POR-15 and a gas tank

[Jbeaber]

So, I have ordered the kit and am preparing to do this to seal my gas tank. I am used to working with nasty chemicals, so that is not a concern. Does anyone have ideas on how long it takes to dry out the water after the rinse before the final treatment? I am going to be using a pretty high powered hair drier (my father-in-law used it as a heat gun to remove a dent from a plastic bumper). It is important that the gas tank be 100% dry. This is the fuel tank for a GS550ES, which has the splash guard and other nasty crooks twists. All suggestions appreciated....

 

[Nessism]

Completely dry is a must. If you dump a little alcohol in there after the phosphate wash it will speed the drying process. Not sure how long it will take, one hour maybe, and make sure you wait for the tank to cool off afterwards.

 

[LeeGS550E]

When I did the tank on my 550 E (same tank as yours), I had a hair drier duct taped on so that it was blowing through the tank for at least a half hour. It turned out great. Its an awesome product.

 

[JTsGS650]

I dumped a little alcohol in after rinsing the phosphate wash and used a hair dryer in the fill port. I probably dried it for 15 minutes or so. Worked like a charm. I think you'll be happy with the POR kit, I was. Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

 

[Jbeaber]

Thanks for the alcohol idea. The stuff arrives next week and I'll probably do the job over Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[TheCafeKid]

Just read a great lil article in Cruiser mag by Mark Zimmerman...(also the author of The Essential Guide To Motorcycle Maintainence) In summary he says everyone and their mother has a remedy for rust in the tank...and he suggests, if you're dealing with surface rust only, pull the petcock and what not, and toss some bolts in there with a quart of WD40, turn up your favorite tune or two and shake it till you break it. (bout ten minutes) ..says he's been doing it for years on his vintage bikes, and its never let him down. He goes on to say that if you're not leaking, dont seal it with POR15 or Kreem, its a hastle and if not done correctly can be a bigger pain than the rust was. He finishes by suggesting that you never leave her less than topped off for any length of time, and to run an inline filter and all should be good. I think *I* will try this before i go anyways else...WD40 is cheap compared to messing up a POR or Kreem system. If it doesnt work, im out a quart of WD40, and not a tank.

 

[Nessism]

Rust creats pits in the metal, no number of bolts rattling in the tank are going to get the rust out, other than the loose bits.

 

[TheCafeKid]

I dont disagree there...but if i keep gas in my tank...it *shouldnt* rust. Just read that, i dont disagree with those wanting to try por15 or kreem, i am just going to try this first, cos i dont trust myself to do it correctly.

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

I would do the POR15 over the Kreem. Using the nuts & bolts & shaking Will make the POR job come out better

 

[Jbeaber]

This is the tird time I am trying to remove the rust from this tank. It was in SAD shape when I first got it, rust everywhere but no holes. I tried the hydrochloric acid/phosphoric acid treatment twice. I used fully concentrated HCl (I work in a lab) and did everything to extremes as far as time. This removed 75% of the rust, but not all of it. I filled it with gas and have kept it close to full. The rust is still coming back. This is why I am trying to Por-15 solution. Trap the rust and hopefully forget about it....

 

[LeeGS550E]

I was in the same position as you with my tank. I tried the various acid ideas that are floating around, and put many a screw and bolt in there to try to knock it loose. The POR-15 kit made it happen. Its the best way to go, IMHO.

(And I don't agree with the alcahol idea. I don't think you need it, and I don't think you should deviate from the directions in the kit. 1/2 hour with the hair dryer will be fine, and that way you're not introducing a variable that could come back and bite you later.)

 

[spyug]

The rust will always come back so I think it is time and money well spent to do a sealer kit. I have just completed my 4 th tank reseal. I've used Kreeme, POR-15 and now the Phenol Novalac kit from Caswell plating.

