repainting issue

So I'm stripping the tank I bought for my xj650, an eBay purchase from earlier this year. I found a huge patch of Bondo that was not mentioned in the listing.

What is the best course of action to take now? Should I strip it off and redo it? Just line the tank and call it good?

 

These giant bondo blobs typically come from the days when stud welders and glue pulling were not common. So it was a lot easier to throw a couple pounds of filler at it than to do it properly and do the metalwork.

When I find these, I grind it off to see what's underneath and then use the stud puller to straighten out the metal to the point were an acceptably thin layer of filler can be used to perfect it.

If you don't have the body/metal tools, then either leaving it alone, or grinding it off and filling with a modern filler is probably OK. Not ideal, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

What sort of bike is that tank from?

 

@Dan Gardner xj750

 

What would you recommend for grinding it off? Wire wheel or something more like those rust removal disks? I definitely don't have the tools, but I'm not opposed to looking into something

 

A regular old metal grinding disk will do it. One of those paint stripper/rust removal things would probably work too.

 

Be careful with any metal removal disk, go too deep and you might cut into/through the tank.

 

I stayed home from work with a sick kid today, so when she goes down for nap I'm going to keep working on the tank; remove the rest of the paint and work on the Bondo. I saw some stuff about heat gun, I'll try that too. I've decided to do it right and pick up a stud welder and slide hammer and bang em out right.

It'll help when I repaint my xs850 too; when I got a flat tire my father in law came to get it on trailer and it wasn't hooked down as well as it should have been. Fell and dented the tank on that one too... So now I can't just strip and repaint like I planned to do this winter. So the tool will get some use.

 

Cool.

The slide hammer works, but this is my weapon of choice:


It can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y0756Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Stripped. No holes, but now I've got peace of mind knowing there aren't any holes. It is a sizeable dent though. I'll be able to prime and sand and do my paint job properly after I finish stripping it, fixing this dent, and using a much smaller amount of filler. Now I also don't have to hope they did the Bondo correct, that their priming and paint was done well and would be a good base layer... Bare metal means a nice looking job is entirely up to ME and not the previous owner (and whatever rushed technique they used to get it ebay-ready)

Also a nice surprise was no hidden rust. The only reason they painted it was to hide the Bondo (since it was listed as 'like new'), and not to hide a ton of rust or a bunch of holes that were filled. Just the one. I chemically stripped the underside too and it looks great.

 

Nice work, @Adkride88 !

That dent doesn't look too bad. If I was a betting man, I would bet that with some gentle persuasion with welded studs you should be able to get that dent straightened out nicely.

There are probably plenty of online how-to vids, but I would start pulling with some studs at the spots marked on this image. Good chance it will pop out. Don't be too aggressive. Nice and easy - let the metal move back to where it wants to go.


The danger with the slide hammer is that it is not difficult to get *TOO* aggressive, then the stud will rip out and take the metal with it, leaving you with a hole you need to solder shut. Not the end of the world, but not what you really want either.

The StudLever tool allows you to more calmly work the metal and switch between various studs in order to move it back to where it wants to go.

I'm sure you'll figure it out! Have fun.

What kind of paint are you thinking of using?

 

@Dan Gardner thanks. I'll have to pick up one of those levers then. Worth having on hand. It's really not a terrible dent, just long. It'll be a nice one to learn how to use the tools on for sure.

The original tank and side covers were blue, so I want to go back to blue. I pulled fenders, and the replacement side covers that came with the bike (one of original was broken) will also be painted. One I finish prepping tank, I've gotta do some work on fenders to get them ready too. I'm also going to do the fake air intake covers, and tail light housing.

Dupli-Color Medium Maui Blue Metallic Exact-Match Automotive Paint for GM Vehicles - 8 oz, Bundles with Prep Wipe (3 Items) https://a.co/d/663I2Va

Eventual plan is to have everything on it be either black or the metallic blue. Right now I'll settle for getting the blue done. All YAMAHA/MAXIM lettering is going to be gold