• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

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Gas Tank Pin Stripes

1982 XC 430

1982 XC 430

Husqvarna
AA Class
Having never Painted a Husqvarna Tank before I questioning myself on how to do the Stripe around the Polished - Chrome portion. I'm planning the classic Red with a White Border around it. The Stripe (or Border) could be either Painted or just White Tape, I'm sure its been done both ways. How did the factory do it ? How do You guys do it ? They must make Tape that is thin enough to be clear coated over along with the Husky decals. Are there Stencils or Decals available to use for covering the Polished portion ?
 
I have the same question for my 76 250 WR. Not sure what year/displacement you are painting but one of the Husky Club newsletters has a template and placement information for a mid to late 70s 125 tank (I think year and displacement are correct). A previous owner rough painted my tank but the right side chrome panel is fairly close based on pictures I've seen of restored bikes. I made a tracing of it and plan to use it.

Mark
 
How did the factory do it ?

I can say for sure the Factory was painted , as I've got plenty of tanks where the stripe is feather edge warn off & you only get that
from paint.
 
I have worked with the pin striping tape on other bikes. You will never be able to make the tight corners with that stuff. If you had a template or made your own template, I would say to buy a sheet of white vinyl decal material and make one from that using your template and a razor knife.
 
I have heard some restorers mask the inside boundary of the pinstripe on right and left, then paint tank white. The tank is allowed to dry to tack-free stage then the stripe width is created with proper width fine line tape masking the finished pin stripe. Then the remainder of the tank is sprayed the final color. Before clearing apply decals that are thin enough to be covered by clear coat.
 
You can tell that the factory used a stencil.Is there any photos/access to the stencil process or the stencils themself?
 
IMG_1404.jpgIMG_1405.jpg

I found after learning and wasting a many feet of pin stripping you can use it around corners. Just by holding tape at a tension you can made also perfect around the corners. By taking hold
of tape about 18 inches away with tension and centering the tape on the paint/chrome line it work pretty well.
It took some time and some wasted tape to learn
I will install a tank protector on top before riding
 
Ok, maybe my grammer is not corret.Do you have a stencil to do Husqvana gas tanks.Gary nice job on the pin stripe,but still would like to see the stencil process that does both logo and stripe
 
I plan on using basecoat/clearcoat on my 79 250 OR.... Will mask off the center sections, then spray the metal etching primer, next up would be the sealer, then the red basecoat. Once the basecoat is tack free, I will lay the fine line tape around the outside of the centers as a guide, then will lay another row of fine line right up against it, then pull the "guide" piece off exposing the now to be painted stripe around the center....make sense? I will be doing it this way as I have stencils of the logo and plan on spraying the white logo and stripe at the same time, then will pull the stencil and pinstripe tape and clear the tank. The centers will not be cleared, rather covered by clear tank protectors like the Husky Products.
w
 
There are layouts of most older tanks (80 and older) in the Husky Club newsletters. The technique I outlined above is used by a renowned restorer of Husqvarnas
 
I have seen a movie / video of the Factory in the late 60's early 70's.. women hand painting the tank pin stripe..
 
Looks great Colin. When I got my 73 250 the tank was pretty bad and caved in where the chrome should show. I figured it was a good tank to practice my body work skills on. I did a similar fix on that tank. It came out great so I kept it.
This is what I was talking about above, as far as how to make a pin stripe pattern from a solid piece of white vinyl.
Did you clear coat over the chrome vinyl? I didn't, so it gets pretty scuffed up.
 
Chrome vinyl looks nice Colin. What was your source? Was it premade or something you bought in a sheet and cut to suit?

Mark
 
I made a template from my other tank from thin baking paper then transferred that onto alloy sheet. I got A4 size sheets of vinyl from EBay and cut out the shape on the chrome, stuck that onto the white and cut round leaving the border. I did try it the other way and have a large chrome piece and cut a thin white border but it didn't have enough of a sticking surface. My bike is for racing not show so good enough for me. Didn't clear coat over them so I can replace them if needed. Used aerosol paint on the tank and it turned out okay.
 
fotosaurus said:
Chrome vinyl looks nice Colin. What was your source? Was it premade or something you bought in a sheet and cut to suit?

Mark
Click to expand...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-x60-SILV...ree-/130911643120?hash=item1e7af125f0&vxp=mtr


This is similar to what I used Mark. I made my templates out of 1/4" luan, so it was easy to run an exacto blade around it. I like Colin's idea of a larger piece of white vinyl underneath to show the white pin stripe.
My bike is a rider as well. The chrome vinyl takes a beating and dulls up quick. Especially if you're racing in muddy conditions with your knees rubbing the tank. But like Colin said, you can always replace it at the end of the season. Just be careful, as the glue they use is strong. You don't have to worry about it peeling off on its own.
 
This is a great idea Colin/Gord. I'm going to give it a try. I've been looking for a way to do just what you guys have done. I hated the idea spending $400-$500 on a restored tank for a trail rider. I think your tanks look much better than the stick-on decals I've seen on some parts supplier websites. They look more aluminum than chrome.

Thanks for the idea and the link!!!

Mark
 
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