Another tank seal question

My tank recently suffered a pretty good bang on the pavement and now is off
at the body shop getting the dent pulled and re-painted. They are going to
use that "Stud gun" that welds the studs to the outside surface and pull the
dent out. I see several recommendations on the list for a couple of
products to help seal leaking tanks and fix rusted tanks. Now should I plan
on re-sealing the inside of the tank even if there are no apparent leaks
(after a water tank test) just to protect against rust? Was there a factory
coating on the inside of the tank?

Alex
01' VT1100C Shadow Spirit

 

You're thinking about putting water into your tank to see if it leaks?
Don't do that. Fill it up with gasoline to see if it leaks. At least
gasoline won't rust the inside of your tank...

If you want to see how much a new gas tank costs, look up your
motorbike's fuel tank on www.partsfish.com. You'll think twice before
doing anything to damage it when you see the price...

If the steel inside the tank is shiny, it's just bare mild steel that
has been kept from rusting by being kept full of gasoline that has no
water in it...

 

POR-15 did a good job of coating my tank. If you were going to
treat it though, you probably should do it before it's painted.
It's doable after it's painted but why expose a new paint job
to all the crap involved in the coating steps.

If you don't feel like doing it yourself, the body shop ought
to be able to point you to a shop that does radiators and fuel
tanks who could probably give you better advice than you'd get
here.

It's also possible that the tank is just fine and may need no
coating at all. Ask the people you brought it to what they think.