SuzukiSavage.com /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> That'll buff right out! /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1346246952 Message started by butters on 08/29/12 at 06:29:10

Title: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 06:29:10 Hey guys, I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, just bought and brought home an 07 and can't wait to ride it. I've got 2 dents in the tank and I'd like to pop them out with the hair dryer/compressed air trick.  Have any of you tried this? Any tips? Thanks very much! butters

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Dave on 08/29/12 at 06:46:27 I doubt it you are going to have any luck with dry ice of a hair dryer......or even the Ding King!  Most of those might work on auto sheet metal that is getting thinner all the time, and it mostly works on things that are just gentle bumps that don't have any creases.  Motorcycle fuel tanks have much thicker metal than car fenders/hoods/etc., and the tank is very difficult to gently push back into shape. There is limited access to the inside of a tank to allow you to hammer the dent out - so pulling the dent out with weld on studs is mostly used.  Using compressed air doesn't work - as you will blow up the tank before it can push out a dent - the compressed air will push on the entire tank surface equally and not just on the dented portion.  A few pounds of air pressure can exert hundreds of pounds of force on the tank seams. Your best bet is to either buy a better tank, or find a body shop with stud pullers, fill it with bondo......or send it to people that specialize in tank repair.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by weracerc on 08/29/12 at 07:01:56 new tank time - i have fought these type of dents before - and lost every time - get a used tank in better condition and clean it out good and seal it with POR-15 - you will spend less time effort and money, trust me, been there done that.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 07:03:50 The local renta-center has a stud gun & studs & slide hammer for rent. What I dont know is, when the stud is welded on, is that hot enough to lite gas fumes? I wouldnt use them till I had drained, removed, rinsed & let the tank air dry & vent out for a coupla days. Im a real scaredycat about explosions,, Once its ready for the studs, mount it on the bike & go to work. Youll need someone to hold the bike, because youll need to pull on the slide hammer pretty hard before you slide the hammer, Id expect, to load the bushings & put the pull on the metal & not allow the bushings to soak up the impact. A few quick taps on the back of the slide with the hammer is better than a Big Bang. YOu can watch the metal come into place. The part that went in last is the part to bring out first, IOW, dont go to the deepest point & start pulling. Work around the inside edges an inch or so in & get a body hammer. You can just hold a good pull on the slide hammer & , using light, quick taps, spank along the edge of the bent place & it will start coming up. You may discover the metal has stretched. If you get to that, let me know, Ill walk ya thru shrinking it back, & be cool pulling it, or you will have it stretched.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 07:04:28 Rats! I was hoping that the answer would be a little more promising. Oh well, thanks for the tips.  I'll keep an eye out for a replacement tank.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 07:06:11 Haha, ya, I'm not ready to commit to any sort of explosion stuff, so I'll probably sit this one out and go with another tank when available. Much appreciated guys!

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 07:08:07 Yea, We Race RC is right,, If you dont know how to do it, its not gonna come out well. If you can get a tank on it & painted for $200.00 youll be ahead. Heck, tool rental, body hammer, sandpaper, bondo, paint, yea,, tank time,, If you think youre gonna want more gas, maybe time to fit a bigger tank.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 07:10:14 A bigger tank? I didn't know that was possible.  Yup, definitely a newbie when it comes to this.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 07:31:59 Considering your Newbieness, I would suggest you just ride it for now. Take the riders safety class, get 5,000 miles in the saddle. By then, youll have been here long enough to learn some maintenance on it, youll pretty well be past the Ooops, I dropped it stage of learning to ride. Sure would suck to put a lot of time & $$$ in it & then bounce it,

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 07:42:02 Agreed.  I've got the safety course this weekend.  I'm planning on doing exactly what you have suggested, although I figured if I could pull those dents out with relative ease, I'd give it a shot. Thanks again for the tips!

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 07:50:42 You could look around to see what rental would be, if youve ever had any desire to UNwrinkle a piece of metal, here's your chance. Ill do what I can to guide ya thru, if the cost of the experiment isnt too high.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Paraquat on 08/29/12 at 09:16:20 Bondo and paint make it what it ain't. --Steve

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 09:18:35 Cool, thanks.  Ya I'll do some riding first, get used to a the bike and hopefully avoid dropping it.  If I decide to get experimental, I'll definitely post up here.  What a great resource! Thanks.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Dave on 08/29/12 at 09:47:58 While you are gaining experience and riding ability.....keep and eye on the Marketplace, Craigslist and eBay for a tank or complete body kit.  Sometimes a good tank in the correct color will come along - and not too long ago a complete and pristine body kit was on this site.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 09:52:17 With a very sharp paint scheme, too,, what ever happened to that guy?

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/29/12 at 09:55:06 Ya, most definitely.  I'm not in a rush quite yet...and the riding season is slowly coming to an end up here, so there will be some down time, too.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Digger on 08/29/12 at 18:46:26 See this thread: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1346209240 Apparently, he has a nice tank for sale..... IHTH!

