any one have any rust remedies for inside a fuel tank?

Ive had my bike apart for two months now slowly prepping for paint and polishing up some very oxidized alluminum. I drained the fuel out of the tank when I took the tank off and put some tape over the filler cap and petcock holes. I'm almost finished painting, but notced that quite abit of rust has scaled the inside of my tank. What can I use to get rid of it. Ive heard of the por -15, and kreem, but heard also that it will eat through paint. Especially fresh paint! I would hate to ruin my fresh paint job by having this stuff ooz out the seams of the taped off holes. I there any other solution that would be a little more paint friendly?

 

thanks snow sherriff ! That was a very informative link. I may give that method a try. Any one else got any solutions to remedy the inside of a rusty gas tank?

 

I just finished using the POR15 tank sealer kit, and it did a pretty good job. The only concern I have is whether or not I rotated the tank enough to get all the inner surface area coated as needed. But the areas that I can see look very good now.

The electrolisis method will most likely be a more sure-fire method to get it all , but I'm satisfied with my results.

best of luck!

 

what did you use to seal the fuel filler hole and the petcock hole? I'm just worried that the rust cleaner is going to seep out and ruin my new paint job

 

I used duct tape to cover the gas level sensor and petcock holes, it is waterproof for the time it takes to clean the tank.

Anyhow, I've used all kinds of tips and tricks, and here's what I prefer..... electrolysis followed by CLR treatment. You will need all the ingredients for the electrolysis (re-bar, a bunch of salt, a battery charger if I remember correctly), 3 bottles of CLR, some fogging oil, and 2 containers of gas-dry or similar gas tank water remover.

While the electrolysis method is pretty easy to do and takes out a large amount of the rust that is present, there was a fine layer of rust still left.
So enter the CLR! After the electrolysis treatment make sure to rinse the tank pretty well, then IMMEDIATELY proceed with the CLR. Buy about 3 bottles of it, and really work at squirting it all over the inside of the tank. Then swish it around until your arms are about to fall off. Then dilute it by filling the tank to the brim with water, and swish it some more to mix the solution. Let the solution sit for 10 minutes or so. Empty and rinse extremely well with cold water. Get all the water out that you can and then spray the inside of the tank with fogging oil. Make sure you coat all the area inside the tank - it always amazes me how fast a "wet" tank can flash rust.

Now put the petcock and gas level sensor back on. Fill the tank with a fair amount of gas and pour in the gas-dry or other gas tank water remover. Swish this around and mount the tank back on the bike.

Don't take a joy ride, instead make a bee-line for the nearest gas station. Fill the tank to the brim and now enjoy the fruits of your labor. Ride! Keep the tank filled when the bike is out of service for an extended period and you'll never have to do this again!

Oh - and also, since you can never be too careful I'd also suggest using an in-line fuel filter. This treatment stirs up a lot of gunk and no matter how much you rinse, there's still a chance some of that "rust dust" will make it past the petcock.

Hope this helps! It made the inside of my gas tank turn from fugly into nice and shiny. And the best part is all of the ingredients used are safe for the environment, you aren't polluting one bit.

Chad

 

thanks for all your responses! I ended up using the por-15 treatment. I seemed to work really well, except for the fact that no mater how well I taped up those holes in the bottom of the tank, It still spilled all over my paint job, ruining the new paint work. Thank god I used a rattle can, cuz these paint shop guys would of stole the shirt off of my back!

 

I cut out blanks from 1/4" aluminum plate, drilled the holes to match the petcock and fuel sender, and used rtv to seal the holes. No leaks, no worries.

 

your the Man Robert!!

 

I've always used the poor folks method. 1/8 tank of gas, and a sleeve of BB's. shake until satisfied. Pour out BB's

 

I made steel plates like Robert but instead of RTV I just cut up an old bicycle tube and used that as a gasket.

 

he best way to remove the rust is ... a bunch of beebee's and about a quart of oil ... put all the fittings in and the cap ... and slosh it ... then of course fish the beebee's out ... Its great for a generally clean with spots of rust in the tank ... because it will rust again, and you fillt it with gas etc ... will greatly slow down that rusting. You have to coat to stop rust.
POR and Kreem will not eat paint they both more than likely will spill out and ooze and make a ugly ass white or silver line ... The general idea is to paint after coating inside ... except when powder coating it ... heat for curing the powder will burn the POR or kreem.
I like kreem, in case you have to remove it in the future. POR is permanent ... hate that. OK stripper will get it off, but how do you get it out ???
Cool.
Srinath.

 

I like the bicycle gasket tip, thanks HG, I'm going to look into it (reusable too!). I have been told by a few old timers that #8 stainless nuts are one excellent way to chip out rust in a tank (quite a few more corners than a BB eh?).

 

I tried the bicycle tube, and the strips of alluminum that I drilled holes thru, then sealed the bottom holes by putting a washer and screw in the srew holes,...It still leaked. The marine clean, and the second step of the por-15 did leave silver whitish streaks down the side of my tank and exposed the primer. When I had originally painted my tank before the por-15 treatment, there was hardly any rust in the tank. But because this has been a slow moving project as far as having time to work on this bike, even more rust had moved inside and thats when I realized I had to do something. Now she finally is sealed and thats all behind me now

 

Just a word of warning. Rattle can paint is NOT fuel resistant. Spilling gas will eat it away, and leave streaks. You must seal the paint with a mixed clear coat. You can buy mixable paint in small quantities, and a reuseable aerosol sprayer. http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

Nachoman

 

Beadblasting the inside will remove the rust and leave it clean and bare metal. I've first used aluminum oxide to cut the rust then switched to glass bead to clean and polish...It works well and if you keep the gun in the filler hole you won't mess up the exterior paint...Regunner

 

Grand process that blaster but the "poke it in the hole and hope it gets everything" process leaves a lot of area untouched. There is a much easier way which does not require the risk of particulate contamination. One of our breatheren posted a "how to" using water, salt and a battery charger. Cheap, easy and best of all, no icky chemicals to have to dispose of when your done. Just rinse with alcohol and air dry. Hit the search function at the top of the page, it is a simple process and very inexpensive.

 

Hello all, if you need to most of the local paint stores can mix up automotive paint colors and put them into aresol cans for your paint work if needed. Most bikes don't take a great amount of paint, and if you don't have the spray equiptment it is a good way to repaint your bike. They can also tell you what to seal it with and put that into a spray can for you as well.