Painting Tins. No really...

What color should these tins be?

  • Candy green and white a la XS1

    Votes: 15 30.0%
  • Candy gold and white a la XS1

    Votes: 19 38.0%
  • Candy red and white a la XS2

    Votes: 16 32.0%

  • Total voters
    50
Take Two. :rolleyes:
OK, so... here we go. Painting for dummies. I'm gonna detail the steps involved in painting. Here's the tank we're using. It has a single vacuum petcock on the left side, so 80 something Special? Inside is clean as a whistle. Maybe one or two very light spots of rust but no pitting. A few minor dings here and there but overall good and straight.

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Here's the bad. The existing paint.

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It goes on forever. At least 4 coats that I could see.... with prolly a quart of primer 'tween each coat. What a mess. :poo:
I've learned from experience that when it's this bad, stripper just turns it into a messy goo. So I drug out the 3" disks (#60) for the die grinder and went to town. This little bitty tank took about a dozen disks. With that aggressive a grit, as soon as I started to see metal, I stopped. Once it was down to the last layer, I switch to red rolok disks and took it all the way to metal.

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Too late tonight, so tomorrow I'll use some stripper to finish off the little nooks and crannies. At least now it'll be a manageable amount of goo.

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EDIT: All suggestions on different/better ways to do things are most welcome.

Bonus video: How to open a tank cap without a key.

I prefer the ol' flathead in the keyhole myself,
 
Put the tank in the bead blaster. Wasn't enough room to change my mind in there... :er: Note to self... add a bigger cabinet to wish list.

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Made a grub screw. M5's are fiddly little buggers...


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The screwdriver I made for pilot jets was a perfect fit...


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As soon as the first thread caught, I used a tooth pick to slather JB Weld on it as I turned it. Also spread the epoxy around the screw on the inside. You can put a fork in this one.


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Ya know... lookin' back at the pics, I suspect the PO had been riding that bike for quiet some time with that hole in it. Look at how nasty and discolored the paint was around it.
Hummm, probably figured with the long bolt in the hole, slosh wasn't too bad. One would think he would have stopped when he felt the resistance of the long bolt biting into the tank top but....
 
Good grief. I step away for a couple of hours to fix the frickin’ washing machine - and another fuel tank goes up sh!t creek.

Jim: I am sorry - I bought that 750 tank at a cycle salvage yard and it looked clean and solid. It came without a lid (I have since bought one - but never had it on I don’t think) and I certainly never saw that hole - :wtf:

Well, it’s the perfect end to a sh!thole day, I must say.

I was fixing our leaking washing machine AGAIN this afternoon and in the space of about 25 minutes:

1) I put a new hose on the washing machine because it was still leaking after the initial door bellows seal repair of several days ago.

2) Daughter #2 was informed that her teaching position ends on April 9 because the teacher she is replacing has chosen to come back from her mat leave early - to be paid to sit on her @ss at home because all of the schools are closed due to COVID19 - rendering my daughter unemployed.

3) Daughter #3 was informed that she is non-essential and is likely to be laid off from her job - due to COVID19.

4) One of my students in Germany called to say that she has just been laid off with zero notice. She is asking if I can arrange a spot at another employer elsewhere in Europe - so I am going in to the office at 4:30 AM tomorrow to see if something can be worked out.

Geeezzz.

Oh yeah - the f@cking washing machine is still leaking a bit.

dammit - what next?

PS - good fix Jim - thanks.
 
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Just because the hole was at the top of the tank doesn't mean that area is not in contact with fuel. I am not talking about fuel splashing either. Inside the tank the vapor is in contact with all exposed surfaces and it is constantly condensing and evaporating so the exposed surface will always be wet. If you paint a tank and have some paint go just inside the fuel filler it will peel or delaminate because it is constantly saturated from vapor condensing. This same thing happens in water based emulsion paint pots, when you take the lid off it is always wet. Not so noticeable with the tank because petrol evaporates quickly and due to fuels surface energy being very low only wets the metal with a very fine film, unlike water on a plastic paint lid.

I am not sure if petrol can diffuse through JD Weld. I bet it does but the JB Weld retains it structural integrity. You can put petrol in a polythene milk bottle but it slowly diffuses through, enough to smell. I would make sure the repair is permanent and prevents diffusion which may blister a nice new paint job.
 