The Kreeme and POR need thorough prep and close attention to the instructions to come out well. I think the POR puts in a thicker skin than the Kreeme and I have seen several Kreemed tanks go bad, including the tank I have just done.

The Caswell kit works the best so far. Less prep required as it likes to bond to the rusty surface, just knock off the big lumps using the tumbling huts and bolts method. The kit is good for 2 tanks and it provides good coverage from what I can see.

If done properly any of the kits will work and using one will give you peace of mind that you are not going to suddenly have a tank develope leaking pinholes.

2 more of my cents.

Cheers,
spyug

 

[Jbeaber]

Well, the tank is two days into drying with Por-15. The process went pretty well. You can read about my experiences in the Por-15 how to thread. Please put any ideas you have had with the kit there so we can help people in the future. Looks like my tank will have more than a week to dry because the replacement petcock is very slowly on order. Not a bad thing. So, back to my project bike thread..... Thanks for the help and ideas. PPlease add ideas to that thread about the Por-15 kit that I didn't cover...

 

[ReTread]

Just read a great lil article in Cruiser mag by Mark Zimmerman...(also the author of The Essential Guide To Motorcycle Maintainence) In summary he says everyone and their mother has a remedy for rust in the tank...and he suggests, if you're dealing with surface rust only, pull the petcock and what not, and toss some bolts in there with a quart of WD40, turn up your favorite tune or two and shake it till you break it. (bout ten minutes) ..says he's been doing it for years on his vintage bikes, and its never let him down. He goes on to say that if you're not leaking, dont seal it with POR15 or Kreem, its a hastle and if not done correctly can be a bigger pain than the rust was. He finishes by suggesting that you never leave her less than topped off for any length of time, and to run an inline filter and all should be good. I think *I* will try this before i go anyways else...WD40 is cheap compared to messing up a POR or Kreem system. If it doesnt work, im out a quart of WD40, and not a tank.

I saw this post a few days back and decided to give it a try on my Z1R.

The carbs were properly cleaned and rebuilt recently by the PO yet the rusty sediment in the tank was not addressed. A new inline filter could never hope to keep up.

The tank is in fine original condition and had no scale to speak of, just an abundance of gritty ferrous powder.

I added a pint of WD40 and a box of stainless screws. A quick drain after a 10 minute shake was followed by another quart of WD and a one hour shake and soak. The results were pretty impressive for such a simple process.

The tank probably would have been fine to drain, fill and use at this point but I live in Camp Swampy (Sarasota) Florida. Trust you will see plenty more rust.

Two acetone rinses later, I added a 1.5 pint kit of a two part epoxy (impervious to fuel) from a local marine supplier. The stuff had a 30 minute set time. After about 15 minutes of twirling, about 8oz. of excess was drained off through the petcock hole. The rest of the product was clinging to the surfaces at this point. As soon as the sample kicked about another 10 minutes later, the rotating stopped tank was left to set up overnight.

I'm certain that there is total coverage and it's super smooth inside. No grit on the surface whatsoever. Much less messy than the RedKote liner I used on my boat's tank.

The epoxy was $14 and maybe about the same cost for both the WD and acetone.

Great site folks. I've really enjoyed spending some time here.

 

[headsbikesmopars]

I have a leaking fuel tank that has been Kreemed once already (PO), and need to do the re-seal deal myself. My question is..the paint is flawless and I want to SAVE it if possible. How is it possible to use these chemicals and save the paint too ? Anyone do this without damaging the paint ? That is a MUST. It is an older tank that is not available anymore. I am thinking of using the Por-15 product. Please advise and thanks.

Terry

 

[Joe Nardy]

I have a leaking fuel tank that has been Kreemed once already (PO), and need to do the re-seal deal myself. My question is..the paint is flawless and I want to SAVE it if possible. How is it possible to use these chemicals and save the paint too ? Anyone do this without damaging the paint ? That is a MUST. It is an older tank that is not available anymore. I am thinking of using the Por-15 product. Please advise and thanks.

