Rust in my gas tank :(

[Guest]

I have some surface rust in my gas tank. There was a little bit in there when I first got the tank, and its a bit worse now after a few years. Whenever I take the carbs off I always find a bit of "rust dust" in the carb bowls.
Can I use Evapo-rust on this or is it bad enough that I should use por-15? I have heard horror stories about coatings going bad and leaving a big mess.

[Nessism]

Yes on Evapo Rust. Be sure to remove the sending unit and petcock and fashion plugs for the various openings.

When you go to flush the tank after removing the rust it will want to flash rust pretty quickly. A quart of rubbing alcohol and some WD-40 will help ward that off but be ready to act fast.

[chuck hahn]

I use a little 2 cycle chain saw gas to rinse tanks when i derust them. Of course drain the soak solution as good as you can and roll it around and shake from front to back to get as much left overs as you can out the petcock hole. Then rinse it with the gas and repeat the roll and shake method to get the residual solutions out. Tthe gas and slightly oily mix will coat the metal and it wont flash rust.

[gearhead13]

Host much evapo rust do I need to do the tank?

[chuck hahn]

I use 8% cleaning vinegar. Wont hurt paint and its like 1.25 a gallon. 5 gallons of evaoporust is cost prohibative..and even a gallon (that would require lots of periodic agitation to keep the entire tank coated ) is expensive. 5 gallons of vinegar is under 8 bucks usually.

[Nessism]

One gallon of EvapoRust will do it as long as you are willing to shake it and turn the tank on it's side, upside down, etc, occasionally over the course of a day in order to remove the rust.

[gearhead13]

I went out and bought 2 3.78 litre jugs of it. Can I use Duct tape to cover the holes? Or do I even have to remove the sender unit considering how safe this stuff is supposed to be?

[Nessism]

I went out and bought 2 3.78 litre jugs of it. Can I use Duct tape to cover the holes? Or do I even have to remove the sender unit considering how safe this stuff is supposed to be?

Not sure what "it" is, but regardless, if you want the sending unit to not be damaged, I'd remove it.

[gearhead13]

It is Evapo rust. I did remove the sending unit. After I had a better look at the inside of the tank, there is very little rust on the top and sides of the tank, so I will probably only use 1 jug of evapo rust, and I am just going to duct tape up the holes, if they leak then I will go try to find better plugs.

[Nessism]

I don't think duct tape will work.

Below are some photos of some plugs. About 30 mins of work to make a set.

[raygun]

Everyone says don't dilute the evaporust but I did no problems. It just takes longer but I wanted the tank filled. I also threw in a chain to help break up the rust when I shook it around. I used plugs from Home Depot or Lowe's. And then used a metal plate and rubber pipiece for the Petcock hole. The plugs I used are the same as the two in this write up http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...orust_tank.pdf

[Phred]

Evaporust can be re used as well. I strained mine through a coffee filter and returned it to the can for future use. It can be re used several times til it gets black and gunky.

[Harry 66]

Rust removal gas tank the way I did it.
Empty tank. Remove petcock. Plug holes. Make solution of water with cleaning soda. fill up the tank with it. Take a piece of wood and drill a hole in it where you can put in a large bolt. Place wood on filler opening en put bolt in the hole. Make sure the bolt is not making contact with te iron of the tank. Make spacers under the wood so that there is a little room between wood and tank 1cm or 1/2inch and secure wood . Bolt must never make contact with the tank.
Take a battery charger and place + on bolt and - on non painted iron of tank. The rust is now attaching to the bolt. Take care of ventilating the place because Hydro gas is forming. Also rusty foam will get out of tank so put rags under it and maybe coat outside of the tank wit a litle oil so no rust stucks on the outside.
Repeat thil no more rust is forming at the bolt. Rince tank with water an then with citron acid and water solution. Look inside the tank and when there is a little rust left , put in citron acid solution and leave it for a day. When rust is gone take two stroke oil and coat it. Or any other durable coating.
For other rust removal take a bucket fill it with water and cleaning soda put in the rusty iron part clamp - of charger. Take a clean piece of scrap metal, clamp + . Make no contact between scrap metal and rusty part . Then take a bucket fill it with water an citron acid solution en put the part in it to clean last bit of rust.
Afterward the soda and citron acid can be stored for another time.

Take care , no open fire.
Excuse me for the bad english ,I am Dutch.

[83GS1100E_Tornado]

5 gallons of evaoporust is cost prohibative.

For you maybe, I bought my five gallon bucket on eBay and had it delivered to my house for a hundred bucks, have probably done half a dozen tanks with it already. Best thing since sliced bread!