hey guys, i have another noob question. my gas tank has gone to **** with really bad rust. im lookin on ebay and they have a decent tank with the same colors that im looking for. the bad part is it has a couple small dents in it. i was wondering if it is possible to repair these dents. and if so, what is the process and how difficult is it. thanks in advance.

 

I have the same question. My knee put a small dent in mine when i almost lost it doing a wheelie. The dent is about the size of a quarter. Noone will probably notice it but I know its there

 

Depending on where it's at, you may be able to pound it out. In all cases though, you're going to have to do some bodywork to it. If your tank wing Honda logo is clearcoated on (should be), use an orbital DA with 180 grit automotive sandpaper and get the sticker off, then sand the rest of the tank.

Once finished, use automotive bondo to fill the dent. After filling the dent, let it dry and sand it back down with 180 (you can use 320 but it wil take a while and will clog up the paper fast). You'll notice air pockets will appear in the bondo, blow them out with compressed air, repeat the bondo process. Do this for about 3-4 times until all surface of bondo is smooth and free of air pockets (which look like holes). You can use glazing putty for the last step to fill the holes as well.

Make sure you have good lighting to inspect your work as far as keeping in contour with the tanks design. It's really not a hard process. One thing to consider when buying an orbital sander, get on with a variable speed control - makes life easier.

Good luck, take some pics.

EDIT: Also, you don't need to sand to bare metal, but you probably will while sanding off the sticker. Just make sure everything is smooth when you're finished. Go over everything with 320 grit really well then apply your primer. After applying the primer, hit it lightly with a shot of flat black (or whatever color you're using) spray paint so you'll know when to stop wet sanding between primer coats. You don't need a lot of black paint on the piece, just enough to give it a rough texture - you'll know when to stop sanding because the paper will feel much more smooth on the part. Spraying the black paint just helps you avoid burning edges when wet sanding.

 

using the bondo is going to be a last resort for me because i really want to keep the color which i have now. i figure its going to be almost impossible to match the paint exactly so im going to try pounding the dents out and seeing what happens. thanks again KidCrnshaw, and nice job on the paint job, i was fallowing your other thread. turned out nice!

 

If you have a decent paint shop near you, they can match the paint for you. Like I said, no matter what, you're going to use filler material.

Under your right side, rear plastic piece on the frame there will be a set of numbers. One identifies your paint job, the other is the sticker package. They can match the paint from those numbers.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

can i ask you how much it costed you total to get everything done? i know you did it yourself but what was the materials cost? i might consider doing the same.