Renovating petrol tank

[Scott and Jay]

We've had success in home-filling, and -painting - our tanks. I do get them professionally cleaned out (in Acid) - by a local company, called Metal Immersions. On the last job, Jay's D3 Bantam - he also welded up the leaks. After that, however - I filled in the dents, myself. This was with a product called "Newtech, space- age filler. Lots of wet and dry sanding. I use a lacquer paint series they sell, over here - called ColourPak. It's all in spray cans, no breathing apparatus needed. After the primer-surfacer and primer-filler - the saviour was Septone's "Blade Putty". This was for all the minor imperfections, in the surface. You can feel them, better - with your finger. Then about 5 coats of colour, the same with clear-coat. The end product was great. Lots of work, though

[rowan.bradley]

Thanks to everyone for excellent advice. It seems that professional re-chroming is not cost justifiable at present. Therefore I am looking for a more DIY/cheaper way of restoring it that will come as close as possible to a chrome finish but at a substantially lower cost. Has anyone tried this with any of the home electro-plating kits available, or with any of the paint based "chrome" finishes (which mostly seem to use a chemical silver plating technique similar to making a mirror)? E.g.:

• http://chromespray.co.uk
• PChrome system by Peacock Labs https://www.pchrome.com/
• http://spectrachrome.com
• https://www.classic-plating.co.uk/plating-kits/
• Any of the products supplied by Frost Restoration Ltd. https://www.frost.co.uk/paints-coating-plating/automotive-electroplating/electroplating-kits.html, e.g. Brilliant Nickel Plating kit.

Which techniques work best? Which are easiest?

• How similar to genuine chrome plate do they look, in shine, in smoothness, in colour?
• How well do they stand up to British weather?
• How well do they last? What sort of deterioration happens first?
• Can I use non-conductive materials (e.g. epoxy resin) for preparing the surface prior to plating? Can I apply a primer surfacer to get a good flat surface?
• Will petrol spills damage the surface?
• Do I have to take dramatic precautions to protect myself against toxic or caustic materials?

Thanks - Rowan

[RayC10]

If you go for paint, and why not! Try electrolysis to get rid of the rust, works well, washing soda and an old fashioned battery charger will do a great job in a few days but apparently, don't use staiinless for a anode because it makes a nasty toxic solution wot you don't want to put down drains.

[Jules]

My A10 was a mess when I got it donkeys years ago and the tank had been painted over. I cleared it all off and found it was dented badly where the forks had come around and smashed into it. I found a guy back then who "offered" to fix it back to original form without taking the bottom out. He actually knocked all dents out by working through the filler hole, then gave it back to me to "finish off". I didn't have to do much fortunately to metal finish it off by light filing/rubbing the form he had recreated. I then had it double chromed and painted (still no coachlines though!) and its been  wrapped up, sitting on the shelf ever since. I've looked at it a few times since, when we moved house etc, and it seems to have held up ok, I can feel some small pitting but probably no more than my original A7 had back in 1960 something! HOWEVER, I am really concerned about whether its going to leak like a sieve after all these years, especially after reading all the opinions about tank liners, which I guess I had resolved myself to having to use at some point.....I avoided lead filling because I was told in no uncertain terms, that you could not chrome lead!
Definitely go for the chrome IMO, the bike looks sooooooooooo much better  ….

[trevinoz]

Some platers will plate over lead, some won't.
Before you use it, seal it and put a couple of pounds of air into it and give it a bath.
You'll soon see if it leaks.
Don't put too much pressure into it or you will have a blown out tank.