race tank painting

Ok, I have a steel tank where the chrome side panels are decent and only a few small dents near where the triple would contact the tank. So I want to give it a semi-pro DIY paint job and use it as a race tank. Black with gold stripe. I will be using a urethane base coat and 2K clear, that I have used before, but I'm am by no means a pro painter.

I plan to tape off the panel area with pro auto body tape and lightly sand the non-panel area.

1. Do you think I need to use an epoxy primer on the non panel area?

2. For the gold stripe, should I just tape the outline and airbrush a real thin coat over the black once I lay down the black? Or do I have to lay the gold down perfectly next to the black edge on the primer so as to keep the height of the black and gold even?

3. Should I not clear the chrome panel part? If I don't there will be a transition edge, but then again I'm worried about the clear not adhering to the shiny smooth chrome.

4. Should I bother trying to body fill the small dents, or does that open up a can of worms, like it would on an aluminum tank?

The difference between pro and semi pro is attention to detail. Touch no metal with bare fingers or you will see fisheyes from silicone contamination. Filling shallow dents with body filler is fine as long as filler thickness is under 1/16 in thickness max. Epoxy primer is not really needed but I like to use it because it seals the base metal better.

2)I would lay down the stripe so that the stripe is the same height as the main tank color and feather down to the tank surface level. This minimizes the heights the clearcoat needs to blend to and it is acceptable to clear the knee panel to keep the knee panel from oxidizing.

3) No need to clear the chrome panel as it would not stick well anyway

4) I prefer to minimize the filler height at all times if possible. I am sure you do not wish to cut the tank open and steel is more stable than the aluminum tanks so keeping filler height shallow as possible is preferred here. Steel is more stable than aluminum so you can get away with somewhat less diligent dent removal but that means more filler required. Steel is far more stable than an aluminum tank so you can getaway with somewhat less diligence on steel. Aluminum you have to try to do real body work(artisan level) and try to do filler free restoration as you need to on aluminum tanks

Thanks, very good info. So if I have to lay the gold stripe next to the black edge, as opposed to over the black, how the heck do you get that level of precision?

No coffee or Red Bull for a week before putting stripe on.

ask Claude he is the man when it comes to tank restorations.

Yes, I expect he will be along shortly. I saw another post where they masked the knee panel, then shot gold, then laid down fine line tape over the gold and shot the black. Peel the tape back and there is your gold stripe.

Painting tanks is an art more that science. Best to paint entire primer same as stripe when using white. Gold not really. The gold is the hardest one I have as of yet to be
able to match metallic gold. You can with the black use the 3m paint striping tape its an exact match. Its works and is durable for a race tank.
My average cost to paint tank is close to $250 to $300. Many great painters here still have trouble having clear stick to the AL open panel.

I am flabberblasted by Claude. Great painter. Great looking tanks. Great person for our site But lately I understand he is using powder coat. I called more than few
of the largest powdercoat suppliers in us saying no way would they consider using a powder coat as a gas tank. Claude don't leave us , but like your painted tanks
the best more than any powder. !!

Best of all for painting is look up all the great feedback from member dartyppyt has the best detail on painting tanks on this site. The best list to of whats needed

I will offer painting soon for Husky tanks for others. Note - John at Vintage Husky also paints tanks really as a service for about 300 but he really does not make any money on that at all.

I will post a pic soon of my tank painting. There also is a pic of a black husky tank i painted somewhere on this site using the pin stripping.

just remember after all this attention to the tank, the first time you get roosted with sand and gravel, that tank will be back to pooh. I wouldn't waste too much time on it. after the races, wash the bike, spend 10 mins slipping the good tank on and it will be mint again....

I do understand the desire to have a good looking bike at the races and I look at my bike and despair sometimes...but its the last thing I think about when charging a huge boghole...or throwing it down a steep hill...crash in the deep sand, clip a tree and into the creek...loop on a hill...done it all I think except for the "drive in to the deep bog and go over the bars" I managed to hang on!

Deltron or Imron are the paint systems to use for durability offroad.

Thanks, yes surprise and others, this is a RACE tank so like I said in the first post don't want to get too crazy. I already have grease & wax remover, auto body sand paper, left over black paint from a 2014 GM and a can of spraymax 2K clear, so most of the materials are already paid for. All I need is a roll of fine line tape,2K epoxy and gold paint. So probably another $50. I'm going to go for it.

I wonder if I could use the can of rustoleum gold that I did my forks with? Anyone know if you can put Urethane clear over spray bomb gold, which I think is an acrylic? (update: absolutely not, per an auto body guy).

Wy whould powdercoat be bad for a gas tank ?

Make sure your clear coat is gasoline proof.

Rustoelum black let it dry good. The rustoelum yellow on my log splitter faded in the sun out side but spilling gas never bothered it. A clear coat will seal the deal.

I see they offer epoxy spray paint in rattle cans. I haven't tried it with gasoline yet. We painted a corvette with epoxy paint then the owner wanted to change the color. The paint was so hard we couldn't sand it.

Bill, no rustoleum here, like I said, Ill be using auto body grade paint (some leftover black from a 2014 GM) and spraymax clear two-part. Two part paints use a hardener that makes it fuel resistant, see my original post. Thought I could use the rustoleum gold I have left over for the trim, but found out that is a no no. Urethane should not be used over enamel unless the enamel dries for like 5 years.

FWIW, I closely examined the NOS tank I have and it appears the gold stripe was painted on after the black was laid down. The gold stipe straddles the edge between the black and chrome panel transition.

send Claude a PM.