POR-15, Kreem, boil?

It would seem im in need of a good de-rusting of my tank. Looking at POR-15, $40 doesnt seem bad at all if it works, havent heard good things about kreem.. My tanks pretty rusty, scaly, pretty bad, but no holes. (knocking wood).
Heard good things about being boiled, but $150.. Was thinking of taking it to a local welder/marine fabricator, see if he can split it, strip it, etc.. Anybody have any luck with the POR-15? This is closest to my budget? Any other luck or success stories on a budget?

I did the tank on my old Yamaha Vision.

They are known for the tanks rusting out from the inside, as well as for almost every part on them being made from unobtanium. :S

I used muratic(sp) acid and POR15. Stay away from kreem, I've heard nothing but bad about it.

I cleaned the inside of the tanks out with the acid and sloshed it around...I did this a couple times. It really works awesome. You can get it at Lowe's/Home Depot. It is used for cleaning concrete floors I think.

Then I thoroughly rinsed it out with water and let it dry completely.

I put duck tape over all the pinholes in the tank, then filled it with the POR15 and made sure it was completely coated. I do not think you can recoat it a second time if you don't get the coverage you want the first time.

Then you dump out the excess and let it dry.

It worked great, sealed all my leaks from the pinholes and the tank seams and the tank looked brand new inside.

Are you planning on repainting it? If not, be careful as the acid is serious stuff and will take the paint right off, and the por15 doesn't come off one it get's on something either. I know, the shoes I am wearing as I type this still have it on there, a year later! :laugh:

violentvintagecycles wrote:

It would seem im in need of a good de-rusting of my tank. Looking at POR-15, $40 doesnt seem bad at all if it works, havent heard good things about kreem.. My tanks pretty rusty, scaly, pretty bad, but no holes. (knocking wood).
Heard good things about being boiled, but $150.. Was thinking of taking it to a local welder/marine fabricator, see if he can split it, strip it, etc.. Anybody have any luck with the POR-15? This is closest to my budget? Any other luck or success stories on a budget?

If not trying to preserve the existing paint, a radiator shop should be able to boil it out for a rust-free interior.

If wanting to preserve the existing paint, there are several other interior restoration methods worthy of consideration.

I prefer a clean rust-free tank interior (as originally delivered from MaKaw) and without using any aftermarket interior coating. Always keeping the tank filled with reasonably fresh gas (and using "Stabil" for longer term storage) works for me.

As mentioned by tachrev, an interior coating will be needed to cover any pinholes. The radiator shop usually also has a satisfactory product for this purpose.

Good Luck!

I used Kreme (3 part) in my tank available at the local motorcycle distributor $25.... I was pretty amazed (spotless) how clean it got..

Then the 3rd part being a sealer, no issues (leaks, boil, peeling etc...) what so ever...

OMR

It may be the old KREEM that was a problem, not sure if it has changed over the years.

Thats what kept me from using it.

I saw a lot of picture of it peeling off and clogging up petcocks.

I used Red-Kote on both of my tanks, works like a charm. It's a polymer and stays flexible meaning it won't chip or peel off. They say it will cover and seal in the rust but I cleaned both out with muriatic acid first, didn't like the idea of rust being in there...

I never used the first tank 81 KZ750LTD it just sits there pretty in primer for about 3years now I think, been tempted to put it through some "testing" :evil: but I would hate to waste a good tank...

They are listing it for $21 a quart on their website, I guess it's plus shipping, anyways I paid about $40 for a quart at the time using about 1/2 of it for the 750 tank and it seemed like a good deal.

www.4secondsflat.com/Fuel_Tank_Sealer.html

if youre going to repaint it take it to a radiator shop and have it cleaned out for $20-30 bucks

There's nothing wrong with Kreem. It works just fine. The problem is the acid part of the kit is what 6oz? So you mix 6oz of acid with 3 or 4 gallons of water and that tank is etched clean and bright, then kreem sticks? I'm afraid not. If you do the muriatic acid thing with enough strength to do the job, kreem works just fine. As far as I can tell POR15, Kreem and others are really similar products. It's all in the prep, just like painting which I don't do thankfully, but ones who do know what would happen if you just painted right over existing paint without prep. It would peel right off. Even with prep it will peel off, but at least take longer to do so.:laugh:

This link has the details of the first POR-15 job I did almost five years ago. Since then I've done several more tanks all with good results.

I am heading out in about 20 minutes to pick up my tank from a local radiator shop. He told me that they do not dunk the tanks any more because of the EPA. They actually circulate a product threw the inside to clean it. This place has also been doing gas tank repairs for over 35 years on both cars and bikes they use a sealer something like POR-15 but it is totally clear. I saw a tank when I dropped mine off and it was like new on the inside. If there are any holes in the tank and you are planing to repaint it, he solders them up before sealing the tank. the entire cost including repairing 3 holes is $90. If you add up what you will spend on the sealant, the acid and the time you spend making plugs and everything els, the $90 is worth every Penny.

So what if you get a tank with a crappy KREEM job, how do you get it out? Muriatic acid?

kreem works excellent but it does have one big problem tho. follow the directions to the letter and it works awesome don't follow them and you end with trouble it never fails that every body thinks they know more than the people that made the stuff and take shortcuts just like some people like to do with carbs it will never work right if that is the way you do things in half measures take the time and do it right. and you won't have anymore problems for years don't do it right and cut some corners and you'll have nothing but grief.