1985 Suzuki GS700EF

[tejasmud]

Now working on the tank, and I have sorted out the plugs for the openings to do the POR15 strip and coating. The tank had been previously coated with Kreem, I think.
It was failing in spots, especially just inside the filler hole of the tank. My guess is when filling up at the gas station dinking the bottom of the tank with the nozzle when filling up penetrated the coating, and then over time the fuel migrated under the coating causing it to fail. To remove the old coating I purchased the POR15 Heavy Duty restoration system. It comes with the stripper, the other kit doesn’t.




Picked up some aquarium gravel at walmart to help with agitation. I figure it is best to sort out all the fine pieces and use the larger ones.



On the plugs, I was reading BassCliff’s mention on his Evapo-Rust procedure, and the plugs he used that he picked up at Home Depot looked perfect. So, I picked some of these babies up, did a little modifying with some rubber sheet instead of the grommets. Excellent idea BassCliff, Thanks!


Tank Cap Plug.



Fuel Gauge Plug.




Now for the petcock plate I just cut some rubber sheet, took the old depleted petcock, cut the valve off with a hacksaw, and pulled the tube/filter off. Looks like this.




Next situation is that being this is a California version tank it has a vent tube under the tank for vapor to escape into a filtering system located at the rear of the bike in the trunk. This most likely means the gas cap is not vented, and this tube needs to remain open.

Cali Tank Vent



Suppose I’ll cap it off then when the time comes to do the POR coating run a clothes hanger through to keep it open.


Last picture for now is the pricy box of goodies. The paint and supplies.





Hehehehehehe...........

Soon I'll be running them "Pulg Chops", and plan on getting insurance and registration next week.

E

[kirkn]

Looking good. Can't wait to see the final paint job.

Funny thing: I have used that Aircraft Stripper (but not the "for plastic" kind) to remove the clear-coat that vintage Honda's come with on many of their aluminum parts - case covers, fork legs, etc. Works fantastic. But, if you read thru the warning label on the back, it clearly and boldly states DO NOT USE ON AIRCRAFT OF ANY KIND. Ironic? I thought so.

My own favorite technique for agitating the inside of tanks for cleaning is to use a handful of 1" drywall screws. They have lots and lots of tiny, sharply-pointed bits to help with rust and debris removal and getting in all the nooks and crannies.

Keep up the outstanding work!

Kirk

[tejasmud]

Thanks Kirk.

Never read the label too far. lol

I did spot check the fender before going all out though. Not sure if I would use it on hard plastics, but the fender is pretty pliable. Worked like a champ.

I may end up using drywall screws. Hmmm.. May be easier to remove too.

E

[Nessism]

Stripping out all the old Kreem is a seriously sucky job, I know because I've done a couple different tanks myself. That POR paint stripper works pretty well, as does some of that "aircraft" stripper. I've also used MEK which also will work. Just make sure you allow the tank to vent while the stripper cooks inside since it will outgas and build pressure inside the tank - the tank will pooch if you don't bleed off the pressure.

Have fun.

[tejasmud]

Have fun.

Of course.

That little vent tube will work as a good vent I suppose. I'll keep an eye on it.


A little change up on the primer also. After doing some further reading. I was a little uneasy with the K36, and the bare metal/plastics preparation recomended before usage. K36 as quoted was not what I really needed. So, I changed to DP48LF epoxy primer. It seems it will bite into most any substrate.

See, I'm having fun.


E

[Nessism]

Of course.

That little vent tube will work as a good vent I suppose. I'll keep an eye on it.


A little change up on the primer also. After doing some further reading. I was a little uneasy with the K36, and the bare metal/plastics preparation recomended before usage. K36 as quoted was not what I really needed. So, I changed to DP48LF epoxy primer. It seems it will bite into most any substrate.

See, I'm having fun.


E

Good call E on the DP primer. You can add a smig of reducer to make it spray better but otherwise I don't think it matters. When using the 201 hardner you need to allow about 1/2 hour induction period before spraying. Seal up the left over paint and put it in the refrigerator and it won't kick off so you can use it later if you sand though a spot or two. Good stuff.

[tejasmud]

Thanks Ed. You had mentioned using the DP primer, and it had me do a little more homework.

Did you mean the 401 hardener/catalyst?

And, you were not kidding with stripping the old Kreem out of the tank. Sheeesh!!! Almost complete though, maybe one more soak. I am going to have a look with a borescope today to see what remains. I also had purchased another 8oz of the POR15 coating. I remember reading you had an issue with the kit not containing enough to coat one of your tanks competely. I don't care to do it over, thats for sure.


