Topic: Clear coat on top of original paint gas tank

[tkarahalios]

Hi Folks,
I have a 1975 CB550K1 with the candy jade green colored gas tank. It's original paint, has a few scratches, a few tiny specs of rust, and has a cool faded look to the paint after 40 years. I was thinking of trying to wet sand or buff some of the deeper clear coat scratches, then sand and apply a little Rustoleum primer sealer to a few 4-5mm rust spots. Lastly, I was thinking of applying a few fresh coats of clear coat on top of the original clear coat to help preserve the paint and bring back some luster. Am I asking for trouble?

I heard about 2K Glamour Clear Coat. Is that compatible with the original clear coat and paint? Should I be going to an auto store and asking for a lacquer based clear coat spray can?
Any thoughts on what I am setting out to do?

thanks in advance,
Tasos

[flybox1]

It may look funny....a nice shiny clear coated sun faded rusty tank.
Keep the outside as is, clean and apply a wax often to protect it.
A clean insides is what really matters.
Its just my $.02

[sammermpc]

The paint was beginning to chip on my '72 CB500. I liked the look, though, and in general the paint was in pretty good shape—so I did exactly what you describe.

I pulled off the emblems, lightly-sanded it, and then gave it a couple of coats of Eastwood's Spray Max 2K. It's only been one season, so far, but it worked great, and I'm not worried about water getting in under the chips anymore.

[Stev-o]

I've had a couple tanks where the clear coat failed but paint was still in reasonable good shape.  We wet sanded the tank, shot clear coat and then buffed it, turn out great. I love original paint and do whatever I can to preserve it.

My RD350 tank....




K7..........

[calj737]

A gentle wet sand and buff will do wonders for the original paint (only the top panel is clear coated on some older 550/500s) but be sure you have clear coat there before you begin sanding.

An orange tank I revived that looked completely terrible before:

[sammermpc]

One thing to note, is that the black side-panels (on my '72, at least), is just a single layer over the gold flake. If you sand too much, you can go through it pretty easily.