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R75/5 OEM Gas Tank Lining Material?

kantuckid

New member
I have a nice tank to cleanup before I paint it. I can see no indication of rust inside. I am experienced with both POR-15 & KBS-similar if not same products & I but KBS from a local AP store-KOI- off their shelf so no shipping & handy. Like many, including Snowbum, I'm no fan of Kreem having had to dig it out of a tank. What is the red coating used as OEM? I am looking into RedKote and have emailed them with questions. The Caswell kits are more expensive than other routes. The RedKote is lots cheaper on ebay than form mfg.. Seems I read that the BMW/OEM is a good choice on nice tanks with little to no damage inside as easily redone. I searched some here & google but still have questions. What say the "experts"???
 
I have a nice tank to cleanup before I paint it. I can see no indication of rust inside. I am experienced with both POR-15 & KBS-similar if not same products & I but KBS from a local AP store-KOI- off their shelf so no shipping & handy. Like many, including Snowbum, I'm no fan of Kreem having had to dig it out of a tank. What is the red coating used as OEM? I am looking into RedKote and have emailed them with questions. The Caswell kits are more expensive than other routes. The RedKote is lots cheaper on ebay than form mfg.. Seems I read that the BMW/OEM is a good choice on nice tanks with little to no damage inside as easily redone. I searched some here & google but still have questions. What say the "experts"???

Just finished doing my 89 R100RT as the PO did a horrible job of using POR-15. Before this starts as a flame, I have used POR-15 in the past and it is an excellent product as long as you follow the instructions and make sure it's 125% that it is dry internally.

I had a local radiator shop take the tank, strip the POR-15 out, treat the bare metal and relined it twice with RedKote. The only way I would allow him to do it, is that they took great care and attention not to screw up the paint on the exterior of the tank. The primary reason I didn't do it myself is I have no way of disposing of the chemicals needed to strip out the POR-15.

The end results is now I have a fuel tank that holds clean fuel and I do not have to worry about the internal part of the tank.;)
 
I'm still waiting to hear from Red-Kote with questions I posed to them. I want to know what material these various tank liners are made from & how they differ.
I know this sounds crude but in cleaning the Honda tank I just did: the Aqua Clean degreaser/cleaner & the Rust Blast(phos. acid) I used I simply walked out from my shop to my private gravel road and poured the stuff out in a strip in the center of the road. My "Fred Flintstone theory" is that when it rains the stuff will be so diluted it will cause no environmental issues based on the small amounts. With used lubricants I do take them to the AP's store or Walmart and dump them. When I tipped my Honda tank upside down to drain the unwanted extra paint/liner form the inside I placed it upside down on the shop trash can to become dump material as cured paint which there is plenty of in the landfill.
 
Rick

How was the shop able to strip the insides without damaging the paint on the outside?

Brian

Brian,

Good question and I wish I could give you a magical answer. When I took the tank in, I was warned that the process may involve ruining the outer paint in spots. With that comment, my response was do the best you can and these people went above and beyond the paint was not damaged. Now with that being said, the PO painted the painted parts from the royal blue to a yellow and at the time I was going someday strip everything and start over again.

The inside looks great, so much so it almost looks brand internally.
 
On the Kreem web page they sell a "liquid masking" product that is to prevent damage when you re-line a tank. I have no experience with the product as always was relining a tank that needed repainted afterwards.
 
I'm not preserving paint as I'm doing a restoration. I searched further but still trying to find out what the OEM sealer is made from or a source?
I will share this tidbit r.e. tank sealers: One of the stated issues with the POR-15/KBS tank sealers is the inability to store them after you use part of the contents. they both say they will cure in the can. The Honda tank I sealed this week was done using KBS "Gold Standard" sealer from a leftover 1/2 can that was stored in my shop for over 6 months. Also, I didn't do the plastic film can seal thing they recommend to help with storage , just made certain the can rim was clean and tamped down. The sealer paint was just like when I bought it.
Based on previous use I will use KBS Gold Standard unless I see more on the OEM sealer that sways me. There's a "Kreem Thread" on ADV/airheads that I'm following for info. too, if you are into this subject.
 
I used the Caswell product two years ago and continue to be very pleased with the result. It was not too fussy to use and the end result was everything I had hoped for. In planning this work, I wouldn't be overly focused on the initial price. If you go low-ball and have to repeat the job, you are not going to save money or be very happy with the time and hassle needed to make it right.
 
I can't say I've seen a "lowball" priced tank sealant. Each brand I have any information about is relatively high priced -KBS,POR-15,RedKote & Caswell(higher than the others I find) are all expensive, premium type of products. So whats low ball have to do with it?
Anyone that can tell me what is the OEM BMW tank lining material? What are radiator shops using? Most of the small ones that used to be around me are long gone from business.
 
I've been reading old ADV threads in Olds Cool on tank sealers & there's a fan for every brand out there as well as a person thats had each fail-other than the Caswell Plating Epoxy based sealer. There's a company called Moyer's in PA that does tanks & radiators since 1942(if you have $300-400 you need to get rid of) & they don't use epoxy suggesting it's not the right thing to use. Moyers bakes your tank then cleans it via chemicals & sandblasting by cutting a hole to gain work angles. The more you read that more confusing it gets & the KBS(same as POR-15) that I've used , there's a guy that lived by it & he had jobs start coming back after a few years. I have still not heard what BMW's used in airheads from factory?
 
I think you're going to have to find an "inside" source for this kind of information. BMW-MobileTradition used to offer enthusiast support for their Motorrad customers; they personally answered some questions that I had about exterior surface finishes on miscellaneous metal parts. All of my correspondence with them died with my old computer when the hard drive failed. I couldn't find any later reference to the magazine after 2007 so they may have shut it down.

Addressing BMW-MobileTradition.com now just hooks you up with the corporate BMW Group website.
 
See www.gas-tank.com for some more on this subject. I'm certainly not the only person that wanted to know what BMW used to seal tank. I'm still working this idea & thinking I'll call a few in the trade of vintage BMW's...:lurk
 
This is what I'm finding in tank. Stuff peeling off in big sheets, covered on backside with the red stuff that was on originally. Very little to no rust. May have to get some cleaner stuff before coating with redcote. Have to wait for warmer climes however.
 

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