A Rust-Littered Fuel Tank

swest wrote: In any event you should use a couple of these.
Steve

Im still quite inexperienced with motorcycles. Not quite sure what I'm looking at; although if I had to guess, a filter.

If electrolysis isn't aggressive enough, another non-acid remedy is placing a couple of handfuls of sheet metal screws into the dry tank. Then wrapping and padding the tank well with cushions, towels, blankets, whatever, and tumbling it in the clothes dryer on non-heat setting for a few cycles.

If necessary, can use a telescoping magnet to remove the last screw or two.

Douche-rinse with common household rubbing alcohol.

To prevent flash-rust, allow the alcohol to dry and immediately douche-rinse with WD40, or better yet, rinse or spray with fogging oil.

Good Fortune!

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Atlamillias wrote:

swest wrote: In any event you should use a couple of these.
Steve

Im still quite inexperienced with motorcycles. Not quite sure what I'm looking at; although if I had to guess, a filter.

You can get them at any dirt bike/motorcycle shop. $5 a piece. They will get what your strainer misses.
Steve

Electrolysis works but you need line of site between the probe and all surfaces of the tank. You gotta keep the probe clean too. At the end of the day you are likely to have some spots that get missed.

I've used EvapoRust before and it's good stuff. Expensive and it has a limited life span. This is the best option in my opinion if you have a pristine paint job that you don't want to risk.

From what I've read vinegar works, but it's slow. The phosphate is what the pros use and it's much faster. It doesn't need to be neutralized either. I'm not sure what the city would say about dumping the stuff down the drain though. I've always save the stuff for reuse. It lasts for years.

Apple Cider Vinegar has worked great for me. But you need to rise in warm water to stop the process. If you just remove the part and dry it off it will flash rust very quickly. I had to remove old Kreem with acetone first. Rinsed that out with WD-40, Filled it with one gallon of Apple Cider Vinegar and several hand fulls of screws. I stood and shook and rotated it for as long as i could, set it down and after i recovered i shook it again. Repeated that process several times. Removed the screws and vinegar. Filled it to the top with fresh vinegar, let it stew a few days and it was like new. I rinsed then poured about a quart of WD-40 in and sloshed it around. sealed and it has been sitting for about 6 month and still looks like new.

I used brown vinegar. You need to wash it out after with washing soda to neutralize the vinegar,then warm soapy water to get rid of that,clean water ,to get rid of that then dry it (heat gun,hair dryer,compressed air,warm) and spray a bit of WD40 in to stop the flash rust (a little flash rust wont kill you).

If you guys don't have leaks in the tank do you feel like you need to coat the tank?

khungerf wrote: If you guys don't have leaks in the tank do you feel like you need to coat the tank?

I've had great success using Kleenstrip Metal Prep as sold by Home Depot to derust tanks. It's phosphoric acid and leaves behind a phosphate coating on the metal which helps ward off rust afterwards. If you do a really good job and make sure all the old rust is out of the tank I think you can leave the tank uncoated afterwards. Understand though, this process requires you to remove the petcock, sending unit, and cap and fashion some good plugs so the tank can sit for a day or two with the sauce inside. You gotta be careful when rinsing out the tank too as mentioned in my previous post. At any rate, I've done several tanks and didn't coat them afterwards and no new rust formed.

Nessism wrote:

khungerf wrote: If you guys don't have leaks in the tank do you feel like you need to coat the tank?

I've had great success using Kleenstrip Metal Prep as sold by Home Depot to derust tanks. It's phosphoric acid and leaves behind a phosphate coating on the metal which helps ward off rust afterwards. If you do a really good job and make sure all the old rust is out of the tank I think you can leave the tank uncoated afterwards. Understand though, this process requires you to remove the petcock, sending unit, and cap and fashion some good plugs so the tank can sit for a day or two with the sauce inside. You gotta be careful when rinsing out the tank too as mentioned in my previous post. At any rate, I've done several tanks and didn't coat them afterwards and no new rust formed.

Agreed! One thing I do to speed up the process is to flush the tank well with water and then while it's still wet, spray it liberally with WD 40 this will coat the metal and prevent any flash rusting as the tank is drying out.
Bill

Also, once the tank is rust-free and installed on the bike be sure to keep fuel in it. An empty tank can rust from condensation where a tank full of fuel won't. Ed

A quick word about WD-40...As most know, it IS a "water displacer' but I know from personal experience that after it evaporates, the residue that is left behind will actually CAUSE rust...it says right on the can that one can use it to "protect" guns, fishing tackle, &c...DO NOT DO IT! I pretty much trashed an old Stevens .22 rifle with the stuff! I I sloshed a quart or so of diesel fuel inside my tank to prevent flash rust, then dumped it out...

Keep in mind, how far rusted the tank is matters. Even with the milder phosphoric acid product, if the tank has rust that is bad, pinhole leaks will develop after the rust has been removed. If it's mild, I agree coating may not be needed. I had a bad 550 tank - 10+years rusted on the side of a house. After acid I had four or five pinhole leaks to patch up. I used KBS Gold Seal coating. That stuff is very good and easy to use - but don't get it on you or anything desired to keep, it will destroy everything when hardened. All the pinhole leaks were cured. R