Any advice for painting Acerbis 5.5 gallon tank

Any advice for painting the Acerbis 5.5 oversize tank that fit the 92-99 Husqvarna 350 or 410. Would like to do it correct the first time. Advice, comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc appreciated.

This is what it looks like at the moment.

Personally, I don't think it can be done with anything that would stay on or stay looking good for any length of time at all unless its new and you never put gas in the tank. I never tried it but its hard even trying to keep graphics stickers on my IMS on my DRZ400. The plastic is like a little permeable to something in the gas. The stickers bubble and don't stay stuck for long at all.

use awlgrip or Imron paint. It is a polyurethane,flexy and strong stuff. Boats....buses, other comercial fleet applicatins.

Joe

My understanding is there are two types of plastic tanks (those that "breath" and those that do not breath and are conducive to paint). My tank is supposed to be non-breathing and hold paint, however, I have never painted plastic. Plenty of boat hulls and aluminum but not plastic. Want to try and get it right the first time.

Tank arrived and before I can even start to paint it need to remove old paint. Motosportz and anyone else, what would you reccommend to remove old paint? would prefer not to sand and harm tank underneath but do not want to hurt tank with chemical either. Any suggestions?

Hello,

I have 2 tanks identical to yours. Both of them yellow with Krylon paint for plastic. They are both yellow and have been like that for 4 years. No scratched or flaking. I will post pics to show you sometime soon.

Colin

Thank you Wersmokin, What did you use to strip and prep prior to painting? Photos would be much appreciated.

I will have to take a look. I just found out that when my dad bought both tanks one was already painted yellow! The other one was the white plastic. I will get you more info this week and post pics as well.

Thank you.

Well I have the pics but I am not sure how to post them. Talked with a friend in my motorcycle club. He told me that my dad had taken one the tanks to Polydyne to get coated. That was 5 years ago. So far the paint has held up. Like I said I have the pics but I have to figure out how to post them. I don't have them on a URL

Motosportz post might have the right idea. Using an epoxy primer. I used those when I was coating aircraft components. Not cheap but it's almost bulletproof. It's so durable. That might be what used on my gas tanks.

These tanks are NYLON not plastic so they DO NOT permeiate the fuel vapor thru them. Many were painted from the factory. Thoes that were had a black primer on them first. First would try some stripper on the botton inside tunnel only, to test it. Also just paint a small area only just to make sure. Later George

Update in regards to my progress on this for those who may encounter same issue. After trying sanding (not the best if you want to be able to see fuel level through tank), citrus stripper (worthless unless you want to smell like an orange) and aircraft stripper, the aircraft stripper is the way to go. Make sure you go to a marine store and get the "Klean Aircraft Stripper for FIBERGLASS". The Aircraft Stripper sold in a auto parts store looks exactly the same except for the term Fiberglass and is NOT to be used on synthetic material.

The best luck I have had so far is taking the Fiberglass Stripper and letting it sit for ten minutes and then taking a straight edge razor blade and scrapping off layers of paint. Be patient and try not to guage the nylon tank with the blade. At this point I have done one side and there "appear to be no ill effects 24 hours later", however, I pressure washed off any residue to help ensure no damage. Will try and post finished product when I get to that point.

Let me know how it goes! Can't wait to see the finished product. Any luck on a gas tank bracket?
Just purchased the Roc Stompa footpegs for my 2000 Husky. So looking forward to using them. Those things are huge!

After two solid days of stripping I only have "most" of the two sides. I believe I am going to leave it clear on one of the two vertical strips of masking tape so I can see fuel level and paint the rest white. You can see it on the bike in the photos.

Looks good..is that a 109 or 110 in the background??

I could be wrong, but I'm betting that the tank is PP or LDPE like every other plastic part on a dirtbike. LDPE is more commonly used in blow-molding applications which is how tanks are made. Also, Nylon is way more expensive. At any rate, enough about that-if youu have access to a good glass-bead booth (sandblasting booth), that would be the easiest and best bet. In fact, it would be so much easier that it would be worth searching for one locally and maybe even paying to have it done. I could strip that whole tank in about 15 minutes and even knock off the top UV-damaged layer of plastic. It would still be tanslucent and look pretty well like new as plastics are unaffected by this process, unless you hold the gun right up to it for an extended period of time and try to melt it. Since this tank probably had somewhat of a vapor-honed finish on it when new anyway, sanblasting won't change it from original that much. This tank is no doubt a candidate for a glass-beading. You also won't have those nasty scratches like ou get with sanding. Just clean thoroughly afterwards.

By the way, be careful which solvents you apply to any plastic. Some may not have immediate affects, but will cause the material to weaken and/or discolor in the long run.

As for the paint, this is one of the eternal questions on any website that covers dirtbikes. It seems to never go away, like a stray dog. There are some high-tech paints out there, but still even car bumpers don't get hit like dirtbike tanks do. Gonna be tough getting it to stay pretty. Take lots of pics.

A 109 (1972)

I may try and track down a bead blaster