New tank. Pic heavy.

When I originally re-did the paint 13 years ago, the tank I used was already pretty rusted out. The paint was just a trial for the color, but it turned out so nice I kept it. But the tank finally rusted through. I bought a primered tank about 7 or 8 years ago knowing I would need it someday.

Well, paint has changed in the last 13 years. The fender, tail, and sidecovers are Dupont lacquer with clear, which is basically impossible to get anymore. I no longer have a place (or time) to paint so I brought it to a local body-shop and they matched it with Dupont water-based automotive paint with clear. The paint matches perfectly even though the other pieces have 13 years of weathering (but stored indoors or in the garage).

I have pics of the inside of the original tank. Then the bike with the new tank.

The color is an AMC Pacer orange.

(Oh, and not to worry, none of these body parts had original Kawasaki paint on them before I got them. They were already re-painted various colors by a previous owner.)

Wow Lou, the inside of that old Tank is the worst I've seen. How did it ever run down the road without clogging Filters and plugging up the carbs? :sick:
Looks great now with the fresh paint. Inside of the replacement must be better than that old one.

Yeah, I think the old tank's rust problems were made far worse by a half-assed attempt at coating the tank. Early on, I found big chunks of some sort of clear epoxy-type material in the tank. I think that somehow made it rust worse. It is definitely one of the worst I've seen as well. It actually rusted through under the badge plate, and I was seeing small streaks of gasoline stains dripping down.

That bike is the reason I did so many trials with various filters. The petcock screen kept out the big chunks, and the paper filter kept out most of the small particles. I checked the bowls every year, and there was only a tiny bit of brown residue particles in the bottom of the bowl. Not bad, considering how bad the tank is. Never had an issue running or idling.

But the paper filters started to have problems with sealing up, not with dirt, but possibly with the glue they used to construct the filter. (I started having the same problem on all of my bikes about the same time.) So I switched to metal screen, and scintered brass, filters, and I threw on a different, spare tank I got off ebay. That tank was perfectly clean inside. The spare, primered tank I bought years ago is also pretty clean inside. Just a couple spots of minor surface rust at the inlet... probably from wet sanding etc.

loudhvx wrote: The color is an AMC Pacer orange.

The AMC Pacer was one of the most abominable cars ever to come out of Kenosha, or anywhere for that matter. You might call it Harley-Davidson orange, but then it would probably start leaking oil. You might call it Chicago Bears orange, but then it would just be a loser. :evil: :woohoo: Mmmmmmm How about Bengal Tiger orange. It would represent something powerful, beautiful and fast. It needs some stripes. That'a good looking bike.

:woohoo:



Good Fortune!

Patton wrote: :woohoo:

Good Fortune!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Do it Loudhvx! Do it! Oh, and be sure to put the "Go" before "Gators", LOL.

That reminds me Tom, I thought you were going to take the flag up to Lambeau Field

That's a sharp looking bike Lou

I like it, does need some stripes though. Wonder how the black and silver/gray stripes from the '83 550A3 would look?

Looks great, love the orange.

What kerker pipes are those? I think I have the same set, just without the o2 bung, but I don't know what they are originally from.

TomW wrote: The AMC Pacer was one of the most abominable cars ever to come out of Kenosha, or anywhere for that matter. You might call it Harley-Davidson orange, but then it would probably start leaking oil. You might call it Chicago Bears orange, but then it would just be a loser. :evil: :woohoo: Mmmmmmm How about Bengal Tiger orange. It would represent something powerful, beautiful and fast. It needs some stripes. That'a good looking bike.

... or AMC BIG BAD ORANGE?.

Big Bad Green & AMC

1969 AMX in Big Bad Orange

CoolerKing wrote: Looks great, love the orange.

What kerker pipes are those? I think I have the same set, just without the o2 bung, but I don't know what they are originally from.

The headers are by Mac (I added the o2 bung). It originally had a chrome canister on it. I gave away the canister and made a baffle for the Kerker canister and put it on. Much lighter and better sounding.

The Mac, I think, is the only available source for new 550 headers, but it's not ideal. I think a smaller diameter collector would perform better (along with smaller diameter inlet on the muffler). Luckily I had that old Kerker canister with the larger inlet, and it just slipped right on.

It's officially AMC 7z "Sun Orange", Dupont 44199LH (LH for the lacquer).
I think "Big Bad Orange" may be different as it does not come up as 44199.

I do like the "Big Bad Green". It may be the color I use on the next one. Thanks for that Martin. I've been wondering what to use for classic Kawasaki green. (The clear tail bike will eventually get a different tank and fender, I need the stock paint for another bike I need to put together.)

I've had temporary stripes on all of the bikes at different times. Mostly just used different color tapes and such to experiment with. They all looked cool at first, but I eventually got tired of the stripes and just wanted the simple color. If I could find nice GPz logos for the side covers, it would look more complete.

How about a Dukes of Hazzard, General Lee, theme? No, not doing that either. :laugh: