vettereddie

Ok, so first off this is not for my xB. I'm restoring a few motorcycles and looking to clean up the gas tanks before painting. These is not your modern, lightweight flimsy tank, we're talking vintage steel. I have a 79 Suzuki Gs750 tank, a 1980 Honda CM400T, and a 1981 CM400A all with some serious dents.

I've done a lot of glass work but no serious sheetmetal before, so I'm looking for pointers. My first thought was to get an estimate from a body shop, but they wanted $150 - $250 PER Tank, and when I got the bike for $100 TOTAL, that's a bit excessive. I really don't care about paint damage, and in fact have already ground the dented spots on the CM400T down to bare metal. Being a gas tank, I'm not going to drill it, and can't easily access the inside, also I'm not sure if they're double wall.

What I've tried so far is a cheesy Pops-A-Dent kit I had lying around that uses a hot glue pad and a bridge that you screw down to pull the dent. This would probably work on a thin fender, but 30 year old steel wasn't budging. I will probably try the dry ice or heat gun / canned air method before getting serious. When that fails, I'm left with three choices:

- Fill and Paint: I have the tools and materials to either bondo, reinforced filler (kitty / tiger hair) or sheet glass it, just weighing my options. Unreinforces would shape easiest but I'm worried about it popping. Will probably wire wheel the surface to rough it up for better adhesion.



- Welded pop rod and puller: I am pretty sure this will work with minimum need for body filler, but I've never done this and don't have a specific rod gun, only a generic arc welder and a gas one. Does anyone rent these things? I think I can get by with 4-6 rods.



- Old school lead / newer lead-free metal solder: Again, I haven't tried this method but my dad used to do body work and still has the older type. Works and shapes with wooden paddles and melts with a butane torch, seems like once applied it will last forever and less risk of popping.



This is a project bike, I have another for daily driving, so the more work I can do myself the better. Part of getting it was to learn the process of restoration, so the more work actually the better.