So on to the Ariel Huntmaster paintwork, If you restore old bikes you will be aware of the trepidation felt when it comes to removing any old paint and filler from a petrol tank and other parts, well I was feeling exactly that way when I started this simple paint removal job.
Firstly I ultrasonically cleaned the oil tank (we have a big tank at work), swilled out any remaining residue with a small amount of thinners and then dried it out with the airline. Now this oil tank had about 1/2" of gloop in the bottom but now looks like new inside. I proceeded to lightly blast the exterior paint off and to my amazement that all went surprisingly well with no hidden horrors. Filled with a newly found glee and a real spring in my step I moved on to blasting the tool box and that was a breeze, so apart from a few small dents which was expected all was going well.
So it was time to blast the petrol tank, I always do this prior to cleaning the inside as I like to see if it is rotten on the outside before filling it with any kind of cleaning chemical, I had already filled the tank with water and no leaks were apparent so I emptied it out again. Now I knew this tank had a certain amount of filler covering the knee guard areas so I was well prepared for that and filled with my new found glee I started to blast away and sure enough there was the filler.
With everything going as expected I carried on blasting away at that mountain of filler and smiling away to myself humming away to a tune on the wireless............woa slow down there sunshine what was that?
Ok I have struck water! Now if you were dying of thirst in some far away desert that would be great news but not for me and not today when only moments ago I had been smiling and humming along to some spurious pop song I don't even like Anyway it might be nothing so I carried on and finished the job off, when the job was done I gave the tank a good coat of looking at and decided this was going to take a bit more planning so I called the paint shop and cancelled my slot.
To sum up then the oil tank and tool box are fine and dandy but the petrol tank has a leak in the right hand top seam near the filler cap and multiple leaks around the knee pad areas. So I need to speak to a local fabricator and see if he can help or buy another tank. "Nobody said this was going to be easy folks".