Warning!!!!!!!

[joceiphus]

the bubble almost looks like its flippin you off

It is.
Greg's used to that.

[Rasputin]

Man: the last thing I want to see is my new paint doing that, sorry for your luck

[skids]

Painting can be tricky. If you do the rattle can paint it all must come off before you go with urethanes, or it will checker-crack.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Painting can be tricky. If you do the rattle can paint it all must come off before you go with urethanes, or it will checker-crack.

Yup.....I'm learnin' that.

I think powder coat is the way to go with the tank.

I'm lookin' into that as we speak.

[TomRodgers]

On 'Sunshine, had the same thing happen......but caught it in time. luckily. my problem was that i filled it up toooooooooo much, and the PO had installed a 'shorter' kickstand, i guess to allow his short legs get over the seat ????

[xschop]

Vent hole in the cap is clogged. Also check the cap seal condition for weather cracks....

[crazy steve]

I think powder coat is the way to go with the tank.

I'm lookin' into that as we speak.

While powdercoat is certainly durable in terms of chipping and chemical resistance, you just won't get the quality of finish you can get with paint. It is, after all, simply a plastic coating. It's much more prone to scratching, dulling, and fading compared to a quality paint job. And to make matters worse, the only fix for a damaged finish is to redo it; there's no 'touching up' PC. While I like and use powdercoating, it's a poor choice for sheetmetal like tanks and fenders.

Also keep in mind that you'll have to strip the part to bare metal, including any fillers present for repairs (minor or otherwise). If you have imperfections, there are high-temp fillers available, but I have yet to find one that works that well and/or isn't expensive. If you want your sidecovers to match, you'll have to get color-matched paint.

'78E original owner

[XSive Okie]

Not good at all! My tank has a nickle sized bubble, but nothing like that.

[Ivan]

If you redo it with high temp rattle can paint, you need to cook it for a while. Either set it in the sun for a few days, empty of course, or wash the gasoline out with alcohol and let the alcohol evaporate and stick it in the oven over night at 200.

On my engine, same thing happened, but the parts that got nice and warm wouldn't even think of bubbling with gasoline.

Just an idea...

[fredintoon]

Not good at all! My tank has a nickle sized bubble, but nothing like that.

Hi Okie,
sometimes that's worse.
"Big enough to notice but too small to fix."
I'm temporarily using my Special tank while I re-paint the gas-damage on my Standard tank.
Your "nickel sized bubble"comment reminds me that when I took the Special tank off it had two of those in the top from pinhole leaks.
They must have gone flat again in the year the tank has been on the shelf and I'd forgotten them until I read your post.
If they come back I'll have to fix them, darn it!

[cywelchjr]

Painting can be tricky. If you do the rattle can paint it all must come off before you go with urethanes, or it will checker-crack.

That's not necessarily true. If it's fully cured you should be fine. Duplicolor actually recommends putting the two part clear over their mirage paint on tanks for gas resistance (and pretty much all paint is only resistant to gas, with maybe the exception of baked on enamel).