Yellow gas tanks

[Mick Milakovic]

Hi All, I recently purchased a white XR-80 Honda and the gas tank has turned slightly yellow.  You can even see some places where the tank stickers have not worn off and it was still white underneath.  Has anyone had any success in restoring the color to white?

[slvrbrdfxr]

Mick,
You might try some acetone inside the tank to clean it up. The yellowing usually comes from the fuel turning to varnish in the pores of the plastic. If you have all the decals removed from the tank exterior can't hurt to use some there too. Just rinse it real good with warm soapy water after the acetone bath. I've had reasonably good sucess using this method on a couple old white Can Am tanks. Hope this helps. Good luck !!
Dave McC

[tmc3c]

Hey Mick, I bought my son a 1995 XR200R and it had white plastic tank & side covers but the fenders were wrong so what I did was a buddy of mine had a 1984 XR250R that he was parting out so I bought all the Orange/red platic and converted. It bolted up with no problems it might work for XR100R also.I have the tank and side covers left over.

Thomas Carmichael

[Mick Milakovic]

Dave, thanks for the advice, I'll give it a try!

Thomas, I know lots of parts on these bikes match each other so I'll look for good parts bikes.  These things make great pit bikes and I can probably make it run forever!

[slvrbrdfxr]

Mick,
You might try some acetone inside the tank to clean it up. The yellowing usually comes from the fuel turning to varnish in the pores of the plastic. If you have all the decals removed from the tank exterior can't hurt to use some there too. Just rinse it real good with warm soapy water after the acetone bath. I've had reasonably good sucess using this method on a couple old white Can Am tanks. Hope this helps. Good luck !!
Dave McC

[tmc3c]

Hey Mick, I bought my son a 1995 XR200R and it had white plastic tank & side covers but the fenders were wrong so what I did was a buddy of mine had a 1984 XR250R that he was parting out so I bought all the Orange/red platic and converted. It bolted up with no problems it might work for XR100R also.I have the tank and side covers left over.

Thomas Carmichael

[Mick Milakovic]

Dave, thanks for the advice, I'll give it a try!

Thomas, I know lots of parts on these bikes match each other so I'll look for good parts bikes.  These things make great pit bikes and I can probably make it run forever!