Bastardizing A Tank, advice?

[bonanzadave]

Im just living with the dents. Each one has a great / not so great story behind it.

Use a sanding block so your repair is not wavy gravy. Good luck.

[byrdman76]

I just finished up with my tank and tail section on my bike - my first attempt with Bondo so i know how you feel. I found that mixing up a golfball size amount at a time and working with that worked much better than mixing up a larger portion and trying to get it all worked out before it began to harden - which actually happens pretty quick if you used the correct amount of hardener. Also pick up a "cheese grater" at any auto parts store to knock down the bondo before it has completely hardened. let it sit up for about five minutes. This will allow you to shape it and remove any unwanted material allot easier than trying to sand it down once it has completely hardened.

Goodluck

[BentRod]

life is getting better

so I just got offered a chance to practice.

I'm involved in the up keep of the McMaster Engineering Car Pool... no not a take you to work kinda pool.. more like a 1980 Chev, with the interior ripped out, and a hot tub fiberglassed into it.
I have done some steel work in the past, so I'm going to be take out the hammers and getting some dings out, and then I'm going to practice my bondo on the chev. by the time we are done that, the tank will be nothing, also keeps me from having to pay for bondo.. I know its only 10 bucks, but when you are a student, every bit is painful to let go of.

[BentRod]

walk me through this

ok.. so here is what I have to work with.. and lots of time to think about it befor I start stripping

first off, not going with bondo. tried it, hate it. Friend tipped me towards JB Weld steel epoxy.

I got all MotoMaster rattle can automotive paint.
Red Oxide Primer
'Near Match' Red and Black
Clear Coat

I have 80grit, 320grit, 600grit, 1500grit and 2000grit sandpaper, for wet sanding.

I got Tuttle Wax Rubbing Compound as well as the wax. I heard something about sealer? what is it? should i grab some?

I'm looking to do some stripes (of sorts) on this tank for sure, so I'll be doing so masking. I'm thinking that I'll probably be putting 7 to 10 coats of paint on this tank, but I'm not really sure. I'm not entirely sure which grit to use when, how to tell if I've sanded it enough, and so forth. should i sand the primer at all?

I have been doing some sketches of what I want to do. I'll post them when i have a good one i like.

Thanks everyone!

[n1elkyfan]

I've worked in a bodyshop for the last 3 years and figured I'd put in my two cents.

Body filler can be a great resource if you take the time to learn how to use it. Heres the basic steps for working with bodyfiller

1. Try and get as much of the dent out as possible. This can be done by either hammering the dent out from the back side. Drilling a hole and using pull rods(not a good idea for a gas tank unless you welded the hole up. also not a good idea.) or using a prying tool to go through a hole and push the dent out. (this would be the best way for a gas tank see as there is a big hole on the top. just make sure not to put dents around this when you are prying out your other dent.)

2. Grind down to bare metal far enough out so that any body filler will not being sitting on paint that is not sanded.(If you think it is big enough go 1/2 inch further.)

3. Mix up your bondo making sure to use enough harderner. but dont mix up more then you can use in five minutes.

4. Start speading your body filler by building up in the center of your dent and spreading it out to the edges making it thinner as you get further away. If it start to gum up quit immeditly because working it more will only cause it to get worse.

5a. If it is just a small dent and you only need to use a small amount of body filler(less then 1/8 inch thick). then let it fully harden before going to step 6
5b. If it is a big dent and you need a lot of body filler(more then an 1/8 inch thick) then start sanding(with 80 grit) into a ruff shape after it quits from being tacky but not yet fully hard. This will make the process go faster.

6. when it is fully hard and close to shape start sanding with 180 grit and try and get it as close to shape as possible. Remeber to stop sanding and run your hand over it very often to really feel how it is coming along. If there are still low spots dont be afraid to go back to step 3 and sart over. This is very commen the bigger the dent gets.

7. Once you get the shape as close to perfect as you can feather all your paint edges around the dent.

8. Using a primer/filler do three medum coats making sure not to run it and making sure you let the primer flash(when it no longer is tacky) between coats.

9. Once the primer is dry look real close if you see any little holes spread a little body filler over the holes and let it dry before proceding

10. Then get some cheap paint of a contrasting color to your primer. This will be a guide coat.

11. Start sanding the primer with 320 grit in a criss cross pattern( make x's as you go. changing direction during each swipe.) As you sand watch your guide coat. Where it disaperys it is high and were it remains it is low. don't be afraid if you have to go back to step 8 and reapply your primer, but if you need to do this more then twice you probally need to go back to step 3 and put more body filler on and try and get the shape close.

12. If you need to fix more dents and will not be painting right away spay one or two coats of sealer on it to protect just make sure that any paint it goes over is sanded with 320.

13. Before you paint sand the entire part with 320.

This is were I will end this post if you want I will post about painting.

I wouldn't go with JB weld. It will be even harder to shape and if you prep right body filler will will adhere with no problem to the metal.

