will be as good as new.

Bill is worth his weight in gold.

Thanks for taking this challenge on.

 

The older these bikes get the more important it is to preserve these tanks, anyplace that says they can't be fixed is best for you to walk away from because they are not up to the task. Worst situation is you have to cut a hole in the underside so that you can get at the damaged area

 

Very stoked I was able to help you out with the tank Craig. The repair was certainly a challenge given the high location on the tank, but I do like a challenge. I look forward to seeing the photos of the bike once you have the restoration completed and the ole girl put back together.

 

Nice. Gives me some hope. Might be sending Mr. Zoom a pm in the near future.

 

"Before" pix would be great to show the work. A great many body and paint shops at least in the US shy away from work on bikes. IMO, this was a fix that could have been easily done on the exterior of the tank. Further work is needed including some serious further prep and painting.

 

^ you wana paint my wifes soon to be mine again Grand Marquis? Just gota put me up @ the WAC ound: seriously though, not a thread jack either, 800 dollars to paint that four door car. Think 1000 is standard in South FL, supposedly its a good price, havent shopped around though. Cheers...

 

I'm going to mail you my 2002 Subaru, postage due on receipt of course. Its got a few dents and dings that you might find challenging.

 

Toss in that Buick and ya got a deal...

My guess is that Z-Z did a good job on the dent. He does good work. A guy I know in Seattle does that same type fixing. I had a round dent in a car I had. He took a look whacked it with his balled fist and it went bye-bye. OTOH, I have fixed stove in tanks with networks of brazing rod and fillers including lead. No tipovers so far, from unequal weight distribution, lead poisoning or dirty looks from the Bondo reps..

 

Swap you oot straight across for overhauling my Yugo..

The chain paint and body shop do a good job on the painting. The painters have lots of practice and work with good equipment most of the time. Where this falls apart is the prep.. If you don't see a spraybooth, walk.

Get a standard book on car painting not so much as a DIY thing but to be familiar with the several steps. Case in punta... Most would think step numero uno would be a wash job.. Not so... a thorough blowdown with high pressure air and a small nozzle is SOP.. This includes door jambs, hinges trunks and engine compartment.. Kinda like us, cars accumulate all manner of stuff.. Take a look some time at some of the shit and critters that are on us from the view of an electron microscope.. Instant paranoia...

Another one of those pay by credit card deals too...

 

From the moment I picked the tank up from Craig I mentioned that it was unlikely I would be able to access the dent from the filler nozzle opening and hence I didn't take any "Before" photos that would have better shown the overall size and shape of the dent. The first two pics, were the before photos taken by Craig, and unfortunately don't clearly show the overall size of the dent . The dent extended down to about the bend in the Honda wing and was approx 1/4" - 3/8" deep right on the bodyline near the cracked paint. Given that overall length one issue Craig would have run into at a body shop would have been the need to re-paint the white stripe on the tank and possibly the red (according to a friend at a local body shop) thus adding considerably difficulty with color matching and cost. Before I took on the job, I cautioned Craig that if he planned on painting the tank it would be more cost effective in the long run to get the body shop to repair the dent when they did the paint. The main benefit here in the paintless repair of the dent, was to keep the area requiring new paint to the blue area of the tank and prevent having to get in to the other areas. There will definitely be some sanding and finishing required and Craig knew this from the start, but I think he wants to do the painting himself and hopefully reduce the overall cost. Not to mention the satisfaction that comes from doing the job yourself.

 

Good on you Bill. Peeps like you make this site great.

Zoom-zoom also set me in the right direction when I got my wheels powdered white a few years back. They still look pristine even thought there have been a couple tire changes. Whenever I have visited Bill's shop, I have always seen higher end cars and SUVs in the shop. A pretty good indication of his quality work.

 

Agreed, both before and after pix would better tell the story. What remains is still some paint removal, filling , sanding, priming, more sanding and the painting of the entire top section of the tank and then the application of the graphic. Since the current graphics whether genuine decalomania or vinyl applique have adhesive that is soluble in gasoline, the better route at the point of letting the adhesive cure would be to apply clearcoat and IMO, to scuff down the entire tank and clearcoat the entire tank. Any attempt to spot in that fix that is shown is going to be unsatisfactory.



