Sealing & painting plastic tanks

[NSR]

I think I'm going to have to paint a plastic tank.

Does anyone know of a plastic tank sealer for the inside? 

Then what paint do you use?



Cheers
Noel 

[mainline]

I've tried Blue Lightning tank sealer with some, but not complete, success. I used 2 coats, I'm thinking next time it'll be three or four as tank stickers still won't stay put.

Don't know about the paint deal though. Ask Ted, his painted 125H tank looks pretty flash.

[Davey Crocket]

Hey Noel, I'm going over to the PPG Training centre this afternoon to pick some parts up, I'm ask him as they have alot of new products out at the moment. Another thing you can look at is what JohnnyO's mate did with his YZ250F tank.....he made a carbon fibre  skin for the outside....trick as or you could put a big perforated decal over it like MXM do on some bikes. PDS grahics in Brizzy could do that.....hope I havent confused you too much. Cheers John.

[LWC82PE]

You will need to really roughen up and clean the surface. You will need a etch primer for plastic. You will need a flex additive. You will need 2 pack paint (fuel resistant). And i would still recommend draining the tank of fuel after use. Also prepare your self to spend a couple hundred $ on paints and materials and time to do the job and the fact that it still may fail. I have only really seen one place in USA that pretty much 100% guarantees it. I would get them to do it and if theres a warrenty, at least if it fails you can get your money back or get it fixed. Basically 9/10 times it wont work no matter how hard you try. Its just the fuel vapours thats the problem. Getting the paint to stick to the tank or any other plastic bike part is not the issue. Its the vapours from the inside thats the tank and the old fuel particles trapped in the plastic you need to sort. I would have said use blue lightening. if it hasnt worked i would say you didnt have teh inside clean enough before putting it in. I also would probably leave the tank with out fuel for 6 months or more to try and get the fuel to dry out in the pors. Another prob is that painting a new tank is easier than a used one because there is fuel deposits trapped in the walls of the plastic. Thats why painting a tank thats been hanging up at a wreckers for 10 years will probably be more of a sucess.

[NSR]

This is a translated quote from another forum:

If it has no choice but to repaint a plastic tank


is it for internal treatment also works for tanks polyurethane
It is a waterproof layer and resists hydrocarbons


After technical services information soloplast (it is them who had advised me it)


It is not intended for it initially but it looked to because it is 6 months ago gasoline in the tank of my aprilia and it blister


I had of reconcile me was the paint because it was red on one side and white on the other because of the Sun


It is just a little long has to implement must be spread over two days treatment because the drying time is 3 to 4 hours between the layers and it must be done at least 3 times


Didier

[Rossvickicampbell]

$160 USD to get it done in the States I think it is - I think somebody should be a guinea pig and try it out for us - 

The guy advertises on ebay or then there is this place - http://www.plasticrenovations.com/index.html - paintless.

I bought a YZ125 83 model - K - for my young fella - tank had been done really well by professionals - but even that started to crack over time.

[cappra]

I can attest to Phil's work.  Mine is the Montesa tank in his photo section.  He really brought
it back from the dead!

[NSR]

Thanks all
I think I will see how it cleans up.
Sealing the inside might still be a good idea.

[090]

I bumped into Mark Morrison who rep's for MCs and he recommended a product that they sell. He said he lined the inside of his Maico tank and it has been good for years. I will have a look at the brand name and post it up.

[oldfart]

Brad, From Memory they ( MCS )     Peddle               "POR 15"

[Canam370]

Where is Plastic Renovations located?

[cappra]

Nevada, USA

[LWC82PE]

Use POR15 in a plastic tank and it will only end in tears. That stuff is NOT for plastic tanks. I asked them direct MCS also no longer sell POR15, they sell another brand which is the same but the tin has a different label. I cant remember exactly what happened but places were distributing POR15 that were not ment to when MCS had the rights to it. Then they started selling another brand.

[firko]

Use POR15 in a plastic tank and it will only end in tears. That stuff is NOT for plastic tanks. I asked them direct

Absolutely right Leith. I bought a very rare Hindall plastic tank off eBay and it'd been POR 15 treated so the bloke could give it a flash candy paint job. He even said so in his eBay blurb.  It looked great in the photos and I paid the serious money the bidding had taken it to. When it arrived at Casa del Firko I pretty quickly found that the paint job which must have cost a fortune featured squillions of hairline cracks that conveniently hadn't shown up in the eBay photos and the cap and fuel tap were locked solid. After having to absolutely bugger the cap to get it off I then discovered that the POR treatment had failed to adhere properly to anything but the gas cap and the innards of the tap and was flaking and could be peeled off by hand in the places I could get to. In a nutshell, a tank that is almost impossible to find by serious collector /restorers is now totally useless for anything but being displayed on a shelf in the Man Cave.
Naturally the seller, a well known wheeler dealer never replied to my emails. Lesson 1...don't use POR 15 on plastic tanks. It's fine on fibreglass tanks though.

Minor thread deviation::At Nepean one day Matcho Mick mentioned that one of the commercialy available tank treatments worked better on used fibreglass tanks than on virgin new ones. Which treatment was that Mick?

[AJ]

I know this is NOT for plastic tanks, but apparently suitable for steel, alloy & fibreglass. Anyone tried it?

www.kbs-coatings.com.au/KBS-MotorCycle-Tank-Sealer-Kit_p_13.html