Renovating petrol tank

[rowan.bradley]

My petrol tank is somewhat dented, and the chrome is somewhat rusty.



Can I attempt to renovate this myself, or is the only sensible plan to have a specialist do it for me? If the former, where are the techniques described? If the latter, which specialist will do the best job at the best price?

Thanks - Rowan

[coater87]

 Rowen,

 It depends on what you want out of this bike.

 I know my chrome guy would cut the bottom out of that tank with a cutting disc.

 Then he would work all the dents out to very close, clean the rust out of the tank.

 Then he would tig weld the bottom back into the tank, and pressurize to a couple of pounds to check for leaks.

 If it did not leak, the dents would be fixed with lead (instead of plastic body filler) and filed to finished shape.

 Then it would be chrome plated, and finally painted.

 Very expensive process because it is not only labor intensive, but its also an art.

 Second choice, fill the dents with plastic filler and paint the tank without any chrome. This is the cheap option. If you like that look, go that way.

 Third option is to buy an Indian tank. These are reproduction tanks that mimic an original closely enough for a very nice rider bike.

 You can buy them in plain steel (you have all the finishing done to your own standard), or buy them "pre-finished" in the color you choose.

Be aware plating in India must be done differently than in the rest of the world, and "nicely painted" is an opinion.

 Lee

[BSA_54A10]

Rechroming an old dented tank is a one way ticket to the poor house.
So you are left with a painted finish or a replacement tank.
As every man & his dog has a chromed tank, a solid painted one will draw attention to your bike.
Solid colour was always an option, usually reserved for contract build for government agencies

[lawnmowerman]

Rechroming an old dented tank is a one way ticket to the poor house.
So you are left with a painted finish or a replacement tank.
As every man & his dog has a chromed tank, a solid painted one will draw attention to your bike.
Solid colour was always an option, usually reserved for contract build for government agencies

Agree and I used POR15 Topcote gloss black rattle can on mine after brushing on the POR15 primer and rubbing down. Not a professional finish but then nor is the rest of the bike.

Jim

[Greybeard]

Rechroming an old dented tank is a one way ticket to the poor house.

But she's worth it!

[Joolstacho]

Whatever you do, that old chrome will have to be chemically stripped off by a plating company.
I just had a Velocette tank done (cost about A$150) and it's SO clean and rustfree inside and out.
Subsequent work, paint etc, will be on a perfectly prepared surface.

[coater87]

Whatever you do, that old chrome will have to be chemically stripped off by a plating company.
I just had a Velocette tank done (cost about A$150) and it's SO clean and rustfree inside and out.
Subsequent work, paint etc, will be on a perfectly prepared surface.

 We are lucky here in the stripping area. Most chrome platers will do it for free if you are having work done, or for very little otherwise.

 I think having a tank stripped would be 30 dollars maybe.

 Lee

[KiwiGF]

Rechroming an old dented tank is a one way ticket to the poor house.
So you are left with a painted finish or a replacement tank.
As every man & his dog has a chromed tank, a solid painted one will draw attention to your bike.
Solid colour was always an option, usually reserved for contract build for government agencies

Here’s my solid painted tank, but I’d rather a chromed one! It would have cost me a fortune to have it due to the number of dents, distorted filler cap and tap mounts, even though the dents were mostly already lead filled before I bought the (baskets case) bike.

Some DO prefer the look, I do, but it ain’t original.

[muskrat]

I had my plunger tank rechromed back in the early 80's. I think it was about $300 (two weeks pay)
A month later I was turning around in a mates driveway and slipped on the gravel. Yep, dented the tank 
Never done again.
Cheers

[BSA_54A10]

Here’s my solid painted tank, but I’d rather a chromed one! It would have cost me a fortune to have it due to the number of dents, distorted filler cap and tap mounts, even though the dents were mostly already lead filled before I bought the (baskets case) bike.

Some DO prefer the look, I do, but it ain’t original.

