cleaning up the faded plastic gas tanks?

How do you clean up the faded plastic gas tanks?

Or do you paint them?

if its in the outside softscrub and elbow grease

I'm going to remove the tank and clean up each part. I'll rebuild the 250wr over the winter. I want a brand new looking bike running by spring.

how about some pics of these finds? lets see em

Ok ill try to scan pics of my past restorations too. I had a brand new looking/running '83 250cr 5 speed with a 87 front fork with a disc brake.

no paint !

razor blade +
acetone+
polished!

or

after possible =
adhesive pierces white !

Razor blade and a lot of patience.

Plastic renewal as above and many plastic renewal polish kits should be available at nearly any dealership who sells off road bikes and quads.

DO NOT sand the tank!!! You can sand all you want and never get rid of the discoloration because it came from the inside and is within the entire thickness of the plastic. I have heard of those who have sanded out the discoloration and had their tanks split apart from thinning the plastic. You need to seal the inside of the tank with a sealer that will not dissolve from the 10% alcohol content in our fuel supply. You will need an adhesion promotor on the outside skin of the tank as the paint needs the bite to stick to plastic

If it is 83 or 84, try one of these Husky perforated tank wraps from MxM-Racing.com. You can find these on eBay as well.

http://www.mxm-racing.com/product-list.php?id=84

The best method I have seen is to make a "skin" for the tank. DC Plastics has a plastic tank skin for the '85-'86 Husky, but a KTM guy actually wrapped his tank in fiberglass. He used the thinnest glass he could find, you dont need strength, just skin over the tank. Once you finish skinning the tank, it never bubbles or stains.