Topic: Stripping Tank for Paint

[Mo]

Seems like beating a dead horse here, but I haven't managed to find an answer to this one.

THe old tank on my bike is pretty cruddy. Over the summer, I cleaned the inside and sealed it with Caswell's sealer kit. That closed up all the pinholes and made it functional again.

Now, I am gearing up for a paint job. There's significant surface rust on the outside of the tank, so my initial thought was to stip/sand down to bare metal and then go from there. But then I had a thought.

Won't any paint stripper also damage the caswell sealer? The last thing I want to do is damage the seal job and reopen the pinholes.

[lone*X]

Caswell is pretty tuff stuff but I can't answer your question about stripper hurting it.  Might depend on the type of stripper.  But ff you are afraid of a chemical stripper, then just sand it bare.   Nothing wrong with sand paper.  More environmentally friendly, gives you an upper arm workout, and you have the option of going easy around the pin hole areas.

[Apexxn]

I do a lot of paint work and everybody has their own way of doing things but I have never used stripper to prep for a paint job. I try and avoid any kind of chemicals because you never know if you really got it all off before spraying.

There is a lot of stripping wheels and disks you can use for big areas but for a tank I enjoy sanding it down by hand. Lots of contours to a tank so hand work is best and the tank is the focal point of a motorcycle so you want it to really pop.

[lone*X]

And to add to that, since the metal is already thinned out (remember, rusted from the inside) I would not use any powered sander.  Too aggressive and you would be removing more metal.   Just do it by hand.

[Apexxn]

I'd like to see some pics of this tank.

You're saying it had actual pin holes all the way through so it leaked fuel? You might even want to sand it left handed so you don't press too hard. 

Wow good on you for saving it.

[flybox1]

I used citristrip. Got it at home depot.  Pretty mild stuff.  Painted it on REALLY thick, left it over night.  Scraped off several layers of paint w a plastic putty knife the next am. Scrubbed w mineral spirits and a scotchbrite pad followed by water rinse for a nice clean tank...
Search citristrip and my thread, The Mutt is Done, will come up w pictures of my tank restore.

[Mo]

http://i.imgur.com/ERwsI.jpg

Here's probably the best pic I currently have of the tank. Yes, prior to sealing it, gas would leak through some of the pinholes. It doesn't now and the caswell sealer seams pretty hard (durable/ductile? remains to be seen).

Anyway, its good to hear that others sand by hand. I guess I'll go that route as I'm too cheap (and wary) of buying/using a power machine.

[Mo]

flybox, that paint job is incredibly nice. Here's to hoping I get 1/2 as good a result as yours.

[Stev-o]

What type of aftermarket muffler is that??

[Mo]

Bahaha. No idea. When I got the bike, the muffler had rotted off. In order to prevent myself from scratching my hands every time I handled it, I wrapped it in duct tape. Everytime I tried to take it off, it just would budge.

Finally got myself a rotary tool though so i figure I'm just going to cut it off.