Original as in what ?
The police over hear had plain black A10's as did a few council rangers.
Nato & UN A10's were plain white ( not a cleaver colour on a Brit bike ).
If you check the catalogues you will find "alternate finishes" , usually at the bottom of the spec pages and A7's & A 10's were always available in the solid colour for that year at a cheaper price.
You need to be careful when looking at period photos because the bikes loaned out to the press were always in the most expensive trim as are all of the factory photos.
However if you look at images taken say at the IOM of spectators bikes you will see quite a few with no chrome.
Only down side was down here on the bum of the world you had to order the cheaper finish and wait for it to come from the factory.

[duTch]

 

..............down here on the bum of the world.......

  .....yeah but maybe only where you are Trev- up here in the Sunshine it's quite nice 

[KiwiGF]

Here’s my solid painted tank, but I’d rather a chromed one! It would have cost me a fortune to have it due to the number of dents, distorted filler cap and tap mounts, even though the dents were mostly already lead filled before I bought the (baskets case) bike.

Some DO prefer the look, I do, but it ain’t original.

Original as in what ?
The police over hear had plain black A10's as did a few council rangers.
Nato & UN A10's were plain white ( not a cleaver colour on a Brit bike ).
If you check the catalogues you will find "alternate finishes" , usually at the bottom of the spec pages and A7's & A 10's were always available in the solid colour for that year at a cheaper price.
You need to be careful when looking at period photos because the bikes loaned out to the press were always in the most expensive trim as are all of the factory photos.
However if you look at images taken say at the IOM of spectators bikes you will see quite a few with no chrome.
Only down side was down here on the bum of the world you had to order the cheaper finish and wait for it to come from the factory.

Good to know, I assumed chrome was standard. My bike was actually originally “polychromatic beige” ....but I don’t particularly like beige (aka gold). Iwhen painting it black I did leave the underside of the triple trees in the original paint though, a future owner might get excited to find that.

I wondered why some period photos had a10s with solid colour, I thought they were just bikes that had been pranged in early life 

Related vaguely, maybe, I do wonder why there are so many “restored to original” b31/33s with painted tanks, not chromed, I’ve read the Korean War did cause a shortage of chrome/nickel and no chrome tanks (and rims) for a while in the early 50s......but you see bikes restored to “original” with painted tanks much earlier and later than when the shortage occurred 

[Butch (cb)]

My tank had no dinks but some degree of corrosion. It was a non std colour which I wanted to retain so I had that matched by the painter before I sent it away. All in for the strip, prep, chroming and then back for the paint and pin stripes must have been c. £500-600. That was back in around 2002 or so and hurt. But when I have that bike out on the drive and the sun catches it – man that’s worth every penny right there.

[Greybeard]

But when I have that bike out on the drive and the sun catches it – man that’s worth every penny right there.

Ditto!

[Colsbeeza]

If only I had my time again!!!!!.  After getting the original tank chromed (A$320), I put it on the shelf for a planned 3 weeks - got busy with work and turned out to be 3 years. When I got it down, it was like a seive, after A$40 to get it stripped to see what the bubbles were.
Over the next two years I got two "Very Good and Chromable"  tanks (according to the sellers) sight unseen over the phone (back in 1987-88). Each about A$270. Both were dogs - paintable, but not chromable - one from Melbourne, one from Qld.
I then got an Indian tank unchromed (A$380 in about 1999), had it chromed (A$360 in 2012), then the black and gold lining done (A$360 in 2015 for 2-pack high gloss - the paint was A$300 per litre). Then realised I had not checked the threads for the tank pads and badges - lucky it was OK. Just lucky it is a well-made tank, as I have heard of some roughies.
All up - about including the loss of the original tank - about A$2700 plus all the incidental costs.
Good job I was not doing it for the profit.!! It can be heart-breaking.
Was it worth it??  -- YEAH.!!!
Next time, I would borrow the tank, get it checked that it is chromable (wire-wheel off all the paint to check for bog, dents etc), all the threads etc. Otherwise get an Indian tank unchromed and go from there. Better still, look after the one I had in the first place.
Col