Outboard fuel tank color?

[matt167]

My '61 Custom Craft still has an original 6 gallon kiekhaefer Mercury tank with it. Tank has surface rust on the top, but clean inside, so it is a perfect candidate for restoration. What color is correct/ good match for the tank? I see Oldmercs shows/ supplies some "Red" Duplicolor engine enamel on their site as being a good match, but at almost $8/ can for something I know retails for under $5 is kind of crazy.

 

[mercuk]

Re: Outboard fuel tank color?

Red is as far as I'm aware the correct colour....
Just depends if you want to spend an extra 3 whole bucks or not...... How close to the "original" do you want the finished product to look like?!.....
Wouldn't of personally said that $3 extra is "crazy" though....

 

[matt167]

Re: Outboard fuel tank color?

It's way more than $3. Shipping isn't free, min charge is $14.51 to my door. When you factor that in, it is $22.64 for a can of paint that retails for less than $5 on most any store shelf.. I want it as close to original as possible. I could probably match up the tank color, but I think it might be faded.

If I otherwise needed to make an order from them, I would probably buy the paint so I had a can and knew which color it was, but I'm not going to make a special order with $14 shipping

 

[oldman570]

Re: Outboard fuel tank color?

Sanding the tank and wiping it down with acidtone should get all the old oil and gas spill off the metal. Primer the tank with a good auto primer and paint the tank with a good qualty paint of red color, atlest 2 coats, and a clear coat should give you a paint job that should last. The paint will fade over time from the sun and will look as it should anyway. JMO
Oldman570