Painting a Honda CB350 Fuel Tank | Candy Paint & Custom Graphics

The 1971 Honda CB350 café racer build gets its custom paintwork in this episode, with a complete motorcycle fuel tank paint job from bare metal preparation through to the finished graphics and satin clear coat.

I strip the old paint from the Honda CB350 fuel tank, work through the dents and imperfections with sanding, welding and filler, and then build up the new finish from primer through to the candy metal flake base coat. From there I add the candy orange fade, mask and paint the custom graphics, and finish everything with a 2K aerosol satin clear coat.

In This Episode

• Stripping the old paint from the Honda CB350 fuel tank

• Sanding and preparing the bare metal

• Repairing imperfections with filler

• Using welding sticks during tank preparation

• Applying primer

• Choosing the custom fuel tank paint design

• Painting the underside for contrast

• Applying a candy metal flake base coat

• Creating a candy orange paint fade

• Building up the candy paint finish

• Masking and painting custom graphics

• Applying a matte black graphic finish

• Revealing the finished graphics

• Applying 2K aerosol satin clear coat

Painting a motorcycle fuel tank is all about preparation and patience. The final candy finish only works if the surface underneath it is properly prepared, so much of this job is spent getting the tank smooth and ready before the interesting part of the paint process begins.

The combination of candy metal flake, orange fade, contrasting black graphics and satin clear gives this CB350 a completely different character and starts to bring the overall café racer design together.

If you're interested in painting your own motorcycle fuel tank, learning about candy paint techniques or building a custom café racer at home, this episode shows the complete process from preparation to finished tank.

Follow the 1971 Honda CB350 Scrambler café racer build as the mechanical work, fabrication and custom finishing all start coming together.