Making a bare brushed steel gas tank... or at least trying to

[Endopotential]

Some after-work fun in the garage.

After the stripping adventure, a couple more hours of orbital sander, sandpaper and Dremel fun.

Now that all the coating is off, some more careful sanding to get the brushed look.  I'll coat it lightly with WD40 in between work episodes, hoping to stave off rust before I can get it powder coated.

[Big Rich]

Did you talk to the powder coated yet? The wd40 might be a seal breaker..... I know one guy that does PC that won't even have wd40 in his shop since it causes so many problems with powder.....

[lefty1615]

Some brake cleaner or something similar should sort out any issues with residual wd40/other oils no?

[mr72]

yeah brake cleaner or acetone or something would clean all the residual oils off of the tank. I would think the PC shop would clean it with some solvent like this prior to coating to make sure there wasn't something lurking to screw up adhesion.

I agree I wouldn't put WD-40 on it... or anything really. I know for whatever reason MC guys seem to be in love with WD-40 but I literally never use it on anything for any reason. Whatever it's good for, there's something else that's way better.

[Watcher]

WD40 should be used as a CLEANER not a lubricant.  It is an oil but it also has too many solvents and such in it.  It eats rubber seals.  No bueno.

WD40 on the tank to inhibit rust while its bare is fine, it also works good as a wet medium for sanding.  I often sharpen knives with it.  No issues there.  Just be sure you really degrease it when it's ready for coating prep.  And wear gloves.  Your skin oils are not good for bare metal.



What blows my mind is people who suggest WD40 for vacuum leak tests.  I'm not making my clean carbs and frame and electrics and everything else in there all greasy, no thanks!  Carb cleaner/brake cleaner evaporates fast and doesn't hurt anything doing the same test.

[qcbaker]

WD40 should be used as a CLEANER not a lubricant.  It is an oil but it also has too many solvents and such in it.  It eats rubber seals.  No bueno.

WD40 on the tank to inhibit rust while its bare is fine, it also works good as a wet medium for sanding.  I often sharpen knives with it.  No issues there.  Just be sure you really degrease it when it's ready for coating prep.  And wear gloves.  Your skin oils are not good for bare metal.



What blows my mind is people who suggest WD40 for vacuum leak tests.  I'm not making my clean carbs and frame and electrics and everything else in there all greasy, no thanks!  Carb cleaner/brake cleaner evaporates fast and doesn't hurt anything doing the same test.

Dont carb and brake cleaners eat away rubber, the same way WD40 does?

[mr72]

At least some carburetor cleaners will destroy rubber on contact. I can imagine brake cleaner is not much better but I haven't had the same experience with Brakleen. I would think WD-40 is probably far less harmful to rubber parts than ordinary carb cleaner.

I don't recommend spraying anything on a carbureted motorcycle to try and find vacuum leaks. But everyone continues to recommend it. One of these days someone will notice that intake boots rubber parts are coming detached from the plate and carb diaphragms look melted and connect the dots. Or, well, probably not.

[sledge]

Just read the MSDS sheet for the product you choose. THAT will tell you IF its harmful to plastics, paint and synthetic rubbers 

Manufactures instructions/recommendations......beating internet hearsay for years 

And if you want to use a spray to check for vacuum leaks try good old water, the revs will drop instead of rise but I am sure most of us can cope with this 

[Endopotential]

Hey guys, quit derailing my thread!  Go start your own anti-WD40 interest group!

Just kidding, I'm always glad to learn more about everything tinkering related.

My PC guy did tell me to stay away from WD40 or any coating.  Just wanted a clean bare metal tank as fresh from sanding as possible.

[Endopotential]

Well finally got all the paint off, and trying to figure out what kind of finish I can get out of it.

It actually polishes to a mirror finish pretty easily.  Not sure if I want it that shiny though.

Trying to decide what brushed finish I want or can accomplish.  Maybe overlapping swirls with a rotary tool as below?  Or just long linear brushes with sandpaper?

Any advice from anyone who's worked on brushed finishes before?

[Big Rich]

When I stripped the GS850 tank down to bare steel for my GR650, I had the same thought (swirls or straight lines). I ended up going with the straight lines (front to back) only because there were no "machining flaws" from using power equipment, and it allowed a more natural finished look to the steel.

To be fair though, I didn't use powder coating as the top layer. I went with no primer, Duplicolor Metalcast red paint, and Spraymax 2k Clear on top. So the steel has almost a red wood grain look to it.

[lefty1615]

Just my 2 cents but the swirls look a little hectic. While cool the straight front to back might give it a more deliberate finished look

[ShowBizWolf]

I vote against the swirls too.

Cool thread and awesome work!!

[Endopotential]

Where there's a will (and lots of sandpaper), there's a way...

I ended up doing a brushed finish with 150 grit on the scallops on top of the tank, and along the flat section on the sides.
The rest of the tank I polished as shiny as I could.  The swirls were fun, but too hard to keep consistent.
Then a clear gloss powder coat that still reveals all the hard work below.  Hard to capture on film.

Thinking about some black racing stripes down the middle.  Hmm.

[ShowBizWolf]

Nice!! Really shows off the shape of the later tanks 

[Mr. BIGGZ]

That looks bad ass!!! Use plastidip to put on some black racing stripes, it will allow you to take it off if you don't like it or have painted permanently if you do.

Another job well done Endo!

[Endopotential]

Used some vinyl tape instead for the racing stripes.  Maybe will paint it down the line.

Et voila, the finished product!   Some more pictures on the build thread, http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=70953.0

[Watcher]

Looks awesome 

How did you end up sealing it?

[ShowBizWolf]

I read in his project thread that he got it powdercoated clear! How neat is that !! 

[rscottlow]

Looks awesome! Glad to see it turned out well.


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