Tank stripping....what paint stripper to use?

[1978GS750E]

I have to strip the old tank liner out of the tank on the GS550 and cannot find any paint stripper that contains Methyl Chloride, as recommended per the threads that I searched. All the home improvement stores sell a non-Methyl Chloride formula. Anyone have a source or brand that contains Methyl Chloride?? The stuff that I'm using has been in there about 8 hours and does seem to be softening the liner a little, but in no way is it removing it!

[Nessism]

My condolences! Stripping liners SUCKS! Gotta do what you gotta do though...

Strippers that require mineral spirits to rinse are the strongest. Some abrasive material in the tank helps scrub off the liner off so consider adding something. MEK, if available in your area, is pretty good to dissolve liners too. Some trial and error is in order.

Good luck and don't get discouraged. Oh, and be sure to allow the tank to vent some while the stripper is inside. I had a tank pooch out and blow up like a balloon one time while stripping.

[1978GS750E]

Thanks Nessism! Fortunately, the pinhole in it is letting all the pressure escape. I added more stripper and it seems to be working better. Now just to keep rotating it so I get all the old liner out. I'm going to do an acetone rinse, then hot water, then hot air dry to try and minimize flash rusting. Then its going to see the business end of a brazing rod before being it gets metal rescue and re-lined with Caswells. Luckily, the pinhole is underneath and the repair will not show.

[Big T]

MEK will soften up the liner

[chuck hahn]

FIRE!!! See my build thread pics. Youre gonna braze it and ruin the paint anyway.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?248066-Blue-78-1000C-project&highlight=blue+1000C

[1978GS750E]

Thanks Chuck! I have seen your fire removal system, and while it is quite impressive, I've got the liner out and it is being "soaked" on the inside in metal rescue right now. Decided to de-rust the inside before brazing. The brazing will be on the underside and hopefully will not show, unless the bike is upside down!

[chuck hahn]

Heat migration is what i was thinking when i said the brazing will most likely ruin the paint.

[1978GS750E]

Well Chuck, you were right! Not about ruining the paint but the brazing heat caused the very small pinhole to open up to about 1/8". So I took the old wire feed welder and closed it up! Next I decided to see what is under the paint bubble on the top of the tank. Guess what, BONDO! Bondo that is not stuck to the tank in spots. Looks like this thing is going to turn into a bigger project than I was wanting right now. Going to put it on the back burner for a few days to get the GS750 and GS1000 fine tuned for the Brown County hoorah. (aka: put as many miles on them as possible in 13 days!) Probably going to have to wait until next few rainy days to get back at this tank. Man.....don't you love it when people don't fix things right the first time?

[chuck hahn]

Burn it all..bondo and all will fall off like dust.