light rust in the fuel tank

Ok first this is not my bike ..
my friend has and 82 honda which i helped him get running. and he is riding it now.
i noticed some light rust in the tank.
its very slight and from what i could touch it wipes off.
whats the best way to address this?

It really depends on how much time and expense you want to put into it.

The easiest and cheapest way is to drain it and pour a gallon of plain white vinegar in there and swash it around. Let it set for an hour or so and repeat the swashing/shaking and have a look. If the rust is gone then you have to drain and flush the vinegar out. Some folks put in a couple of tablespoons of Baking Soda in the flush water to neutralize the acid. Then rinse it a few times. Now is the tricky part. You have to drain and dry it before it flash rusts again. You can get it as dry as you can by draining then immediately fill it with gasoline and about a 1/2 can of Heet. Change the fuel filter and off you go. The Heet is there to absorb whatever water is left in there.

One tip is to remove the petcock to aid in draining.

The other option is to just fill it with gas and put a new fuel filter on it and ride it. You may find the rust is gone in a day of riding and the filter will pick it up.

Others will suggest you do a complete drain, clean and lining the tank. And that will work but it is expensive and in my experience that would be a last resort only on a heavily rusted tank.

thanks man. its light flash rust . so i think ill tell him to ride it .
i was wondering if adding a little seafaom or something would help.
I dont really want to go through pulling the tank,petcock,fuel level sensor and all that.
plus i dont want to be the one to damage paint lol

After you clean it with what ever method you choose, fill it with a gasoline mixture of 50:1, high quality racing 2-stroke oil and gas.
You can drive the bike until empty with that mixture and have virtually no negative impact on performance and or fouling!

Keeping it full of gas when in winter storage helps to prevent reoccurrences.

Work Shop Hero - Rust Restore. Pour in, let it sit and rotate it around and let it sit on all surfaces for like and 25 mins to and hour if it is really light rust and pour out. $26 at Home Depot. Water based, non-toxic, and reusable.

Cory