Looking at the rust on the bare metal I would be concerned about what is going on underneath the badge. It looks like paint is peeling below that area too. I think it was member Terry from Australia that had a tank with pin holes in that same area.
Good call jggr, make sure there’s no leaks first. And if there is, you could probably coat the inside with something like Caswell to seal up those holes and prevent any further corrosion from inside.
Good call, but the inside of the tank is already coated. Not sure if this was done by the PO before or after the paint issue. I don't know much about the history of the bike as I bought it from a car dealership that got it from an estate sale some years ago.
Yikes! Looks like it got hit with some kind of stripping solvent. I would remove anything loose from that black area and try not to get into the colored area. Clean off the entire black area especially where the paint was removed with some prep all, wax and grease remover. Then I would tape off the entire black area by following the white pinstripe with tape. Rattle can that whole black area so it’s uniform. After that you can remove the tape and if you have to touch up any of the area with pinstripe, just use some white nail polish and carefully touch up the pinstripe line. Now after all that’s done here’s where I recommend you get it to somebody who can put A real coat of automotive clear coat on top. All of that rattle canned stuff will get damaged if gasoline touches it. Get your color and decals looking good again and then have the whole thing sealed with some professional automotive clearcoat. Bonus if you can do it yourself. If you have a gravity or siphon gun and know how to spray, get some clearcoat and go for it. Once you have your tip and nozzle dialed in correctly it’s actually pretty easy. But if you’ve never done it before probably best to get it done by somebody experienced. Good luck.
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You need to remove the HONDA logo and sand the black area smooth again first, then clean as noted above. Use a good DupliColor primer on the black area that is masked off from the rest of the tank and let it dry. Lightly wet sand the primer with 1000 grit to knock down any areas that may have small imperfections or tiny bumps. Any DupliColor black paint will be compatible with a SprayMax 2K rattle can of clearcoat to finish up the repair and the SprayMax 2K is a gas resistant finish. The SprayMax 2K clear coat is a two part clear coat finish with a harder supplied in the bottom of the can that is activated when ready to use.
Depending on how good you want to finish the other sections with small chips is up to you. Wet sand the entire tanks clearcoat finish after the black paint repair with 800 grit carefully, to not cut through into the old paint. You just need to sand the old clear to a slightly dull finish, to give the new clearcoat something to bond into.
Shoot the entire tank with the SprayMax 2K clear coat. You will have enough clear to do a few coats in that can if you wish to build a few layers. Just follow the instruction on timing between coats on the can instructions and then let it dry for 24-48 hrs. Afterwards wet sand with progressive sandpaper grits, starting with 1000 then 2000 and then buff it out with a buffing compound and electric buffer with micro fiber pads. A small hand buffer can be had for about $30.
All these paint supplies/ masking tape can be purchased at a body shop supply house. The buffer at Harbour Freight.
You will have a nice new shiny tank and repair.
Thanks for the advice, I just have a few questions. So I should cut off the peeling black paint so it's just the paint still bonded to the tank. With the surface rust showing, should that be something I try to fix by peeling back more paint until it's gone? (So I can sand it away) Or will the tank be fine since it's coated on the inside? I'm not sure how in-depth I should go with the rust issue.
Then for painting, should I overlap the paint/primer a little onto the old black paint? Or should I mask right on the edge of where I cut away?
And is there a certain duplicolor black paint that will match best with the OEM black paint?
