A little Bondo and it's all good, right?

[Incubus]

So two tanks came with my latest XS project. One, which I posted previously, has some serious dents in the top, but is structurally sound other wise. The second was apparently full when parked and filled, I thought, with old varnish. It had no dents, so I decided to clean it up a bit to see if it could be cleaned out and cleaned up. When I took a brass brush the the tunnel, however, I got this surprise....



It had dimples, which I thought were dirt. You can still see some of the dimples that I did not get to. Turns out they were rust. Actually, the whole stupid tunnel is rust.

I think the dented tank is going to be my best final solution.In the meantime, I repainted the tank from Succubus, my problem child original XS11. I am going to use this one on the new bike until Succubus learns her manners and decides to straighten up and idle right. Sitting there naked in the garage while Incubus is wearing her tank may be just the incentive she needs.



Incubus idles at 1000 now. Tomorrow I am going to fine tune it and see if I can get a sweet, rumbling purr.

Patrick

[Ivan]

Kreem will take care of that minuscule leak.

[CatatonicBug]

Bubble gum, maybe?

I do like the paint job on that tank though. The white and gold are nice touches!

[Incubus]

Actually, CB, that is metal flake silver, not white. The gold is also metal flake and is the undercoat under the blue plaint, which is translucent. It's hard to tell from the picture.

[CatatonicBug]

Well, it's cool either way!

[latexeses]

Looks like the tank with that "varnish" problem has a scabbed in replacement bottom.

On the other hand it will be alot easier to get to the rust in there!

[fredintoon]

Shines like an outhouse door on a frosty mornin'

- - - that is metal flake silver, not white. The gold is also metal flake and is the undercoat under the blue plaint, which is translucent. It's hard to tell from the picture.

Hi Patrick,
my painting technique is to fizz on one solid colour straight out of the can and so long as you can't see the runs and orange peel from a yard away, that's good enough.
But that don't mean I can't tell a good paint job when I see one and yours is superb.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Tank looks good! Nice color combos and scheme.

Keep up w/ the good dicipline, too... gotta teach these "kids" to mind their manners if they wanna play!

[skids]

Nothing wrong with bondo as long as it sticks and as long as you do not attempt to fill holes in the tank with it. Gas will dissolve it from the inside and it will deposit on the stems of the intake valves. It will kill an otherwise good engine. Been there-done-that. With mine, I tried to coat the inside of the tank with Caswell's epoxy and maybe that had something to do with my mistake in alchemy!

[MaximPhil]

Hi Patrick,
my painting technique is to fizz on one solid colour straight out of the can and so long as you can't see the runs and orange peel from a yard away, that's good enough.
But that don't mean I can't tell a good paint job when I see one and yours is superb.

Hi Fred I fear I have a paint job in my tanks future. I like your technique as I might be able to achieve that or some reasonable approximation.
At the race shop we had a paint standard. If it looked good from 50 feet at 50 MPH it was good
Phil

[Incubus]

The color on my tank is rattle can. I use a lot of blue masking tape since it sticks real well and won't peel off the new paint you cover with it. The clear is two-part automotive, but that's only because I hate having to repaint every time I splash when I fill the tank. I'm about as effective with a gas pump as y'all are with paint. It's a wonder I haven't immolated myself....

Patrick