Gas tank refinishing and general paint stripping

Hi all,

I've got a gas tank that I'd like to refinish inside and out. Some scratches and dents on the exterior, some rust on the inside -- nothing too serious.

First: my current plan is to take the cider vinegar approach to cleaning the tank's interior (I'm not in a particular hurry). Once I've taken the rust out and removed the vinegar, does anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent it from rusting again until I can get the exterior refinished? Alternately, should I get the exterior redone first before tackling the inside, so I can just put gasoline in it right away?

There's a sizable dent on the side of my tank, a little above the "S" and "A" of the Kawasaki logo. I'm trying to get it pulled out using a glue-gun dent-puller, but after 5-10 attempts am not making any progress that I can see. Any tips or alternatives would be appreciated! [For some reason, this won't post if I have an attached photo - I'll try again later]

Last, a general paint stripping question. I've read that using paint stripper on corners, seams, edges, etc. can be a little tricky, and is prone to leaving unseen paint stripper residue that will ruin the subsequent paint job. (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this point!) However, there are a lot of small parts I'd like to strip and repaint/powder coat, like the brake master cylinder exterior. Since this part in particular has lots of nooks, crannies, edges, etc., is there a preferred method to stripping its paint other than regular paint stripper or spending ages sanding?

Thanks for all your help.

I sprayed mine with WD-40 after using vinegar on mine. Followed by my air gun for a bit, followed by more WD-40. I still got just a bit of flash rust. But I didn't see it as a big issue. I figured it will get dissolve once it gets a full tank of gas. I have never had any issues with it.

The metal on motorcycle tank is thicker than a car body's panels. Hard to use a dentless system. But not impossible with the right tools. One method I saw was to use a blood pressure cuff. Here is a link.


Never tried that myself, But might we worth a shot. May not work as well on small dents.

I worked for a solvent/chemical company

A few of us gear heads would do our "government" jobs on night shifts

M/C tanks we did.. We used with caustic soda or caustic acid.. Smelt like it had vinegar but when shooked up would heat and almost boil.. With the petrol cap off due to pressure build up this would so insanely clean the inners of a tank in 1 hour..

Not sure if anyone can get it locally but wow..afterwards we we flush it out with dry gas which the chemical we used was called MEOH...

I found the vinegar takes too long.I had better luck with filling the tank with old nuts and bolts and poured in some clr ,Shake the hell out of it; the tank came out rather nice inside.Rinse it out and fill it with gas right away.

I got tired of fighting mine all the time. I only had surface rust but it was constant. I used a POR15 kit. It is awesome stuff. I have used a lot of their products and have never had one fail. Guys will say not to coat the tank but I personally disagree. Then again there are guys that don't like points or pods either. I do not suggest using Cream to coat the tank. POR15 is the only one I will endorse.

i used oxalic acid. very effective in less than an hour. heres a thread discussing its use. www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/vintage...fe-rusted-tanks.html

Hmmmmm I noticed a big bag of Oxalic Acid at work,might just have to borrow some