Hitchcocks Forum

I've just applied some "Royal Enfield" vinyl stickers to the tank of my Series 2 Interceptor project and was wondering if there was any way of finishing them to protect from petrol spillage etc? Anyone done this, and if so, what did you use please? I was thinking varnish? Lacquer? I've done it with waterslide transfers but never this cut vinyl type. Ta!
REgards, Mark

no mark , varnish etc will soften/dissolve them

Thanks Alan, I thought as much. I wouldn't have done it without testing a sample area, there is spare material included in the kit. Now I just have to be careful with the petrol spillage! REgards, Mark

Hmmm. I'm sure that I saw an article recently in one of the motorbike comics, where a chap was restoring a tank from some Japanese thing. He fitted vinyl 'decals' and then finished them with fuel-resistant spray lacquer. It might be worth trying
on the spare material you have.

Oh, and I just remembered (another senior moment.....) that I used fuel proof lacquer over some vinyl pinstripe tape a few years ago, with no adverse effects.

Hi Mark I put stickers on a tank from MrH and I'm pretty sure they were vinyl and no problems with fuel spillage on them and it was a tank with those dodgy Indian locking caps that don't seal very well

Thanks Gents all. I will try a piece of offcut on a hidden part of the tank, try a few things and let you know. I was hoping someone had done this but sadly not so far! If I had asked about oil though.... (ducks and leaves the room) REgards, Mark

Hi Mark. My Commando fastback has vinyl decals on the tank. They have NO "protective" coating whatsoever, and they are absolutely fine. Etyhanol has bolloxed the glass fibre tank but as you may be aware that is another story. Clean the tank well to remove any contaminants, especially wax polish, and carefully fit them. Exclude the air from the centre outwards. Simples. Other answers are undoubtedly available. HTH.

Thanks Mike, I have done exactly that, and yes, I did see the very nice Fastback tank you have. The Series 2 tank is finished all chrome so cleaning with a solvent is simple. For those attempting this, the 1970 Interceptor decals are quite complex (different to 1969 which is like the Continental GT,) so quite a bit of care is needed, really a two handed job, to get them to sit neatly on the tight curves of the 2 gallon tank. Fortunately the other half is good at helping on these tasks! I actually have some genuine waterslide transfers for this tank but I reckon they'd be even harder to fit!
REgards, Mark

The two pot polyurethane paints that involve a base colour coat and a clear finish will in fact go over the vinyl stickers fine. I was disappointed to see that quite a few of the modern transfers are in fact stickers rather than the water slides or the even older and considerably tricker gold size variety these days. Whilst they are very much easier to apply they will never be as thing and so always look a bit ...well stick on. However I got a good protective coat over the ones that I had to use.