Protecting areas on bodywork , tanks ect., is not just a matter of slapping some newspaper and 99 centavo masking tape on an area that needs protection. 3M has all sorts of products and methods for that particular save that, hop over to Value Village and buy up a few pieces of silicone cookware and make your own. Even some chunks of inner tube will work. Selective areas of paint removal can also be effected by media, aka sand blasting.

Once again, body and paint shops shy away from work on bikes for the most part. They do not like working on fuel containers and most of the lightweight fairing pieces unless strapped down can end up on the deck the first time the trigger is pulled on the spray rig. HVLP non bleeder or not.



As to bodywork on metal, the dentless work was invented by a guy with a rubber mallet in 1908 whose buggy got kicked by a mule. Here you can substitute a moose making it a Canadian story..

Sometimes in regular bodywork, a small dent or ding is made larger or deeper to better fix the filler of choice to the damaged area.

Tried the heat gun and canned air thing a couple of time mself, it works better than I expected.

Lots of ways to skin that kitty and it should be made clear that the dentless methodology is franchised and the pitches and rejoinders are scripted.

 

tank is complete



The tank is now finished, and man does it look amazing, pictures attached. Bill took the tank to a body and paint specialist who was able to blend the blue, but then decided to complete the tank with a match to red. Topped off with a complete clear coat.

I did have the match for the paint, but I am an amateur and there would have been no way that I could have made the finished tank look this good.

Got to thank Bill again as he took charge, and delivered SO FAR and ABOVE what I was expecting.

 

Awesome work zoomer

 

With all the help I have veiled from forum members over the years, it feels very good to be able to be able to return the favour. Given that there are not a great deal of members on the site in general are not exactly close enough to one another, well maybe with the exception of all you guys in California (LOL), the chance to help out another member in person doesn't come along very often.

To all those on VFRW, thanks for being there and thanks for keeping the site up and running.

All the best Craig and enjoy the ride. Hopefully we get the chance to go for a ride together some time.

 

The body and paint guy did a great job. The fix after the major dent was pushed out looked to be done with a brush, possibly using lacquer. This needed to be ground down, filled, primed and repainted.

It's not clear whether the blue paint area was blended or repainted. My guess is that the whole blue area of the tank was repainted as well as the red and the white.

 

The original paint damage area was touched up with a brush, but I'm not sure if the touch up was done by current or previous owner. The area where the touch up was located was prepped and leveled with a very small amount of filler and then spotted in with an airbrush and feathered out into the blue area of the tank. The entire blue area of the tank was NOT repainted with color. The red area of the tank was painted due to numerous chips and some fading. The white stripe and the Honda wing decals were not touched and the tank was completely clear coated once the blue and red areas were finished.

 

The repair then is out of sequence. The touch up paint that was applied with who knows what and who knows what paint, could have been removed or leveled with a single edge razor blade prior to pushing out the dent from inside.

The technique of spotting in small repairs is well known It's called "rubbing back" The major paintmakers teach this in the basic fender bender classes. Baskically the repair is filled, primed with a sandable primer/ filler sanded until smooth, Sometimes an indicator coat is employed to insure flawless work.

The area around the actual repair is is polished, and a matching paint or coating is applied sometimes with an actual airbrusn, a conventional spraygun with a fine needle and cap, or one of the newer non bleeder HVLP top feeders. The entire area is then polished again or "rubbed back" to effect a blend.

It's fast and works for awhile. The problem is that where the new "matching" paint is applied the edges are thin and tend to fade. Yes, the red faded, some deep blues fade too. The basic pigment like most reds is fugitive. The color or hue is Pthalocyanine Blue a chemical pigment resembling Prussian or Ultramarine blues.

This spotting in works for awhile but even with a well applied clearcoat it will start to show. This is why especially on small things like tanks, It's really best to just prep out the whole thing and do a total repaint.

Same deal on cars. Painting the whole panel is much better in the long run.

IMO an assessment of the repair and how to fix it could have been more efficient with that blob of paint removed as a first step.