Topic: Por-15 prep

[jworth94]

I'm a proud new owner of a 1974 CB550 Four.

Unfortunately, the tank has some rust.  I ordered and received the Por-15 kit.  Here's my question...  How do I seal the tank properly to ensure none of the chemicals get on the original paint on the outside of the tank??  Tips or tricks...

I did a search and didn't really find the answer I was looking for.

Pictures would be great.

I also wanted to send out a thanks to the forum for providing great info.  I feel as though I'm much more knowledgeable about these bikes than I was just a short time ago.  Yesterday, I changed the oil and the filter and cleaned the oil screen.  It was the first time the oil pan had been off!!!  I also adjusted the cam chain tightener and removed and rebuilt all 4 carbs.  It was my first crack at any sort of carb work and it turned out great.  Believe it or not the bike already runs better.

Jon

[tomkimberly]

The instructions included in the kit say to use duct tape and or plugs.

On my last one I just used duct tape.


Tom

[750K2]

i also cleaned the rust out of my tank and while i used duct tape, if there was a next time, i'd take the advise of someone on this board who went to the local lo-depot and purchased a plumbers rubber stop plug.  these are rubber plugs that can fit into plumping drain pipes and which have a t-handled screw that tightens up the plug in the pipe for a nice, leak-free seal.     
the paint on these tanks is far too valuable to risk staining with the corrosive liquid used to take rust off of metal.  i found out the hard way that it can also stain chrome.  go get the plug and good luck!

[void909]

i also cleaned the rust out of my tank and while i used duct tape, if there was a next time, i'd take the advise of someone on this board who went to the local lo-depot and purchased a plumbers rubber stop plug.  these are rubber plugs that can fit into plumping drain pipes and which have a t-handled screw that tightens up the plug in the pipe for a nice, leak-free seal.     
the paint on these tanks is far too valuable to risk staining with the corrosive liquid used to take rust off of metal.  i found out the hard way that it can also stain chrome.  go get the plug and good luck!

+1 The duct tape was a terrible idea  POR 15 will ruin a paint job, lucky for me I needed a new one anyway.

[Sporkfly]

Duct tape is a horrible idea, the kit suggests it but don't use it. Why? It's just not a tight enough seal. Speaking from the experience of getting POR-15 chemicals all over my hands (thank god I was painting the tank anyway) find something that works better.

+1 on the plumbers rubber stop plugs. Or something with a better seal, anyway. Duct tape is a thumbs down.

[fmctm1sw]

+1 on the plumbers rubber stop plugs. Or something with a better seal, anyway. Duct tape is a thumbs down.

I bet you could find a suitably sized freeze plug at the nearest auto parts store too.  Cheap!

[KB02]

I used a big rubber stopper and masking tape. Again, my take was i the middle of a re-paint anyway, so I wasn't too worried about any leaks, but as I recall, I didn't many many.

[jworth94]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to look for the plugs and probably wrap the tank a few times with paper and plastic and try to tape around the holes with gorilla tape.

Jon

[MagneticWest]

750K2: thanks for the rubber stop plug suggestion!  I picked up a 2” Oatey plumbers plug at Lowes and it worked like a charm.  I was prepared to wrap some extra sheet rubber around the plug if it was too small, but there was no need - the plug fit perfectly in the filler hole as-is.

For the petcock hole, I came up with a similar solution: a cheap plastic wine bottle stopper.  The stopper would not quite fit in the petcock hole so I tapered the end on a grinder wheel.  This let the stopper fit in the petcock hole just enough (maybe ¼”) so that it sealed up tight.  It was easy to put on and take off for the different chemical treatments.  See pics below.

By the way, the bubbling on the lower left corner of the picture was a pinhole leak that surfaced during the Marine Clean treatment.  I took off the external rust with a wire wheel then patched it with JB Weld prior to coating the tank with the POR-15 paint.

Dave

[sbparks]

Guys,

 I thought I'd add to this discusssion as I've just recently completed a lot of tank work.

 Agreed... Duct tape won't work for you.  I used a 'freeze plug' that I bought for cheap at a swimming pool supply store.  I saw the nice red pipe plugs in Lowes (shown earlier), but I didn't think the 2" plug would work in my tank opening.

 I had to make something to plug my tank's lower opening.  I fabricated a 'plug' using wood, 6mm screws, washers and gasket material from Lowes.  My bike is a CB 750 and the lower opening on the tank has two threaded holes for attaching the petcock and a central hole that the petcock assembly is inserted into (three holes altogether).  The gasket material did the sealing.  I found the sheet of gasket material in the plumbing section at Lowes as well. 

 Overall, my plug worked great.  It was easy enough to put on/off and *nothing* ever leaked.

 Here's a few pics of what I used while working my tank...