K75C Fuel Tank Refurbishment

[nwmarco]

I have a 1990 K75 that I have owned since ‘92 but its been sitting in the back of my garage as I pursued other interests. I’ve [/img]decided to get it back on the road and removed/drained the fuel tank to begin the process of refurbishing/replacing all the old rubber lines etc. There’s a dent in the tank and the clearcoat has deteriorated (from a gas spill that soaked into my tank bag) that I have been quoted $900 to address - $300 for the dent and $600 to repaint the tank.

1) are those figures reasonable or should I shop around? I’m in the Seattle, WA area.
2) if I’m going to paint the tank, it would seem logical to paint the other parts at the same time so everything matches - or can paint shops really match existing paint colors these days?

Thanks in advance,
Marco in Burien, WA

[Laitch]

1) are those figures reasonable or should I shop around? I’m in the Seattle, WA area.
2) if I’m going to paint the tank, it would seem logical to paint the other parts at the same time so everything matches - or can paint shops really match existing paint colors these days?

1)Shop around, get references when possible.2)Some shops using spectrophotometer programming for paint matching have the best chance of a match without sourcing the original paint manufacture's colors.

[Scott_]

+1 on what Laitch says about the paint matching, even IF someone can mix paint to the original code, I can almost guarantee that it won't match due to age/UV/sun exposure fading....

As far as the fixing the dent, I understand wanting something to look nice. Lets be real here. It's a 35yr old bike, and unless you are going to do a full frame off restoration/powder-coat of the whole bike just fixing a dent in the fuel tank isn't going to improve any resale value(or insurance settlement from an accident)...... 

Not trying to be a downer, just stating my opinion. BTDT. I have a 6" crack in my LT fairing from a drop. Could I have it fixed, yes for a price. To me, it's not worth it and it doesn't hinder my riding it.

[Edward]

Have your painter take a look at the dents for appropriate body filler. From the photos, they look small. Personally, I'd prep the tank myself to cut down on labor costs, but check with your painter in advance. Having a smooth tank is rather nice to look at, not necessarily for resale, but for the satisfaction of aesthetics and not merely utility. Hell, these sorts of endeavors go a long way with inspiration to ride again. It's like a deep exhale.

[Rook]

Personally for $900 I'd buy everything needed to do the job myself and get to watching some youtube videos for tips... assuming I had the space available to do it myself, of course... that said, you'd be surprised the finish you can get out of a rattle can :-X  Is actually how I got into doing loads of paintwork myself years ago when building all sorts of stuff, just gradually migrated to HPLV and never looked back.  The hardest part is actually starting the journey tbh.

It's not a car so you don't need a massive compressor or loads of supplies. *shrug*

Apologies if not helpful... but yeah as Edward said above I'd at the very least do the prep work so long as the painter is cool with it.