Restore advice, please

[JohnE]

Just got round to restoring my Starfire to some of it's former glory(??) and need some advice.
Powder coat or paint?
Generally people seem to powder coat frame etc but not the tank and some powder coaters have indicated that they don't do tanks. What's the pros and cons of both?
It seems from my early investigations there seems to be a huge difference in price so is that reflected in the product?

I live in the Walsall/Birmingham area so has anyone recommendations for around here?

Any advice on rechroming would be also be appreciated.

And can anyone tell me where I can get the old white stick on number plate letters? Those I've seen on Amazon and Ebay all seem to be either too big or too small.

[Old Biker]

You can get the letters at feed.com 

[Old Biker]

Ahh, spellcheckers! Should read feked.com

[AdrianS]

I bought some numbers from a seller on ebay. They were fine. Just measure the height of the numbers and check the seller can supply that height.
Re chroming can be expensive. There is someone in Sparkbrook , Birmingham who my neighbour uses and he says the quality is good. I can find out details if you need them.
Powder coating is fine for frames. I wouldn't powder coat a tank. A friend of mine in Tamworth does powder coating and he did a lot of work for the National Motorcycle Museum. He paints my tin ware with 2 pack and the results are perhaps too good!
One problem I have encountered is that a lot of painters like to strip back to bare metal and start from there. This may involve shot blasting the panels and if it is an oil tank or petrol tank it is a ball ache making sure no grit is in the tank before reusing it!

[JohnE]

Old Biker - thanks for that link - some useful stuff there and some new parts which look as though they may be cheaper than having existing stuff rechrommed.

AdrianS - I'd be grateful if you could give me the contact details of the people you mentioned. I'd rather use local people than send stuff away if possible.

[BeenyBoy]

I've used Cromefix in Birmingham for so re-chroming jobs- not cheap but seems to be good quality-  (http://www.chromefix.co.uk/) but its a swings and roundabouts situation- looking at a re-chrome on a tank is quite a lot more than buying a new one from India plus you've also got to paint it !

Basically I reckon for small stuff- kickstart/gear change/fork top nuts etc it is slightly cheaper to re-chrome than buying a replacement part and at least you know its going to fit

I had all the cycle parts on my B31 blasted and powder coated and mostly its fine although I made the mistake of having the mudguards done as well and they don't look good- might strip back and spray when I get time- but then I'll have to colour match

[JohnE]

Looked at Chromefix and was going to get a quote from them. It's small stuff I am thinking of having done - petrol tank filler cap, oil cap and maybe levers so I'll see what they quote.
Someone advised me to have the powder coating done and then get that sprayed as it would be cheaper than spraying alone. Had a quote for stripping and respray of the tank at £425, but £65 -80 for stripping and powder coating.
Need to get some more quotes for spraying I guess

[BeenyBoy]

A new painted tank is around £250 on ebay.......

[JohnE]

I've looked at the tanks on Ebay and are a bit uncertain about if I should go for one or not. Prices seem to vary greatly (£160 - £250) and I do wonder about quality of tank, what the finish is like and the distance involved (India) if there's any problems.
Anyway, it's another option.

[A10 JWO]

I paid £300 for my tank, just one colour; it can get very expensive after that. You will never get your money back, but you will enjoy yourself doing it.

[ducati2242]

I bought an indian tank for my gold star I thought it would be rough but I was wrong it is excellent .Just make sure they have reasonable feedback . I got mine from Royal Choppers or something similar to that . I was quoted £400 to re-chrome the original then i had to paint it and buy the badges , all of which come with the indian tank , would have drifted towards 1k when finished .

[AdrianS]

I've bought a few things from Indian sellers. Generally found the parts to be of Rickshaw quality; rear numberplate holder welded on the piss, speedo drive that doesn't fit well with rough gears, ammeter and speedometer very inaccurate!

I hope the tanks are better - good luck with getting one. The trouble is there is not much of an alternative available. It would be good to see a sheet metal fabricator in this country making tanks and also a lot of the other tin ware which is getting hard to find now.

[BeenyBoy]

I got a chromed/painted tank for my B31 from (I think) Royal Choppers a couple of years ago and cant fault it- quality is very good- and it fits- and it was £150 cheaper than having the original re-chromed ( plus the cost of painting/new cap/badges and internal cleaning)- a "no brainer" as far as I'm concerned !

Conversely I bought a battery carrier from another Indian concern and it was absolute rubbish- and expensive as I ended up paying VAT and import duty on it. 

Mudguards were from Mickys Spares and although the build quality was ok, they had welded the top bracket in the wrong place by 3/4"- but we resolved this fairly easily.

We perhaps ought to generate a data base of  all the Indian Suppliers and grade them.