How to Repaint a Motorcycle Gas Tank

Restoring vintage motorcycles is a relaxing and rewarding pastime. Many older motorcycles are now worth a great deal of money as they are rare or one-of-a-kind pieces. If you can find a motorcycle in good or even not-so-good condition that is a vintage piece, you can restore the paint and chrome by yourself and save a large amount of money on restoration. One area that will require particular attention is the gas tank. Due to years of gas fumes working on the paint, this is likely an area that will need to be completely redone in order to look new again. You can repaint your gas tank with just a few simple tools.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Socket wrench
• Compressor
• HPLV paint gun
• Primer
• Paint
• Clearcoat
• Sandpaper

1. Remove the tank from the motorcycle. Use the socket wrench to remove the large mounting bolt on the underside of the front of the motorcycle frame. Lift the tank up and forward to pull it free from the motorcycle.

2. Use the sandpaper to sand off all the old paint. Get down to bare metal so as to make sure the new paint adheres correctly.

3. Connect the HPLV gun to the air compressor tube, then put primer in the HPLV gun's chamber. Paint two thin layers of primer on the tank first, follow that with two thin layers of your choice of paint, and then paint three layers of clearcoat.

4. Allow the tank to completely dry (24 hours) and then reinstall it on the motorycle frame with the mounting bolt.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that there is absolutely no gas left in the tank when you begin the restoration to ensure there are no chances of explosion or fire.

Resources

• Buy paint restoration supplies here