Tank Lining/Coating

Got a steel gas tank on a R60 that needs to be coated. In fact it needs to be recoated. The tank was stored dry by the previous owner. The previous coating is flaking off only on one side of the tank. The rest of the ares seem very solid. The existing lining is a light brown, sorta North African Rommel team colors.

I only have experience with Kream, which was white when I used it several years ago.
Used it twice successfully. "l do remember maybe a disclaimer about coating on top of another type liner. Maybe not compatible and turning to Goo that never dries.

Anyone know what system the light brown liner might be ? Or have experience with re-lining a tank over a previous liner .

Any information or advice is welcomed.

Charlie

Check out some of the similar threads listed in the pain below. Also, on Snowbum's page near the bottom, he talks about gas tanks:

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/chemicalsetc.htm

All of my linings started out red...maybe that's the "red kote" he mentions. I had to seal a spot on my R25/2 tank...used a product from Caswell Plating. I probably made a mistake and should have coated the whole tank from the get-go...but I only needed one small spot. The tank came to me without any coating...thought I could continue that way. But the tank sat only about 50% full during my rebuild and the top half of the tank has a layer of rust on it. It's on my list.

Coating

Might be red lead

For me, I would strip out the old and redo with the best one can find. POR-15 would seem to fill that bill in one series of steps. .........That's just me, I used the product and it works......God bless.....Dennis

DennisDarrow said:

For me, I would strip out the old and redo with the best one can find. POR-15 would seem to fill that bill in one series of steps. .........That's just me, I used the product and it works......God bless.....Dennis

Click to expand...

+1

Red Kote is the best!

I used Red Kote on my R 60US restoration back in 2002 with no issues since. The tank had visible leaks around the knee pad area and the Red Kote sealed them up. A few years later I re-coated my R 69S tank with Por 15 after I found the Kreme coating was peeling and clogging the fuel system. The Por 15 is OK but I can look into the top of the tank and see / feel soft spots and small bubbling areas on the tunnel.

I've coated five or six tanks with the Red Kote stuff and have had ni issues with it. If you have a nice paint job on the tank you must be extra careful and cover the tank very well.

The key to the tank re-coating is the prep work and the product you use.

Thank y'all for responding.

After researching and y'all confirming good luck with POR-15, I ordered the POR-15 Kit with Stripper.
Item# 49219 $70 +-. They were the only ones, in initial product description, to claim their product worked on top of other sealers (that didn't work).

Thanks,
Charlie

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AND STRIP EVERYTHING OFF!!! If the old has flaked off half way then what is the odds of it finishing up it's "flake off" job on the rest. Especially after you put a coat of expensive something over the top of it???.........What I am trying to say is that the old stuff is gonna continue to flake off, even after you put a new coating OVER it.
It isn't a big job to use the stripper with POR15 and do the job right...........I got rubber stoppers/plugs at the big box store for the petcock holes and then used an old inner tube cut to the correct diameter to make a "gasket" under the closed fuel cap that was then sealed. Make sure when you rinse out the stripper and stuff that you are careful not to get it on anything and take care of the environment. A shop vac blowing into the tank for a couple of hours or even overnight will get rid of any left over water drip concerns. The job isn't hard, is a bit tedious, but it's worth the effort to look in there every time you fill up and give yourself a big smile over a job well-done..........

OK, now I have an opinion of POR15.

Previous flaking sealer was not POR's responsibility but I could have used a minimum of twice the amount of stripper supplied in the POR15 kit. A gallon would have been nice too, because who knows what went on in the dark and not visual recesses of a tank, especially one with a built in tool compartment to boot. Again, no fault of POR15.

Man, what a small amount of sealer ! I wonder if a half pint will coat the whole tank ? Must be thin to do the job. If I could just get the can open. Went around the can 5 or 6 times cans and with each revolution I'm holding on harder and harder because now is about the time the can would normally fly out of my hands and fly all over the shop and bikes therein and land upside down. It's just a regular paint can type top that you pry up with the blunt end of a "church key", or flat bottle opener. Well it seams to be glued shut with what's that, sealer. Finally got it open and stirred to a uniform color like the instructions said. Not thin, but not thick either. Sorta in between, leaning on the thicker consistency side rather than the thin side. How is this little bit of sealer going to coat the whole tank ? Slowly rolled the tank to coat the tank for 3 passes on each of the 4 sides. Rough with a tall "tunnel" too.
Even used a clear crossover/equalizer tube to confirm sealer was at the rear the tank. Still don't know about areas that you can't inspect with light and mirrors, and it musta been too thick to drain much in the 30 minutes called for.

Oh well, hope it worked well enough to keep from failing later and clogging the petcock and crosover tubes.

Next time I think I'll use 3 qts of stripper if possible and someone else's sealer that provides a greater quanity.

Sure was a lot of work to have a "wonder if that worked" feeling every fill up, till later when I hope to forget about the experience. Not a "job well done" feeling like hoped for.

I bet the results would have been better on a flat piece of metal.

This was just my experience.

Charlie