Just painted tank, has rust IN it

I took off the masking tape and found surface rust.

I rinsed it out with water and dryed it out with the exhaust end of a wet dry vac blowing through the tank while it sat in the sun.

Now I see brawn crap on the bottom of the tank. I wat to go get some pea gravel, wash it, put some in the tank, then shake it with water in there, then rinse and dry it again, the put in gas conditioner and gasoline.

Sound like a bad idea? