KBS Tank Sealer

[Guest]

Hate to be just a drain on the community without trying to offer something so here goes. When I picked up my bike the owner had told me the bike had been sitting for about 2 years. He tried to start it but it was obvious to me it wasnt getting fuel. I bought it at a fair price and as soon as I got it home I pulled the fuel line and found Rust. So I peeked in the gas tank and it looked like the surface of a far off planet. There were other issues but I needed to start at the high point so I went to work on the tank and bought the KBS Tank Sealer kit.

The paint on my tank is in really good shape so the challenge was doing the inside without damaging the outside paint so it took me about 2 days to complete all of the steps from cleaning through sealer and a fair amount of muscle but if you are old enough to remember what the inside of a thermos looked like in the 60's and early 70's ... that is what the inside of my tank looks like now. Almost like there is a glass insert.

Got the kit on ebay and it was about $55.00 shipped.

here is their website

https://www.kbs-coatings.com/tank-sealers.html

There are a couple of videos on youtube to get you going. All and all I think it was a fine product to use. When I did the first step with the cleaner the stuff that came out of the tank looked like a bad oil change. They suggest 96 hours cure so if you are doing a bunch of work its good to do tank first and set the tank aside. I am still working on cleaning the carbs but this weekend it should all go back together and the tank would have had an additional week to cure before install.

[Nessism]

Hope you allowed that Rustblast stuff to dwell long enough to fully derust the tank. They suggest that it's not necessary to fully derust but I don't trust them. There are way too many tanks around with failing liners.

[Boriqua]

Hope you allowed that Rustblast stuff to dwell long enough to fully derust the tank. They suggest that it's not necessary to fully derust but I don't trust them. There are way too many tanks around with failing liners.

I am in no rush to complete my project and get the bike up so I swore that I would take my time. I actually did each of the steps more vigorously and used more time than they had suggested. By the time I was done with the rust blast the tank actually looked new inside and I really considered just not doing the lining. It was really that clean inside. Wild stuff. I doubted the reviews I had read before purchasing it.

Its not like when I was a kid and this is my primary vehicle. I am enjoying the process of getting her up to speed. Hardest part of the whole process besides having to swish the stuff around and waking up the next day with sore muscles was making sure to get all the excess product out of the tank. There isnt a lot left after you finish but enough that it could pool and ruin your cure. The filler has a neck that goes down in the tank so you cant drain from there. I landed up having to drain it from the petcock opening. Have to remove it anyway and its large enough to drain but it does require some dancing with the tank.

edited to add
I but a fair dose of 1/4" bb's I had as sling shot ammo into the tank with the cleaner and rust blast. I think it really helped to scrub and etch the surface.

[Boriqua]

here is a little write up I did of my process. There are steps missing like the undulations that need to happen but that is just grunt work. Like everything else .. its about the prep. Hope its helpful

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Fist thing I did was put some ethafoam around my tank. If you get deliveries you will find this in your boxes or you can get it at u haul and other packing places. Its cheap and I save the stuff that comes with deliveries so I had a bag of scraps. You are going to handle your tank A LOT so having a little layer of cushion is nice. I then wrapped the entire tank in shrink wrap also available at u haul and your big box hardware places. You can also just use saran wrap from the grocery place.
I placed duct tape around the fill hole because I didnt want the wrap to stretch and rip there.

I used goof plugs, they are meant for pluging 1/4 irrigation lines to screw into my petcock screw hole.

My bike is old and has one of those caps that you push down and it clicks into place. Its fine but it is NOT a seal you can count on when you turn the tank upside down. screw on lids are fine but these click ins not great. So I had to find a way to make a water tight seal at the fill hole.

I found pool noodles are available at 2 and 3 inches in diameter.. My fill hole and the hole where my gas gauge sensor was removed for the process was about 1.5". I was able to cut a small section of 2" pool noodle and then stick a wine cork in the middle and .. perfect seal! You have to compress the pool noodle to fit and you should wet the cork before you put it in the center but it was solid. You could also use a dowel and then just throw a zip tie around the pool noodle.

After I wrapped my tank in shrink wrap I carefully cut a hole at the filler opening that allowed for the wrap to fold in. I put a funnel in the tank to pour in the KBS cleaner and rust remover and followed it up with my pool noodle and cork. Then on to shaking and all the rest.

So how did the KBS stuff work .. I gave my tank a rinse to remove as much of the large rust particles as I could out. I then let it dry. Then I put the KLEAN in with an equal amount of water as hot as I could get from my tap. I warmed my receptacle some with hot water before filling it with my final USE water and added a good healthy shake of BB's. Yup available at any walmart. I went for 45 minutes with the BB's, KLEAN and Hot water sloshing it good while rotating it every 2-3 minutes over the whole tank for 45 minutes. You could hear the bb's sloshing.around.

When I dumped it .. it looked liked used motor oil. Ewwwwww .. nasty dark brown foamy. Rinsed it out several times and because I have an extended filler neck getting all the BB's out was a pain but I got them all out with some time and the inside of my tank already looked new. I couldn't believe it. It went from post apocalyptic rust worn to nearly new looking. It was truly amazing.

I put a hair dryer in it with a cardboard funnel.duct taped to it so it fit tightly in the filler and let it run 15 minutes on low while I enjoyed an adult beverage. Done .. it was bone dry inside.

I added the Rust blast and did the same rotate slosh over 45 minutes and while i got a little debris on pouring it out it was mostly clear. The Klean had really done its job. But I understand the blast is intended to prepare it to receive the sealer and it might not be something readily visible to the naked eye. Tomorrow the sealer. Then I will let it cure.

So the pool noodle was .98 cents for a 5' length. The corks were something I had laying around and the irrigation plugs were something I had but I think are $2 at home depot. Hold them with a pliers and you can screw them into the holes as they are soft plastic. Ethafoam I had in a bag.
Here are some pix that might be helpful

http://www.boriqualeather.com/stuff/KBS/

[Nessism]

That Rustblast stuff is phosphoric acid. Wonderful stuff to derust a tank with. Kleenstrip Etch and Prep, available at Home Depot, is same. I've done a bunch of tanks with that stuff and I can confirm that it will pretty much fully derust a tank in about an hour or so.

That sealer stuff sounds very similar to Por-15 sealer. When I do a tank I pour in the sealer, move it around the tank being very careful to fully coat the tank and then pour out the excess. After the excess stops dripping there is still a good bit of extra sealer still remaining so I keep the tank moving through all angles to to flow out the residual and build the film layer. You can actually get a full second layer on the tank by flowing the puddle around the tank before it kicks off. Good stuff.