Topic: Tank underside original colour?

[Tower]

What colour were the undersides of the CB750 tanks painted?
Did the underside colour match the tank colour?
Or, were they all painted one colour..a sort of zinc metallic all purpose rust inhibitor, or perhaps varying by year or by where a bike was assembled?

Inquiring minds want to know...or in my case, I'm restoring a 1971 tank and the original underside colour is a bronze-yellow/gold colour.  Does that mean the original colour was Candy Gold, or Candy Garnett Brown, or any of the other three colours from 1971?

Any 1971 owners with still original tanks care to offer their observations?

[mcpuffett]

As far as i know all tanks were the same colour all over, maybe someone painted your with a rust inhibitor, do you have any photos? cheers Mick.

[Geeto67]

the underside of the tanks were overspray color....what does that mean? well it means that honda really did not care if the underside of the tank was actually painted so the bottoms got overspray of a color coat and usually very little clear. What this means is you can see how the color process was done, for example candy bacchus olive is not actually a green candy coat, it is a mixture of blue and yellow candies over a base coat, on the bottom of my factory painted tank you can see patches where only one candy color is and the base color shows through. because no real care was taken the bottom can appear slightly different from the top even though it is the same paint.

Personally, if I were repainting I would make sure the underside got full coat of paint and clear equal in coverage to the top of the tank (I wouldn't worry about the wetsand or polish). The poor underside coverage occasionally led to rust on the outside of the tank.

Keep in mind, if the tank has been repainted several times the overspray will sit on the bottom of the tunnel. The best way to confirm original color is to get a chemical stripper and a plastic blade and take the layers off one by one.

If you are sure the bottom of the tank is the original paint then yes it could be gold. I would check with Dondirtbiker since some candy finishes used a gold base instead of silver.

[mark]

Candy Garnet Brown was the color on the '76 550K and, by golly, the bottom of the tank and the backs of the side covers are definitely brown. Not really a full coat like Geeto said.


Happy trails.

[Geeto67]

this is a good color reference site:

http://www.spookytoms.com/CB750-PaintColors.html

candy garnett brown was a color available on:

1971 cb750
1971 cb500 four
1972 cb500 four
1972 cb450 twin
1976 cb550K four


chances are if it was gold "zinc" ish color then the bike was probably candy gold. BTW, some aftermarket gold paints in the 1960s and 1970s have copper shavings in the paint which can oxidize over time and creat green highlights in the paint. Honda did not use this since the gold was actually a candy coat over a silver base so if you are seeing greenish streaks there is a chance that the paint is aftermarket.

Candy gold was available on:

1969-70 cb750
1970 cb450 twin
1971 cb750
1971 cb500 four
1971 cb450 twin
1972 cb750
1972 cb500 four

[Tower]

As requested attached are a couple of pics.
My original 1973 CB750 Bacchus Candy Olive was very similar in colour to the pictured underside, but definitely had greenish overtones.  Since the difference between Candy Bacchus Olive and Candy Gold was in the basecoat only (Candy Bacchus Olive has Blue basecoat, Candy Gold has Silver basecoat), an overspray would substantially colour the underside in the last coat colour.  So I buy the overspray explanation. Mark's observation that Candy Garnett Brown was an obvious brown colour helps confirm this.

Since there are several original colours that presumably finish with "goldish" results, that would mean the original tank colour was either:
  -  Candy Gold (69 - 72 CB750, 70-71 CB450,  72 CB500)
  -  Candy Starlight Gold (71 CB500)
  -  Flake Sunrise Orange (73 CB500, 74 CB750, 74 CB550)
  -  Candy Orange (74 CB450)

The person I purchased the tank from said 1971 CB750 - should that be true, then judging by the underside, the tank originally was mostly likely Candy Gold.

The blue spots on the underside are the remnants of a repaint in blue metallic.  There is no evidence of any other colour beneath the blue top coat and grey primer.

So is it a Candy Gold 1971 CB750 tank?

[bryanj]

Just to make it more difficult
Candy Gold Custom and Candy Starlight Gold are so simil;ar that you can only tell the difference if you put the two right up against each other

[USN20]

So is it a Candy Gold 1971 CB750 tank?

My Honda parts book lists two different part numbers / names for the gold tank.

It's either a KO / K1 CB750 "Candy Gold" gas tank, part number: 17500-300-040CQ

or a K2 CB750 "Candy Gold Custom" gas tank, part number: 17500-341-670LX

[Tower]

That has narrowed the possibilities nicely. 

Any tell-tale signs of which is which - e.g. the wrinkles are different or the welds are different?  Perhaps the "custom" meant only difference was tank striping.

Mind you, either tank is plenty good for my 1971 resto.

[Tower]

Too small for the naked eye to see...but there it is, evidence of gold paint.

[Venturous]

Too small for the naked eye to see...but there it is, evidence of gold paint.

That could also be the gold solder used to connect the hardware to tank