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Prepping a fuel tank for paint

We’ve been doing this for a very long time, which means we’ve learned from our mistakes over the years. As we value our customers’ safety, we can’t stress this point enough…

DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF. EVER.

We don’t use tank sealer on our tanks. It’s only a temporary solution, as it fails, cracks, and eventually crumbles over time. We find leaks the old-fashioned way by filling the tank with water or air, rinsing the outside, and looking for bubbles. When we find holes, we weld them closed.

That said, we have a good many tanks that come in to our shop with sealer having been used at some point. So, often the first step towards prepping a tank for paint means stripping the old paint off the outside, and the old sealer off the inside.

Here’s our method in action on a 1967 Triumph Bonneville tank. Note the tank is empty, with zero remnant of fuel inside, and there’s no cap, either.

Again, please don’t try this yourself. If you need this done, bring your tank to us and let professionals handle it.

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’68 Triumph TR6R – Part IV

Our 1968 Triumph TR6R project is moving along nicely.

As you can see in the photos below, our black parts, including the frame itself, have returned from powder coating, and they look fantastic.  There’s nothing quite like seeing these parts born again in deep glossy black with not one scratch or greasy mark anywhere.  Our powder coaters do amazing work.  While having these parts power coated is a bit more expensive than paint, the results are well worth it.

Our oil tank is painted and ready for buffing, and our fuel tank has been sandblasted and is joining the fenders in the queue for paint.  We’ve got our Riviera Blue and Silver Sheen colors mixed and ready to go.  The paint on this bike is going to be special.

We’re having fun pulling parts together from various dark corners of the shop, as we’ve uncovered some goodies.  At the core is our super cool and all original NOS Lucas headlamp and wiring harness.  We’ve also found a matched set of Smiths gauges we’ve had rebuilt, a made-in-UK set of pipes and mufflers, an Amal 930/23 carburetor, and all of our rubber bits.  Wrapped in paper are the polished aluminum covers, and the boxes contain all of our powder coated parts.  Also, we happened across a nice set of ’68 wheels which we built at some point and stored away for just such an occasion.

The engine still needs a bit of work.  It’s been torn down and can be seen below sitting in a couple of crates.  We’ve sent a load of various bits to be cadmium plated, and next step will be to bead blast the cases and start rebuilding the engine.  We’ll also be focused on building the front end of the bike in the coming couple of weeks.

This project has us excited, as the end result will be outstanding.

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’68 Triumph TR6R – Part III

We’ve made some progress in the last couple of weeks. First, we’ve sourced and sandblasted just about all parts which are to be powder coated black. In the photo below, you can see 47 parts ready to go. Seems to us there should be something on the order of 56 black parts, so next steps will be to compare these parts against our checklist and see what, if anything, is missing.

We’ve also found a fuel tank in our back stock that will work nicely. As you can see below, it’s in rough shape. It’s dented, dirty, rusty, and a nice shade of glittery bluish purple. We’re going to fix all that, as it’s the correct tank for this bike, and should be a nice transformation to document here.

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Meet our Tarantula

Some motorcycle shops perpetuate the “gloom and death” biker image.  We just don’t.  We aren’t huge fans of gangs of tough-acting bikers looking to do one another in.  We like classic motorcycles, and the camaraderie that comes with them.

But we do have a real mean looking tarantula in the shop if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Girls like British bikes, too!

Marissa brought her 1967 BSA Starfire B25 to Don Hutchinson Cycle so the team could bring the bike back to life. As she tells the story…

“The bike was found abandoned and tied to a tree in an apartment complex some 25 years ago. The owner of the complex was going to trash the bike just to get it off the property. A friend rescued the sad little bike and brought it home where it sat in a basement for another 10 years or so.

In January of 2011, I saw and immediately fell in love with it. The blue and white gas tank, size, and shape of her just made my heart melt. After about a month of negotiations my friend and I agreed on a price. She still doesn’t run, but we’re making progress every day. Her debut is scheduled for the British Bike meet in June 2012.

Working on this bike has totally changed my way of thinking and what I want out of life. I now can’t get enough of British motorcycles. I eat, sleep, live, breathe my bike and anything to do with it; I’m hoping all my research and lessons turn out to be a great career for me in the future because I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

The guys at Don Hutchinson Cycle have taken a liking to Marissa and her little B25, and will be helping her through the winter to get her on the road.

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Our custom vintage Triumph showroom clock

Through the years, as we witnessed various Triumph dealers close their doors, we were fortunate enough to acquire much of their stock.  We use much of this new-old-stock for our builds and restorations, and offer much of it for sale here on our website.

At one point, we also were lucky enough to find a beautiful showroom clock from the 1950s.  We liked it so much that we were able to have a number of exact reproductions made just for us.

We sold them all quickly…but recently found two more in our storeroom.  We’re pretty pleased to be able to offer them for sale once again here.

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’69 Flower Power Fender

Over the years, whenever we’ve had the opportunity to buy a bike to be used as the “core” of a restoration, we’ve taken it.

When it comes to buying a bike to be restored…we don’t like ’em too nice. After all, it costs the same to re-chrome a headlamp whether it’s rusted and worth $5, or mildly worn and worth $40. So, we prefer the bikes that have matching numbers, and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

This fender from one of our ’69 core bikes sure evokes the 1960s. Note this is from a bike where the colors on the fender were reversed – Olympic Flame with a Silver Sheen stripe. The owner went right ahead and put a flower sticker on, and rode it until it just wouldn’t run anymore, and it’s kinda neat.

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