Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 9, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 9, 2009 Is there a better source for painted gas tanks in new or like new condition than Service Honda? R157 tank needed for a 6th gen that got stuck in a hail storm last night that left multiple dents in the thing, one huge and at least three pretty small. With shipping Service Honda wants $610 for a brand new one. If anyone has a good tank left over for one reason or another already coated in Italian Red and wants to work out a deal, let me know. Only other damage was the cap that comes with the Gen Mar bar risers got dented (!) and the Givi badge on my top box is slightly dinged. Everything else looks fine. Wish I had stayed home last night, small rain shower became small rain shower plus huge hail, the city is considered a catastrophe area. And apparently I have to meet with an adjuster and get at least one estimate from a shop that "specializes in motorcycle body repair". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer veefer02 Posted July 9, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 9, 2009 Is there a better source for painted gas tanks in new or like new condition than Service Honda? R157 tank needed for a 6th gen that got stuck in a hail storm last night that left multiple dents in the thing, one huge and at least three pretty small. With shipping Service Honda wants $610 for a brand new one. If anyone has a good tank left over for one reason or another already coated in Italian Red and wants to work out a deal, let me know. Only other damage was the cap that comes with the Gen Mar bar risers got dented (!) and the Givi badge on my top box is slightly dinged. Everything else looks fine. Wish I had stayed home last night, small rain shower became small rain shower plus huge hail, the city is considered a catastrophe area. And apparently I have to meet with an adjuster and get at least one estimate from a shop that "specializes in motorcycle body repair". That sucks! How are you feeling after being pelted with hail stones? I figure if the hail stones were large enough to dent metal...YOU HAVE to hurt, dude. I've never been been caught in a hail storm on a bike-yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 9, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 9, 2009 I wast stuck in a coffee shop watching hail hit the ground, it went from light rain to hail to large hail in about 15 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer elizilla Posted July 9, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 9, 2009 Try parking the bike in full sun on a hot day, and putting dry ice on the dents. It sometimes works for hail damage on cars, maybe it will work here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 What about one of the paintless dent removal shops? Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 That's the one "bad" dent, as best as I could show it. I think it's close to a full inch deep vs. how the metal should be crowned at that point. This seems beyond the easy ice & heat solution, the others would probably work out that way so I didn't bother showing them. There's a shop in town that says they can work the dent out and repaint the tank for $300 to $350 as a loose estimate. There's another shop that doesn't really do body work, a motorcycle shop, that says they would just replace the tank. I may be sourcing my estimate through them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer SkeeBoy Posted July 10, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 OMG you were out last night. Where were you exactly? I saw that there was baseball sized downtown. My truck has some dents too. :laugh: I think it'll be cheaper to have it fixed than replacing. Kammerer body shop on Washington does outstanding work. Might check ebay though before hand to see if there's any nice ones on there. :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jeremy556 Posted July 10, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 Looks like no creases or cracks. Try pulling out with one of those suction cup dent pullers, or connect an air compressor to the fuel tank vent line and blow the tank up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 OMG you were out last night. Where were you exactly? I saw that there was baseball sized downtown. My truck has some dents too. :laugh: I think it'll be cheaper to have it fixed than replacing. Kammerer body shop on Washington does outstanding work. Might check ebay though before hand to see if there's any nice ones on there. :ph34r: Autotech out west gave me the ~$325 quote. Might check Kramer. Need to see what the adjuster says, State Farm is making me deal with one, hopefully talk to him tomorrow. Once I get a check from them after my deductible takes it's bite out I'll have more ideas of what all I can do with this thing. I was out at the Vagabond, little joint on Douglass next to the round-about. Supposed to have been baseball sized hail at Friends, so I was sitting between those two locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 Looks like no creases or cracks. Try pulling out with one of those suction cup dent pullers, or connect an air compressor to the fuel tank vent line and blow the tank up. The air compressor might do the trick, or at least add a little "finesse to the situation" and aid a suction cup. The problem there is not wanting to blow the fuel pump apart with all that pressure, so this might get complicated. At least I'm not that far away from needing to do a fuel and air filter change, so while I'm in there, I can get something else accomplished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jeremy556 Posted July 10, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 Looks like no creases or cracks. Try pulling out with one of those suction cup dent pullers, or connect an air compressor to the fuel tank vent line and blow the tank up. The air compressor might do the trick, or at least add a little "finesse to the situation" and aid a suction cup. The problem there is not wanting to blow the fuel pump apart with all that pressure, so this might get complicated. At least I'm not that far away from needing to do a fuel and air filter change, so while I'm in there, I can get something else accomplished. No worries there. After crushing my fuel tank after plugging the vent hose instead of something else, I blew it back up to size (too much initially, actually had to connect a vacuum pump after that to get it back down to correct size :ph34r: ). 