[Zooks]

If you don't use enough hardener leave it somewhere warm overnight. It'll harden. I've been a panelbeater for 25 years.

Panelbeating is what you guys call 'auto body repairs' and a panelshop / panelbeaters is a 'bodyshop' I think.

Crazy Americans.

j/k

[BentRod]

n1elkyfan: I'm definitely interested in painting instructions. I've been doing a lot of reading, but most places just say don't use rattle cans. mainly I'm finding conflicting advice on HOW to sand each coat. everyone seems to recommend 1500 then 2000 grit with each or every other lair of primer/paint/clear, but some say sand in circles, others say only sand in one direction... it's a tad confusing.

[Zooks]

I painted cars for more than ten years and we never used anything finer than 1200 in a workshop that did mainly European sports cars.

There are lots of books on the subject.

http://www.pitstop.net.au/view/technical-restoration-bodywork/

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=G5e734HeR_oC&dq=panelbeating+book&psp=1

http://www.pitstop.net.au/view/technical-restoration-bodywork/page/query/plu/3610/

use - panel beating, panelbeating, vehicle painting, bodywork - as your search words in google.

I think they call it panelbeating in Europe & UK as well as here is Aus and NZ

[n1elkyfan]

The actual painting of some thing is very easy and simple( they have robots do it in factories so it can't be to hard). The hard part is actually the setup to get a good paint job.

1.A. remove all that are not pemenitly attached to the part to be painted.

1.B. Carefully tape up any parts that can not be removed. Take extreme care with this step. This is what seperates an amuater from a profesional.

2. If the paint is old you will want to sand the entire surface in a x pattern using 320 grit.(An x pattern is were you make one pass across the part then make the next pass at a right angle.)

3. Spray one coat of sealer over the entire part. If it will be more then an hour till you can paint the part it will need to be sanded using 320 in a x pattern.

4. Remove the tape from and retape all the parts That are not to be painted.

5.Prep the part to be painted by first using a wax and grease remover then a tack rag.

6.A.You will want to use a spray gun for painting the best would be a HVLP gun(HVLP = High volume low pressure).

6.B. When setting up the gun you want to have it spray a long ovel. This can be achived by adjusting a knob on the gun. There will useally be two knob on a gun one for how far the trigger opens and one for adjusting the shape that it shapes.

6.C. You want to spray perfectly perpendicular to the surface about 12 inches away and overlap your passes by 50%. The other thing is that you have to bend your wrist and follow the curves of the part being painted. You can get used to this by putting your closed fist agianst the part and run it across to get used to following curves.

7. You will want to put 2-3 medium coats of color on your part. Making sure to let it tack up between coats, useally 5 minutes

8. Let it completely dry before applying clear. should normally be about 20 minutes but not more then 40.

9. Apply 2-3 medium coats of clear.

10. Let the clear fully harden before proceeding

11. Any dirt nibs you will want to lightly sand with 1500 or 2000 grit sand paper making sure to use water as you sand.

12. You will want to check with you local paint supply store when it comes to buffing componds. They will have the best information on how to use each type.
but some general rules would be.
A. Make sure if you have to go off an edge that it is spinning off the edge rather then on it.
B. If you can stay away from the edges.
C. Go slow.

You will make mistake as you go through this you will make mistakes. It would be a good idea to work on some practice parts that you don't really car about. And take this as a loose guide and an iron clad steps. Every paint company and sometimes diffrent product within a paint company will requir diffrent/special steps.
Good luck hope everthing works out.

[BentRod]

Design pictures

Hey, thanks


...


So I had to do this in MS paint, but it shows the general idea

design may change a little, but this is where I think I'm going with this.

[n1elkyfan]

looks good just make sure to practice on some scrap panels before do the actual tank. When doing fine detail like that on the tank you will want to use some fine line tape. I just wish I was good at design I have no problem makeing the paint look good but I have a hard time coming up with a good design.

[Zooks]

Go to a panel shop and ask them for a couple of old fenders to practice on. They'll be happy to give them to you (save space in their bin)

[j.w.napier]

same boat brother

i've gotta do the same thing, not to happy about it no dents to fix but i've gotta fill in the places where the tank badges go un less i find a sportster tank first:-D building a bar hopper\\/ just take your time and do it right k good luck j.w.napier

[BentRod]

Heres the tank again

I've designed a matching front fender.. well.. possible design. I like doing things on the fly. thanks to Chris for the fender.



I must say, the folks around here have been great inspiration

heres the bike as she stood on friday before we started pulling off parts

[BentRod]

I'd be happy to help out with designs. I usually do them during my Economics lecture..

I'm pretty fluent on Solid Edge, and there is always good'l MS Paint. mostly i like to hand draw.

If anyone wants me to help them brain storm, I'd be happy to.


Let me know!!! I have a design hunger..



Ps: I used to do a bit of Tag and other graffiti from time to time back when i was more of a holigan. but only with biodegradable spray paint or chalk, and never anything offencive or even oppinionated..