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Boofer on 08/29/12 at 20:12:27 butters, there is a way to use refrigerant (Freon) and heat to pop them out, but I 've never done it and don't know how big a dent it will work on. And whoever suggested a body shop for $200 is about right on the price for a good job on a tank. Good luck.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by MiCTLaN on 08/29/12 at 21:29:59 I'd just slap a bandaid on it until I could find a tank in better shape.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/29/12 at 22:04:18 Id give a little thot to a sticker saying I did not build this! with an arrow pointing to a dent.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by tizzyfit on 08/30/12 at 00:02:51 You may want to check with a local "paint-less dent removal" person.  I've talked to a few about dents in M/C gas tanks and was told there isn't enough room to get their tools situated in order to effect any positive result.   If all else fails, while your waiting to locate a new tank, you could try some decals or bumper stickers, they would be truly ugly but it would get your mind off the dents. ;D ;D

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/30/12 at 01:34:44 Once ya get down that tube,, its about over. That tank needs some pulling. & since theres no getting a dolly inside & working it all the way, it looks like its gonna take a fair dab O mud to fill it where the asphalt laid grooves in it, The other one otta smooth out pretty good.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by ToesNose on 08/30/12 at 04:09:48 1425362535312530440 wrote: Bondo and paint make it what it ain't. I agree Steve. Butters if the tank is bothering you the way it looks, invest $22, some time and make it look half way decent till you get some good miles under your belt  ;)   LOL have some fun and throw a custom rattle can paint job on the whole bike while you at it!   ;D

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/30/12 at 04:48:03 Haha, thanks guys, some great suggestions for sure! While I can live with the dents (for now), I thought to myself "hey, if I can get these out for next to no cost, that would be awesome." I'll most likely get a quote from a shop to see what it would take to get it out, as well as if they just happen to have a Savage tank lying around. I just bought the bike, so I'm excited just to ride it, haha. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress.  Of course, keep the suggestions coming! Thanks.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/30/12 at 07:02:45 Okay, heres something to try,, Ride around, get alist of shops & just cruise them, look for a bike. Walk in, dont go to the office, just walk in the shop area & strike up a convo with a body man. Ask if any of them do "side work" at home. Youd be surprised at how many do. Well,, they did when I was doing it. You may be able to get that straightened up for $50.00 & a coupla 6 packs And you may even be able to help & learn a bit while youre at it. If you find someone who rides, maybe cheaper, IDK what the Side Rates are these days, IDK if any even do it any more, but, you could have a ride & meet some new people & see what happens.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/30/12 at 07:19:31 Oh man, that's a great idea!  I'll certainly try that out - at the very least, I'd learn a lot more about the bike. Thanks again Justin.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Gyrobob on 08/31/12 at 05:34:38 I bought a Ding-King a few years ago.  It worked really well to remove simple dents in motorcycle tanks twice.  On a third tank, it got the basic shape the surface back, but the metal had been wrinkled slightly, so the damaged area was still noticeable,... requiring $10 worth of bondo and a few hours of painting and rubbing to make the dent disappear. I had a Subaru WRX a few years ago that got clobbered on the right front fender by an "alligator" from a semi.  That danged Ding-King took a while (several "pops") but I was able to bring back the original curvature of the surfaces involved.  I had to touch up the paint, though.  Apparently the alligator had some rocks in it.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by butters on 08/31/12 at 11:48:57 Gyrobob, Interesting about the Ding King - I've never heard of it, but sounds like it could work. Over the next little while, I'm probably gonna check out some local shops and see if I can talk to a couple of mechanics, possibly even help them out with it (based on Justin's advice).  I'm planning on riding it for the remainder of the season as is and hopefully fix/replace it in the new year. Thanks again.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Greg-E on 09/01/12 at 08:59:21 In order to make the tank safe for cutting or welding you can save some time by draining and letting sit for a while to evaporate, then put in some chunks of dry ice and wait for the CO2 to fill the tank. Alternate would be to fill from CO2 fire extinguisher or some other CO2 choice. If you have a MIG welder then you may have some other inert gas you can use to fill the tank prior to work.

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/01/12 at 09:39:02 chunks of dry ice Copied & pasted in my "How to solve that problem" file..I REALLY like that one,

Title: Re: That'll buff right out! Post by Gyrobob on 09/01/12 at 09:54:17 I've worked on gas tanks using welding and brazing with both torches and MIG.  The old guy I learned a lot of aviation stuff from would just flush the tanks well, with the last "flush" being a small quantity of kerosene (or diesel).  It mixes with the oil and is much less volatile.  Then he'd let the tank sit in the sun for a while.  Then he'd have a blower of some sort (a hair dryer, even) blow into one hole in the tank with the other hole uncovered.  After 10 or 20 minutes of hot air blowing through the tank, it would be pretty much fumeless.  The final check would be a sniff test.  If it had very little kerosene smell it was okay.

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