Thanks Frank, here's some pics I just took of my old F2 tank from the resto I did back in 2002. The tank that came with the bike was rotten with rust (F tanks are especially prone to rusting, especially if parked for a long time on the side stand with rotten fuel left in the tank) so I bought this tank from a guy in New York.
It had been repainted and looked good in the pics he sent me, but arrived with a hole in the box and a dent on the right hand side about the size of a US Postal Service steel capped boot. I contacted him, he said he'd put in a claim as I'd paid extra for insurance, which he probably did, because I never heard from him again......
Anyhoo, I started to scrape the paint out and discovered Bondo, so dug it out, and found two holes where the PO had used a sheet metal screw to pull a dent out, then just bondo'd over it. In hindsight, if it wasn't for the dent I'd probably have just sanded the old paint back and painted over it, and fuel would have immediately seeped through the bondo and ruined the paint.
I brazed up the holes, then had it blasted back to bare metal and painted it a nice candy red, bought some new decals, then used a 2 pack clear over the top, it looked like a million bucks. I didn't use a liner though, as it looked Ok. I wish I had. A few months later I walked out to the garage one day and could smell fuel, and saw that the beautiful paint had bubbled up, and fuel had dripped over the new black VHT engine enamel, ruining it too, and pooled on the concrete under the bike.
Old F2 rusty tank by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Old F2 rusty tank 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I could have possibly stripped the tank again and used a liner, then repainted it, but back then F tanks were in plentiful supply, and Tim Kasper (KGhost here) sold me a nice black tank from Texas that was totally rust free, so I bought more candy paint, more decals, and POR-15 tank liner kit, just for good measure, and that tank is probably still as good as new now, 18 years later.
Good F tanks are stupidly expensive now, a member has one for sale here for $350 USD, and I could only find 2 others on EBay USA for over $300 each, which looked far worse than mine. I'll use a tank liner kit to clean any interior rust and repair any other pinholes that I can't see, then use some JB Weld to fill the area right around the badge hole mounting plate, and sand it smooth, paint it, and move on. No rush, I've got plenty of other projects to keep me from being bored..........