S
Scott Gardner
Guest
Thought you might enjoy this tale of buffoonery...</cr>
I just repainted the tank on a friend's bike, because the person she bought it from had spilled gasoline on the fresh single-stage black enamel, ruining a large section of it. No big deal, since she wanted a metallic blue in a BC/CC scheme anyway.</cr>
First of all, let me say that I think of stripping used tanks as opening Christmas presents in Hell, where all the presents suck. As I'm scraping off the paint, I see several spots of Bondo. No big deal, until I get to the right side of the tank, where there is a spot of filler about three inches across. The stripper had softened the Bondo, so I figured I'd just grind it all out and re-do it. </cr>
This is where it gets funny. I ground off no less than 3/4" of Bondo before I finally hit something silver. But it wasn't the metal of the tank, it was a piece of aluminum mesh reinforcing screen covering another 1/2" of filler! At this point, I realize that I'm not going to be able to do a good repair job without heating/shrinking the dent a LOT, so I gave it over to a local body shop to fix. It was more than worth my time to farm that part of the job out.</cr>
Funny thing was, before I stripped the tank, the contour of the dented area was perfect, so whoever did this job had at least moderate skill, since the dent was on a part of the tank that is curved in two planes, but who the hell uses over an INCH of Bondo on a motorcycle tank?</cr>
Anyone else ever strip a tank only to find a little "present" left over from a previous bodyman?</cr>
Scott
I just repainted the tank on a friend's bike, because the person she bought it from had spilled gasoline on the fresh single-stage black enamel, ruining a large section of it. No big deal, since she wanted a metallic blue in a BC/CC scheme anyway.</cr>
First of all, let me say that I think of stripping used tanks as opening Christmas presents in Hell, where all the presents suck. As I'm scraping off the paint, I see several spots of Bondo. No big deal, until I get to the right side of the tank, where there is a spot of filler about three inches across. The stripper had softened the Bondo, so I figured I'd just grind it all out and re-do it. </cr>
This is where it gets funny. I ground off no less than 3/4" of Bondo before I finally hit something silver. But it wasn't the metal of the tank, it was a piece of aluminum mesh reinforcing screen covering another 1/2" of filler! At this point, I realize that I'm not going to be able to do a good repair job without heating/shrinking the dent a LOT, so I gave it over to a local body shop to fix. It was more than worth my time to farm that part of the job out.</cr>
Funny thing was, before I stripped the tank, the contour of the dented area was perfect, so whoever did this job had at least moderate skill, since the dent was on a part of the tank that is curved in two planes, but who the hell uses over an INCH of Bondo on a motorcycle tank?</cr>
Anyone else ever strip a tank only to find a little "present" left over from a previous bodyman?</cr>
Scott
