Topic: Bare Metal Clearcoated Tank on a CB400F?

[vames]

Has anybody has done a tank in bare metal with clearcoat? Pictures? I'm thinking about doing it, but have no idea whether it's advisable or even possible.

The old blue tank on my 400f looks ok but has a few dents and nicks. I just bought a pristine red tank for next to nothing, and my idea is to bring it to a radiator shop to get boiled out and sealed, then to a pro painter to polish the metal, apply Honda decals, and clearcoat it. I'd leave my black side covers alone.

Anybody have any ideas of whether this would look good or crap? Whether pros have clearcoats that stick to bare metal? Whether the bike would look OK? Whether I'm insane for getting rid of a perfect original red paint job?

[Soos]

Why use clearcoat? No paint, no scratches.

 

The only bike I've seen with a bare metal tank had the "beater" look, but it would blow the doors off of most sports cars.


l8r

[750K2]

get a hold of andy750 for pictures of his bike.  there may even be pictures of it in the owners gallery.  we got together and polished/sprayed his tank and it came out ok.  we used a two part polyurethane coating...por15 or something like that.   good luck!
frank

[XN]

Clear powder coat would work fine also.

[motorhead]

Clearcoat won't stick that well to Bare metal, I recommend a product by House of Kolor call Adher2. Clean the metal really well, I mean REALLY well, then within a few minutes, spray your clearcoat of choice over top. Here is a pic of one of my paint jobs but I applied the engine turning technique on the bare metal.

[vames]

Thanks. Clear powder coat sounds like a great idea. Didn't even know it exists.

[XN]

Yep it sticks a lot better then paint. I plan on doing my tank this winter...

[andy750]

Here is my bare clear coat tank  -with the help of 750K2 (see above) we used Glisten PC as recommened by Gregorymoto (another forum member) who used it successfully on his bare chopper tank. My clear coat lasted a month or so but is now being removed due to orange peel. Will simply polish and leave next time....the photos show polished tank only...







cheers
Andy

[vames]

Andy --

I think it looks really cool. I assume I'd get something that looks similar if I polished and have it powder coated clear. My only difference is that the 400f vinyl emblem stickers wouldn't likely survive the heat of the powder coating. Maybe I could find some nice Honda emblems from a car and then glue them on.   

Gotta think about all this, because I'm also thinking that a black tank would look great on a 400f.

decisions, decisions.

[moham]

Check out the link below for a couple more cool pics. He talks about the process in the thread also. Scroll down a couple for the photos...

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=31620.0

[andy750]

Hey Vames,

Check out these cool tank badges....would look great on a polished tank...everyone does black so be different 

Good luck with it,

cheers
Andy

[cafe750]

I did mine a couple of years ago, and used about 10 coats of duplicolor clear. Make sure that the tank is absolutley clean and moisture free, otherwise it'll rust under the clear...

[goon 1492]

when I was into painting rc car bodies I used laquer, and the guys that gave me some good tips said to clean it real good, espically in the tight corners or inside corners. Then when your done......clean it again then paint immediatly.

[vames]

I'm most intrigued with clear powder coating because of the stick and durability -- my bike is parked outside year round under a cover so it needs any help it can get to stay nice.

Andy -- what emblems are you talking about?

I can always work some cheapie Civic or Accord emblems --
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-trunk-emblem-for-Honda-Civic-and-Accord_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a543Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem170280480923QQitemZ170280480923QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Or I can try something really different that may look cool, like these. (Has this weird bottom-heavy H ever been associated with Honda bikes, or is it always for cars?) There's lots of them in red too -- I think the rice racers take these off their cars before they put on V-Tek stickers, fart cans, and spoilers.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-Civic-SI-Accord-S2000-Acura-RSX-S-Black-H-Emblem_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a543Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem250329582099QQitemZ250329582099QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

[coyotecowboy]

I've heard about guys using Mop-N-Glo on unpainted exhausts and just putting it on a couple of times a year.  Not sure about how it would work on a tank, but might be worth a try.

[XN]

You should be fine with putting your decals under the powder. Get a extra decal and have your powdercoater do a sample. Lots of guys are using just normal vinyl decals under powder and it works great!