TOPIC:

I'm thinking about what I want to do with the 1980 Z1 Classic I bought last year. I will be fixing it up for sale, that much is certain. As a refresher it is a one owner 7,400 mile bike and the pipes were removed and a Kerker installed before taking delivery at the dealer. Always garaged at night. The tank was stolen while parked at the dealer for service later in it's life and replaced with a 1980 LTD (not Z1C) tank with the fuelie plumbing on the bottom. So the pipes and mufflers are perfect except for some bluing on cylinders #2 and #3. Prior to sale the owner reinstalled the stock pipes, and started the bike for the first time in a long time. #2 and #3 were getting hot and he shut it off but not before some bluing occurred. The chrome on the aluminum parts and master cylinder are peeling off as almost all of them did. I'm not certain if it was chrome or a spray on plastic look alike. Those are the only issues the bike has, it is in extraordinary shape, especially for being the red haired stepchild that it was. I'll address the fuel injection issues and get it running properly. There is a small amount of bubbling under the surface of the paint near the chrome placards and a small ding shown in the pics below. I can't decide if I should repaint the tank I purchased or leave it stock. The tank is in good shape for such a rare piece but it is far from perfect. I have already purchased reproduction stripes. Should I:
1) Sand it and repaint/stripe the tank
2) Wet sand the tank and remove the stripes, clear it, install new stripes (or patch the missing 3 inches) and then bury the stripes in clear keeping the original black paint intact.
3) Leave it as is bone stock with it's flaws.

If youre going to flip it I would leave it alone. A new paint job wont increase the value much, and doctoring the existing paint job might actually hurt the value. Personally when im buying a bike I would rather see the original paint in bad shape than a fresh repaint, it makes me suspicious.

Good point Doc, I too am very skeptical of repaints.

That's patina.......leave it alone.

After I seal and paint a tank, this one becomes the primary project.