Terry

Terry,

The chemicals used with POR-15 will not harm your paint if you follow the directions. They might cause some damage if left on the paint for a while but I've done a couple tanks with no issues whatsoever. Nothing in the kit will cause immediate or short term damage.

I've never used Kreem but I believe that kit uses Methyl Ethyl Keytone (MEK) which will eat just about anything it touches.

Thanks,
Joe

Thanks,
Joe

 

[bwringer]

As far as rust removal, Evapo-Rust is safe for paint and hands, and doesn't create the noxious fumes that acid treatments do.

It's also far more effective than any acid treatment, and won't damage the intact metal under the rust.

You can get Evapo-Rust at any auto parts store -- it's in silver-ish gray quart or gallon jugs near the paint and such.

I know of at least one badly corroded (but with flawless paint) motorcycle tank treated with Evapo-Rust with excellent results.

 

[Nessism]

I have a leaking fuel tank that has been Kreemed once already (PO), and need to do the re-seal deal myself. My question is..the paint is flawless and I want to SAVE it if possible. How is it possible to use these chemicals and save the paint too ? Anyone do this without damaging the paint ? That is a MUST. It is an older tank that is not available anymore. I am thinking of using the Por-15 product. Please advise and thanks.

Terry

Hey Terry,

You need to strip-out the old Kreem layer before you do anything else. I recently did this on the tank shown below. I picked up a gallon of the strongest paint stripper available from Lowe's hardware and dumped in one quart along with a large scoop of pea gravel (also available from Lowe's for $5/bag). Of course, you need to fashion some reliable plugs for the various tank openings first. Rotate and shake the slurry in the tank every so often to coat all the surfaces. It took a couple of different applications to get the old Kreem out but it worked. I've also stripped out a failed Por application and the Kreem is far easier to remove.

To derusted the tank you can use either phosphoric acid or Evapo-rust. Takes several days to get all the rust out. The process goes much better with some pea gravel added since it scours the metal surface. Nuts and bolts or screws doesn't work nearly as well as the pea gravel. The key to both the Kreem stripping and derusting process is to give the sauce enough time to work. Don't go on to the next step until all the Kreem/rust is removed.

Hope this helps.

 

[McSkillet]

I did the electrolysis method on my tank after doing the cha-cha with it using a large handfull of bb's. My tank looked like it had been filled with sand by the PO before he let it set for -ever... My only problem was keeping the tank from flash rusting between the drain and rinse and the drying process. Well, getting all of the damn bb's out was rather difficult too. After the electrolysis, the inside looked brand new for about 10 minutes, but then you can see rust starting to appear. I've tried rinsing with acetone but get the same results. Anyone know if the tank sealing will take if there is light surface rust and exactly how dry does the tank need to be for the seal to adhere properly?

 

[Nessism]

I did the electrolysis method on my tank after doing the cha-cha with it using a large handfull of bb's. My tank looked like it had been filled with sand by the PO before he let it set for -ever... My only problem was keeping the tank from flash rusting between the drain and rinse and the drying process. Well, getting all of the damn bb's out was rather difficult too. After the electrolysis, the inside looked brand new for about 10 minutes, but then you can see rust starting to appear. I've tried rinsing with acetone but get the same results. Anyone know if the tank sealing will take if there is light surface rust and exactly how dry does the tank need to be for the seal to adhere properly?

Light surface rust is no problem if you use Por-15 sealer. Regarding how dry, the answer is 100% bone dry or the sealer application will fail...ask me how I know. This is particularly true if you use Por-15 sealer since that stuff hardens by sucking moisture out of the air. If there is water in the tank the sealer will kick off before it has a chance to coat the entire tank, plus it won't adhere to the metal. Set your tank up with a hair dryer blowing inside the main opening and out the petcock and sender unit holes. About 20 minuets blowing will be plenty to dry the tank out.

Hope this helps and good luck.