And, Reproduction Decals now has the GS700E decal set up on their website.



E

[Nessism]

Thanks Ed. You had mentioned using the DP primer, and it had me do a little more homework.

Did you mean the 401 hardener/catalyst?

And, you were not kidding with stripping the old Kreem out of the tank. Sheeesh!!! Almost complete though, maybe one more soak. I am going to have a look with a borescope today to see what remains. I also had purchased another 8oz of the POR15 coating. I remember reading you had an issue with the kit not containing enough to coat one of your tanks competely. I don't care to do it over, thats for sure.


And, Reproduction Decals now has the GS700E decal set up on their website.



E

Hey E,

Yea, 401 hardner, not 201.

The 401 requires an induction period but it stick to plastic better and you have 7 days before you need to top coat, vs. 24 hours with 402 hardner.

Good deal on using a borescope. I used a mirror and flashlight but like your idea better. After you get all the sealer out make sure to use some phosphate wash to prep the metal so the sealer will really bite in.

Regarding the Por-15 tank sealer, the regular can is plenty. My first seal job failed because the tank was wet inside - moisture causes the sealer to harden. I thought there wasn't enough sealer but the problem was in fact my own doing.

When you coat the tank slosh around the sealer, tilting it though all angles, you can splash the sealer around too by shaking the tank. Once you are satisfied that 100% of the tank is coated, dump out the excess though the petcock opening. At that point put your petcock plug back in but take off the plugs on the filler and fuel sending unit so you can see inside the tank easily. There will still be a fair sized puddle of sealer inside so keep rotating the tank every few minutes while the sealer firms up. By the time the puddle is fully dissipated you should have the equivalent of two coats inside the tank.

Good stuff.

[tejasmud]

Update on last weekends events.

Thursday – build paint booth and phosphate wash inside the gas tank.

The paint booth was built at my parent’s farm in the lean-to side of a barn. The floor was gravel, but doubled up the plastic to keep holes from punching through. Completed paint booth measured 14ft long x 10ft wide x 7ft high. I put a box fan with a furnace filter up high above the door, and another box fan on the opposite side of the booth down low with filter. With the intake fan on high, and the exhaust fan on low it created a higher pressure inside v. outside the booth, (positive pressure), to help keep out contaminants.



During the process of building the booth, which took about 5 hours, the gas tank was plugged, and a gallon of Klean Strip Phosphate Wash was dumped into the tank to etch and remove any rust. Rolled it around a few minutes then periodically turned the tank every 30 minutes or so to etch all the inside surfaces. It had freed up all the rust, enough so that there were now a few pin holes that needed brazing. This was done Friday morning after building the stands for the parts. After the phosphate wash the tank was rinsed with water, and then dried with a heat gun for several hours until bone dry.

Didn’t get any pictures during the process, but here is what the inside looked like before strip. What a PITA!!!



Friday – Build parts stands, braze pin holes in tank, and POR15 the inside of the tank.

Here is a picture of the parts stands. I decide to do this instead of hanging the parts for ease of rotating them if needed; it also helped to reduce any overspray in the direction of freshly painted pieces.



Brazing went good, and the POR tank coating supplied with the kit was more than enough to coat the inside. A bit of a mess if you get it on your hands and it dries. I found this out pouring off the excess. Then I allowed the tank coating to dry over night.


Saturday- Do final wet sand on the parts, apply body filler to the dings in the tank, set-up air line and gun, and run off to a minor league baseball game.

As for the body filler and final wet sanding not much to report just glad it is over. I knew I was forgetting something, pictures.

The air line from the compressor was set up with a ¼ turn ball valve, filter/water separator, and an inline desiccant right off the compressor. From there a 50ft of 3/8” hose was run to another inline desiccant, small round filter, and regulator at the gun.



Sunday – Spray primer

Not much excitement, mix, wait for induction period, and spray.

Here is a pic of the side panels and how they were mounted. Primer before Base.





Monday – Wet sand primer, and spray the base coats, and clear.


In all the DP primer, 2 coats then wet sanded before base coat. Then I applied 3 light coats of base color and 3 light coats of pearl clear, which went on really smooth. I was sort of uneasy with the pearl not knowing how it would lay out. I just kept the gun around 18 to 20 inches off the part and let it float onto the parts. Last was the 2 wet coats of clear. It did “orange peel” lightly, but it would be wet sanded before decals. I shot the clear with the larger of the two guns, 13cfm, but I think I will use the touch-up gun on the final coats of clear. It seemed like I had more control with the touch-up gun. The larger one seemed to throw the paint on with the primer and then the clear. Possibly I didn’t have the gun set right.

