If I were to use Bondo?

Can anyone walk me through bondoing up some rather small dents/deep scratches on my Maxim tank plz? I have the tank off and am prepaired to go get some bondo but the tank is full of gas and Im not sure if thats an issue but I would like to get started on repainting my tank but i need to first fix the small imperfections. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Don't use Bondo.

Drain tank.
Air out by hooking up to vacuum cleaner exhaust until completely dry.

Solder or braze leaks.

Use Mar-Glass
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/mar01120.html

Refinish the tank with Mar-Glass.
It won't dissolve if it gets a leak behind it.

Lay the Mar-Glass on to do the filling ...
Skim-coat over the Mar-Glass with Bondo or Glazing Putty

 

He doesnt have any leaks.

You will have to empty your gas tank though. Grind down to the metal on the dents, then apply bondo to the dents. Make sure you take the paint off in a large area around the dent, then apply the bondo. Sand the bondo when its semi dry with 40 grit. Do it as you feel to get it smooth with your surface (it'll be rough with the sanding, but you get the idea). Then after it dries sand with 220, then 400. Then sand the rest of the tank with 500 grit, which should take out the scratches. Unless the scratches dented the metal, then apply the same method. Sand the shine off. It will turn white and you'll see orange peel. Sand untill you dont see orange peel, but its still white. Be easy on it since you are on a curve. It's best to use a block for sanding as to not get depressions from your fingers, and it will be easier to shape the bondo.

Talk to people at a body shop and get tips on how to use bondo and such. This will help you tons.

Good luck!

 

I went with a quick fix, I had all the tools here in the garage and time to kill so I went around the bondo, I didn't need it that bad come to find out.
This tank was black this morning.

Before


After

 

Lay that stripe down again ...

This time ... use Black Vinyl Electrical Tape to mask the racin' stripe edges.
Pull it tight, straighten-up lines, curves, points ... whatever.

Use regular masking tape on the electrical tape ... leave the black masking the edges, though.

Get the paint on the tank for a nice, razor sharp-edged line.
Paint the stripe ... and,
Shoot some paint on another surface, elsewhere, to use as a "Touch-test for how it's drying spot"

When the Touch-test spot is getting tacky ... peel-off the electrical tape in one single motion ... if you can.

 

^^^ The picture is pixelated, so it looks rough. It's most likely sharp edged.

 

What kind of paint did you use?

 

Heat safe automotive spray paint with clear coat. Not engin paint, but I think it looks better in this pic. It was dark in the other picture. This was more of a test run anyway, I decided to go with blue or red after I finished. I was just killin time untill I got the jumpbox to hook to my battery for the compression test. When I went to do the test today, I found that my connector on the end of the meter was too big. Now I'm going to have to run and get an adapter for it to finish the test.
Here is a pic of the tank in more light today after assembly.



And yes I totally ment to run a offset stripe. I don't know, I like it.

 

Yeah it looks good. I'm sure the stripe makes it go faster too. I just about went at my tank today, but I thought I'd spend some of my time riding now that the rain is gone...soon though.

Oh, and did you recover your seat?

 

Not since I have owned the bike.

 

Cool paint job - and you did it yourself! Nothin better.

Dig the skewed and stretched out stripe. Just try not to stare at it when you're riding. lol.

I always windered why guys get naked women airbrushed on their tanks... I would think that's a little distracting.