tank cleaning

[biker_guy]

I've called the radiator shops no one will touch with a ten foot pole. Don't know why. Well with all this info I have yet to get to the coating stage because I can still here just a little bit of crap rolling around in there. I've tried just flushing with water for ever, putting the shop vac on every hole and rocking it back and forth, I got out my wife shark vac and reduce it to a little tube to stick in the tank, put a wad of duct tape in the fuel gage hole. I can not get this crap out of the tank. Oh and reversed the shop vac to blow into the tank. Shop vac is awesome for drying though. I'm not worried about paint and so I duct taped the hose to the fill hole and just left it running until.....Oh yeah I left that on out there.

[Billyboy]

put it in the sender hole.

[Joe Nardy]

POR-15 is great stuff. I sealed a couple tanks about five years ago and spilled a bit of the POR on a concrete porch. That stuff is still there and looks like it was spilled yesterday!

Thanks,
Joe

[Busafied]

I am dabbling with the electrolysis method right now.
I ran it for 4 hrs last night using the battery charger on 6amps.

I am thinking of getting serious and slapping the AC/DC welder on it like one guy did to get it working faster.
But faster is not always better of course...

the site I am following-

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp

Be careful ~!

It is electricity, and for your own safety use your head around it.
Being a Licensed Electrician doesn't make me any better then anyone else, just teaches how to do a little more then most.
one thing to note, is that your paint will bubble and peel if it has any rust under it such as nicks scratches etc.

4 hrs in (11pm cst) I turned off the setup and left the tank soaking due top the amount of steel/rust buildup on the rods (they need to be cleaned every now and then as per the website addresses in it's instructions.

[Buffalo Bill]

Don't need to coat?

I've used Zep Calcium Lime & Rust remover with great results. Doesn't hurt your paint, and is done in about 24 hours. Apparently it doesn't hurt the environment either. No need to coat the inside after.

Rudy, is it really that easy? Can the tank be left uncoated afterwards? That seems to make sense if the rust is light, and the tank was never coated to begin with.
Bill

[Billy Ricks]

I know some people have trouble finding phosphoric acid at Home Depot. It can be found where I live in the paint department. You may have to ask for concrete etcher. I just checked a few days ago and at least locally they do carry it. Works great on rust and won't harm solid metal. If you don't plan on filling the tank right away use a little motor oil in some paint thinner and slosh it around the tank to coat the bare metal with a little oil to preventflash rust from coming back. A gallon of the acid only runs about $13 at Home Depot. It's made by Behr.

[kruppy761]

I just did a tank cleaning,

1. Empty gas out, after throughly soaking your shoes, clothes, and eveyrthing else while trying to pour out of the cap hole and petcock hole, remove fuel sensor, flush tank with water (if rust is as bad as mine; hearing flakes and pieces roll around in tank) then allow tank to sit for a day or so to dry change clothes and listen to the woman complain about the stench of gas.

2. Put some screws, bolts, BB's or something in tank. Shake until arms are tired. Rest and repeat side to side motion seems to be most efficient.

3. Remove screws with a magnet and vaccuum all the crap out, shake to ensure most of it is sucked up.

4. Add rust remover, I used Purple Power(contains phosphuric acid found it at autozone as I couldn't find just the acid) I guess you could use something else; this is just my exxperience, roll around in tank and let sit (I left mine for about 1 hour).

5. Empty residual acid and allow to dry.

6. Put the screws in again, shake again and vaccuum out again.

7. Pour in some oil to coat tank so it doesn't rust, add some gas to rinse any excess.

Good luck, it's a... great time... worth it anyway.

[trippivot]

dude!!! muriatic acid is what you want!! go to the pool section of wallymart



I have used C.L.R. as well but takes 2 weeks

[highmileage]

Ditto on that. I've known several guys who used muriatic acid for cleaning the insides of tanks.

This is the product that I plan on trying sometime soon: http://www.hirschauto.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CRK%2D01

[biker_guy]

Ok will that stuff from wallyworld clean out the red coat stuff?? I like to not think of my self as stupid just I have to see things for my self. Don't use red coat. I don't know if I didn't do it right or what but it's a BIG puddle in the bottom of my tank and I and NOT going to put it back on the bike with that stuff in there. I know what you guys said I just already had the stuff so I used it.

And I'm really starting to get ticked off at this town I'm in and the tank I've got. When I call a radiator shop they're like Who's ever herd of that? in the most absoulte red neck beverly hill billies look proper kinda tone.

[alke46]

tank cleaning

While we are on this subject, I too have a tank that someone else coated and it looks like crap.
Will all of these steps mentioned properly clean it back down to the bare metal?
Thanks guys,

Larry

[cloudbreakmd]

I've used Zep Calcium Lime & Rust remover with great results. Doesn't hurt your paint, and is done in about 24 hours. Apparently it doesn't hurt the environment either. No need to coat the inside after.

Will this work on very heavy rust?

[cloudbreakmd]

dude!!! muriatic acid is what you want!! go to the pool section of wallymart

I am thinking of going this route but how do you neutralize it in the tank or get it out without destroying the paint on the outside of the tank?

[Riding Again]

I am thinking of going this route but how do you neutralize it in the tank or get it out without destroying the paint on the outside of the tank?

In the same section, by a pH test kit and move on over and pick up some baking soda.

Add the baking soda about 1/2 cup at a time to the acid. Test with the pH kit and when it comes up to about 6-7, empty the tank.

Flush with water to get rid of the acid/baking soda mixture, then rinse several times with some rubbing (typically 70% isopropanol) alcohol to remove the water. The alcohol will evaporate and any residual will mix with the gasoline.

If you shop carefully you can find 90% isopropanol which will evaporate quicker and mix better with gasoline if any remains.

This will work regardless of the acid used. You'll use roughly 3x the amount of soda if neutralizing phosphoric acid. This is assuming the phosphoric and muriatic acids are at the same concentrations (Laymans terms as I know some of you understand normality and molarity. A possibly advanced topic for this forum).

[cloudbreakmd]

Okay... Next question. How do I plug the outlet for the petcock? What do I use?