so I finally got the motivation paint my gas tank. I sanded it down, removed the silly stickers and fixed the dents and crease from the previous owner. Now she will be ready for buffing tonight. What sort of cloth and wax should I use for buffing?

very helpful, thanks a bunch.

Wondering what you did to fix the dents? My tank is shot, so I bought one from a 2006 on Ebay for $13.00. Only problem is that it has a golfball size dent in it. The ideal thing would be to try and fill it. Good info on the site EssForty provided, so I'll keep reading.

photojoe FSO wrote on 10/08/08 at 09:53:51:



wow. A tank off ebay for 13.00? I would love that just to mess around with, maybe have to two tanks so that I can swap when bored. Ok So I have a one inch long crease on the right side of the tank it was near the front and just about lead around the rounded edge to the front. I tried the dry ice, no luck since it was a crease dent. I sanded the tank down to bare metal. I did one coat of bondo and let it dry about an hour, block sanded with 320 grit until even and smooth, still a dent so I repeated the process one more time. and voila. I will have pics up hopfully this weekend, but I am working and packing for a move.

photojoe FSO wrote on 10/10/08 at 19:10:36:


I used a sanding block for all my sanding. I scuffed the clear coat with 400 grit. Then I sanded very briefly around the tank with 80 grit. However, most of my sanding was with 220 there after. You will find that sanding around the gas cap, around the  speed-o-meter hole and the bottom trim of the tank quite laboursome. You may not get all of it, however I was told that as long as you can sand down to primer and sand some of that you should be ok. The bondo I block sanded with 220 until just about about flat and even with the tank, then I used 400 to smooth it out. Depending on the depth of the dents and creases, at least two rounds of bondo will be needed. A ding I only did one coat of bondo because it looked superficial, ended up showing itself after I painted. The shinyness of the pearls reflected the slight angles of the indententation. Oh well!!!  I painted outside and not in a sterile enviro because that was not available,  to me, and its starting to get cold here in igloo country (Canada lol) so I got some little bumps in my paint and clear coat. Those get covered by subsequent coats of paint, and clear coat. I managed to wet sand most of the fuzzies away with 2000 grit after the second and final clear coat dried and the paint cured after about 4 days. I buffed away, however I think that I will do a third coat in the spring because I few spots still show.
Good luck and enjoy the process. My job may not be perfect, but this is my first time doing such a job. I enjoyed the process from beginning to end, and am superbly proud of my modest accomplishment. I hope you enjoy yourself as well.

All you guys playing with your tanks. I've had mine laying in a storage shed for two years waiting for someone to offer me a price + shipping just to get it out of the way. No dents and a cap. A key for the lock too if that same someone wanted to pay for a copy to be made. Oh, by the way it's the Savage yellow that's not the 2000 color.

Jack

block sanded with 320 grit until even and smooth

I would want a rougher surface to lay the next bondo on.

I dont mix mine on anything that can absorb any oils out of the epoxy.It is an epoxy which means amines, I think, are used, anyway, I have a plexiglass bondo board Ive used for almost 30 years.
Ive mudded up a truck that bounced down oilfield roards, a cabover Mack, I hung Bondo so deep over a dent above the headlight I used a welding rod stuck into each side over the headlight. The dent wouldnt opull with the equipment I had, so I opacked it with mud & went on.

I use a rough texture between coats, not to facilitate application, but to make it stay better & resist vibration cracking.