I initially hung the paper to adjust the spray pattern of the guns, but white paper and white paint….. Ummmmmm…..yea.. anyways the plastic for the walls worked. Also, with “white” it is pretty hard to see the wet line. I ended up getting a tube florescent light to hang on my suit, which helped a ton to see the paint go on.

The paper didn’t go to waste though; here is some of my scribble of flash times, and pot times.

[tejasmud]

These pictures are after the last clear coat before wet sanding for decals. Some minor runs in a few spots, and some dust specs. I think the dust entered into the booth when I popped out to clean the gun.

Tank


Tail


Sides



Still waiting on decals and will wet sand the tank this evening. Over the last few evenings, the sides, tail, and front fender sanded out really nice no issues with getting into the base coats. The small runs and dust bumps are gone now.

All I can say is “Hurry up decals!” lol


E

[tejasmud]

Decals arrived Monday, and spent Mon and Tue evening putting them on. The decals on the 700 are pretty large and cover a lot of surface area, which made them a challenge to get on without any air bubbles. What I found to make placement easier was to cut the masking tape backing of the decal partially along the decal edge. This made it easier to align the decal to the pieces of masking tape I used on the tank for alignment. Making sure the part surface and decal were really wet helps align the decals. Once in place, squeegee the decal with the masking tape backing still on the decal. This seemed to help and keep the decal from stretching and wrinkling. I wiped with a soft wet cloth to push out most of the bubbles, but I was unable to remove them all immediately after applying the decals. One comment I would say is “Don’t work the bubbles too much immediately after application.” Allow the parts to sit for 2 or 3 days, and what I found is the bubbles seem to disappear on their own. There were still a few after 2 days, but I just poked them with a sewing needle, and they flattened out by pushing from all directions towards the pin hole with a stiff card.

Here are some pictures before final clear coat. At this stage, the painted parts have been sanded with 600 then 800 grit, the decals were applied, and the parts have been sitting for a few days.

Tank



Sides



Tail




Fender is just a few stripes, so nothing exciting there. I will shoot the clear this weekend on the tank, tail, and front fender. The side panels will have to wait a few more days since I’m waiting on the “Full Floater” decals. They were missing from the kit Reproduction sent. Sigh..........Ah well, plenty of small details to finish up first.

First paint job. By far from perfect, anyways I'm not going to tell so the little stuff will most likely never be seen.

I did learn a lot though.

E

[Truth]

That's a nice paint job, first or not.

[jwhelan65]

Eric, any issues with humidity when painting ?

Great Work!!

[tejasmud]

Thanks y'all.

Joe, if it did I didn't know about it. Or might I say I'm not experienced enough to know the difference yet...

So, I prayed for favorable conditions. lol

The days I painted on were like 80°F in the mornings and warmed up to 96°F by 3PM. While partly cloudy, the humidity would start out at 75% then hit less than 50% by 1 PM. At 1PM it was about 90°F and rising. There were also some 30 minute thunderstorms that popped up later in the afternoon on those 2 days, but we didn't see a drop of rain. By 4PM the temp was at 98°F and 40-45% humidity.

E

[tejasmud]

It is getting closer and closer.

Working on the seat at the moment, and finishing up some of the Innovate electronics, but here is what it looked like as of yesterday.

Right Side


An Angle View


Left Side


Rear Angle


Low Front Angle


Being the first paint job it has little flaws, but pretty sure most will cut and buff out. I’ll wait a few weeks or months do do this, but it ain’t going to stop me from riding…..

On the petcock, OEM would not work in combination with the VM29s, the aftermarket $15 petcock from Z1 with an adaptor plate would not work. Both, have the fuel nipple on the right side, and just no room at all.

But, a Pingel would with an offset adaptor plate. Not much room at all. I’ll have the “off” setting and the “Reserve” setting, but not enough room for the lever to swing to the “on” position. I have a fuel gauge so it will do.

Pingel Petcock


I was also thinking about setting up a direct acting solenoid valve (normally closed) so it will open once the ignition is turned on. I found a ½” NPT with viton trim off the bay for about $33. From the tank it would just be a 3/8 elbow to barb nipple connection. Still thinking about this one though.

Here is what the Cali tank gas cap looks like. Not sure how much difference if any dimensionally there is between the Standard tank for the GS700 series as opposed to the Cali version.

Cali Gas Cap



Here is what I went too on the horns.

Horns



Getting close to that first ride after rebuild.


E