Topic: What to do about tank badge holes being covered up?

[American Locomotive]

So the guy who previously "restored" my '76 CB750 was a bit of a goof, and put body filler right over the holes where the badges would go on the gas tank. He did a nice job of it - can't even tell anything was there at all! However, obviously it became impossible to put the Honda badges back on, so as a result my bike doesn't have any Honda badges on the tank, nor did I get the badges with the bike.

I'm repainting the tank anyways, since the paint job is a little old at this point, and wasn't done very well to begin with. So my question is, what would you guys do with the tank?

- Would you dig out all the body filler, get the holes back and purchase some old used/removed badges?
- Or just leave it as is, and get one of the new reproduction stick-on badges on that don't have the mounting pegs?

[jlh3rd]

Since it’s a restoration and it appears you’re not trying to present it as an authentic restoration...and, more than likely, any used badges will be less than perfect, but still expensive.......and.... if you find new NOS badges, they will be expensive.......and..... the reproduction stick ons look brand new......I’d get the stick ons......

[Don R]

 I've stuck on repro's with 3M tape. Stick on ones would have been great. It hurts to cut off the pins but only for a second. I made a cardboard template for locations.
  One 750 I had, the PO dug around with a tiny drill bit searching for the hole and found his way through the tank. Then bondo'ed it and painted it. I had to dig out the bondo and tig braze the hole closed. I still had one pin on the front for locating and taped the back of it.

[American Locomotive]

I'm not really going for a restoration, just more or less trying to make the bike more presentable, since the paint on the tank looked really awful, and the the rest of plastics had runs everywhere.

I just used my inspection camera to take a peak inside the tank, and the sheet metal on one side of the tank looks like a 3D topographical map of the rocky mountains. This is making me lean more towards leaving what seems to be a pretty good body filler job alone?

[MauiK3]

I know it's a bit pricey but the Yamiya tanks and badges are great.

[seanbarney41]

yeah, all that bondo will probably last longer than the rest of the tank, certainly will hold up until you find a good one!

[American Locomotive]

I know it's a bit pricey but the Yamiya tanks and badges are great.

Doesn't appear they make anything for a '76 750F Super Sport unfortunately. These Super Sport tanks seem to go for ridiculous amounts on e-bay compared to K tanks as well. Oh well.

Thanks for the input guys, I guess I'll just get the stick-on badge and leave the body filler as is. Tank looks a little too dented up on the inside to be really worth saving.

[seanbarney41]

make sure it doesn't leak, especially the 750f tanks!  Very, very prone to pinhole leaks!

[American Locomotive]

The tank is pretty much rust free inside/out. I've had 5 gallons of gas in it, and there were no leaks thankfully.

[DurangoCB]

I've seen guys actually cutting the bracket (originally welded to the tank) off the tank before filling it back in with body filler.  You may remove all that bondo and find nothing there but a hole. 

[setdog]

I found a pair of original metal tanks badges, and didn't have the secure clips,  and they jiggled around because they weren't secured.  Couple of strips of 2 sided tape and they are secure. 

I would just get repros or least expensive badges and use the tape to secure, they aren't going to fall off any time soon with tape

There's also decals if your open to different types of logos on the tank

[przjohn]

If you do decide to use the Honda Badges they are tough to find for the 76F. I restored the same bike and found a guy in Australia makes badges for different bikes made them, you should be able to Google him. They took awhile to get here but they worked well. Another option would be decals instead of badges. Check out some other models that use decals and see if a type from another model would work for you, maybe 400F tank decals? If you are not doing a true restoration and are painting the tank anyway it might be a way to go. I tried stick on badges and they didn't work well for me.