I am not sure if petrol can diffuse through JD Weld. I bet it does but the JB Weld retains it structural integrity. You can put petrol in a polythene milk bottle but it slowly diffuses through, enough to smell. I would make sure the repair is permanent and prevents diffusion which may blister a nice new paint job.
I found the hole because I was rinsing the pickling oil out of it with lacquer thinner. Was doing that because Pete agreed to sloshing the tank with the Boeing approved fuel tank primer. His tank will be a test case and he'll give us regular reports on how well it stands up. So the diffusion path will be through 3 layers of primer designed to hold fuel, then through the JB Weld as it winds it's way around two M5 threads coated with the stuff. Once past all that, the vapors will once again run into several coats of the fuel tank sealant on the outside and finally reach the finish coats. Quiet the gauntlet, no?
If any vapors make it to the outside world, it'll be a spot the size of an M5 fastener, inside a bracket the gas cap is attached to. If it breaks down the finish coats there, no one will ever know unless they remove the gas cap to look for it.

In other words.... I think we got 'er whooped. ;)
 
I found the hole because I was rinsing the pickling oil out of it with lacquer thinner. Was doing that because Pete agreed to sloshing the tank with the Boeing approved fuel tank primer. His tank will be a test case and he'll give us regular reports on how well it stands up. So the diffusion path will be through 3 layers of primer designed to hold fuel, then through the JB Weld as it winds it's way around two M5 threads coated with the stuff. Once past all that, the vapors will once again run into several coats of the fuel tank sealant on the outside and finally reach the finish coats. Quiet the gauntlet, no?
If any vapors make it to the outside world, it'll be a spot the size of an M5 fastener, inside a bracket the gas cap is attached to. If it breaks down the finish coats there, no one will ever know unless they remove the gas cap to look for it.

In other words.... I think we got 'er whooped. ;)

Yup, that works for me!
 
Curious. Is this regular JB Weld, or the kind for fuel system repairs?
It's the original. I wasn't aware they had a fuel system version.
Let me say one more thing here before I move on to bigger and better things...
I know Pete feels bad for all the extra work he's caused me... and all I can say is not to worry Pete.... you'll get my bill. ;) :lmao:
OK, all joking aside... there's a lesson here for all of us. Pete picked this tank up at a wreckers. Like any of us would have done, he looked it over real good before handing over his hard earned cash. He didn't see the hole. Pondering that, I'm about 99% certain that it never would have dawned on me to look for a hole there either. That some idjut could take a screw too long and physically force it through a steel tank would have never occurred to me.

Remember this next time you buy a used tank from someone. If you can't actually hold it in your hands, ask for pics under that little bracket.
 
Pete's cafe tank. The saga battle continues...
So, went out to the garage this morning and the JB Weld cured up nice and hard on the outside... and only on the outside. :er:
The inside was a gooey, slobbery mess of grey snot. Remember how this current episode started? Yeah, a lacquer thinner slosh to get rid of the oil preservative on the inside. Well... as good as I (thought I'd) cleaned up that area, some of the oil must have remained in the metal and migrated into the JB Weld.
So... I poured a cup of thinner in there and sloshed it around. On the plus side it didn't spray everywhere with the hole gone... :rolleyes:
Poured it out, let it dry, felt around in there and fingers still came out oily. This is odd as thinner is my go to solvent for removing grease and oil on parts I want to paint. Sloshed some more in there.... same result. I thew a stupid amount of sloshes in there and still the oil wouldn't budge. Holy crap. :yikes: Pete, ask your rock tumbler guy what kind of oil that is... I want some.;)
Drastic times call for drastic measures. Yup... hydrochloric acid. Dumped a half gallon in there, taped it up and sloshed it around for about a half an hour. Rinsed 'till the water ran clear and dried it out. That did it. Clean as a whistle now.

The first thinner slosh today immediately cleaned out the gooey epoxy mess. So I've put some more JB Weld in there. Will be cured by morning and hopefully we'll slosh in some primer.
Here's a tech tip: Remove your plugs from the petcock holes, switch your shopvac from suck to blow and stuff it down the filler. Forced air drying will have it dry before the flash rust can set in.

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