EN - Suzuki VZ800 Marauder - Fixing A Dent On The Fuel Tank.

With this post I would like to explain how to fix a dent on the upside position of the fuel tank. First of all, I started to search the Internet for possible solutions, and I have found some, for example I saw that we can heat up the place and then we can use a spray with compressed air on that specific spot, having the effect of freezing the place and having the metal contracting and coming to the original position. I saw also some special levers, bent on different angles, with a PVC ball at one end, for pushing the metal from inside out, using the tank filling opening. I saw also a method to weld small metal pins on the tank and then pulling using special hammers, but this one is the most destructive, meaning a new paint job and having the motorcycle in a specialised repair shop for few days.
The last method I saw, is the one I used and I am going to present here, it is a special repair kit based on silicone and a "suction cup" for pulling the metal.
This kit looks like this:

The place of dent needs to be clean using a piece of cloth and the solution that comes with this kit, probably a light solvent.

The fuel tank looks like this after cleaning:

We need to heat up the gun and to apply the melted silicone in the centre of the dent area, on that spot we will also place the "suction cup", I am using the quotation marks because it is not an actual suction cup, but a plate of hard PVC with a screw attached to it, and this will stick to the silicone while cooling down.
After applying the melted silicone we will gently press the "suction cup" for 15 seconds, according to the usage guide. Reading the usage guide is important in order to be effective.
After 15 seconds, the "suction cup" will stick to silicone, and silicone will stick to the paint on the fuel tank:

After waiting for 5 minutes, you can check after 2-3 minutes if the silicone is cooled and hard enough
with your fingers, we will have a strong adherence between the paint, silicone and "suction cup".
We can now install the lever we will use to apply the pulling force:

We can start screwing the nut on the "suction cup" by watching carefully how the metal sheet is coming to the original position, in this way we can apply the exact force needed in order to get the desired result, and not to get side effects like pulling to much.
At some moment the metal sheet will come to position and we can hear a small pop, knowing that we are almost done.
The "suction cup" can be removed by using the cleaning liquid and the tank is coming to its original shape:

Now we can remove the silicone by using the cleaning liquid and our fingers to pull the silicone from the edge. In case it is needed and we have around a hair dryer, we can use it to heat up the silicone, we can remove it faster this way. I did not used it, not needed.
In the end, after cleaning the tank, it looks like this:

In the end few thing to take into account:

• Read carefully the usage instructions, for safety details and to use the parts effectively;
• It is important to have a power plug to use with the silicone gun and hair dryer;
• Several repeats may be necessary, in my case 4, I used also the small "suction cup" for better results;
• It is good to try to repair it as soon as possible, in order to benefit of the metal "memory", for better results;
• In case of hard dents or areas with paint cracks or chips, this kit might not be effective enough and side effects like paint removal might appear.

Good luck!

Or better, no need for such repairs ;-)!