35,000 miles later fuel pump is still going strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 10, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 10, 2009 No worries there. After crushing my fuel tank after plugging the vent hose instead of something else, I blew it back up to size (too much initially, actually had to connect a vacuum pump after that to get it back down to correct size :ph34r: ). 35,000 miles later fuel pump is still going strong. Excellent..... (drumming fingers together ala Mr. Burns). Now to just figure out what the insurance goons have in mind for me tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 No worries there. After crushing my fuel tank after plugging the vent hose instead of something else, I blew it back up to size (too much initially, actually had to connect a vacuum pump after that to get it back down to correct size :unsure: ). 35,000 miles later fuel pump is still going strong. Excellent..... (drumming fingers together ala Mr. Burns). Now to just figure out what the insurance goons have in mind for me tomorrow. So what ever happened with the insurance? Luckily I had drove my beater pickup that day and I got caught up downtown. Dang near totaled it out! I have never seen it hail for so long time in my life! I can only imagine what it would have done to the tank of the bike :biggrin: ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Ryanme17 Posted July 24, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 24, 2009 Looks like no creases or cracks. Try pulling out with one of those suction cup dent pullers, or connect an air compressor to the fuel tank vent line and blow the tank up. The air compressor might do the trick, or at least add a little "finesse to the situation" and aid a suction cup. The problem there is not wanting to blow the fuel pump apart with all that pressure, so this might get complicated. At least I'm not that far away from needing to do a fuel and air filter change, so while I'm in there, I can get something else accomplished. No worries there. After crushing my fuel tank after plugging the vent hose instead of something else, I blew it back up to size (too much initially, actually had to connect a vacuum pump after that to get it back down to correct size :unsure: ). 35,000 miles later fuel pump is still going strong. I've heard the seems will blow before the dents are fixed using an air compressor. I think Sebspeed said he found this out the hard way, though I could be wrong? And besides, aren't these double walled? I would try a specialized dent repair place, heard good things about paintless dent removal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer FotoMoto Posted July 24, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 24, 2009 And besides, aren't these double walled? Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Ryanme17 Posted July 24, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 24, 2009 And besides, aren't these double walled? Nope. Right you are, I just took a look at mine, and it's definitely not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer SaferMoto Posted July 24, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 24, 2009 Try parking the bike in full sun on a hot day, and putting dry ice on the dents. It sometimes works for hail damage on cars, maybe it will work here. This is a great idea. It ususally doesn't work, but sometimes it does, especially for the larger ones. Try spraying the propellant from an inverted can of compressed air on the dent when the tank is hot (from sitting in the sun). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer pres589 Posted July 25, 2009 Author Member Contributer Share Posted July 25, 2009 I actually got a hair drier on low and heated a dent for a couple minutes, then applied dry ice directly to the dent for up to five minutes. Nothing. I cleaned the tank up before hand so I wasn't dragging dirt and such around the paint, but all I got was a now cold dent. Also tried the air can trick, upside down blast of liquid cooled it pretty well. Again, cold dent. I then wrapped a rag around a blow gun and shoved that into the tank opening. With a blast of air the large dent would start to become more shallow, remove air pressure and it caved back in. And I don't think the small dents were at all interested in working back out in this manner. It was an interesting experiment but completely fruitless. I've since contacted another VFRD member about an offer on a tank he had squirreled away. I know heat shrinking metal panels works, I've seen it done using a torch with a heating tip and a cold cup of coffee, it didn't work for me here. What I'll probably do is work on my own tank using mechanical methods once the tank is removed and save it for another time. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with revolving R157 coated 6th gen gas tanks under the watchful eye of my State Farm agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Luvmyvfr Posted July 25, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted July 25, 2009 I have a brand new one, for an 04 R157 red...from an insurance replacement, it's on my shelf new in the box, never installed. Message me if you are interested! Thanks Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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