Liquid Wrench I sprayed into the lock allowed the key to come free. I worked it in a few times and sprayed a little more in there and a little in the ignition which seems a bit sketchy too. It might be the key is wonky.

For the bolts, I punched the bores with a qtip (bad idea, nearly got one stuck) then poured alcohol down the bore. I was able to screw them mostly by hand then. Done deal.

 

Nice. Liquid wrench is great. Yea those bolts kind of suck though, because many times people would just loosen the top ones and prop the tank with those intstalled. Fairly common and may even be referenced in some manual.....Yea the tap and die set is great because you can always make sure stuff is a clean install. Plus they are great for situations such as this where you can lightly coat certain taps in grease and help draw out those shavings. Magnet works pretty well too.

 

....and after I got the tank secured I realized that the spacers are missing. I might have tossed them not knowing what they were or they got lost at the painter.

 

If your are talking about the spacers between the tank and the frame that don't have any hardware? Check in that crevice behind the cylinders on top of the transmission. I dropped one in there and ended up finding the other one lol.

 

I think I've seen them lying around and I didn't know what they were. But I will lift the tank again and also take another look before I order new ones. I'm making a list of small nick nackks to order for both bikes.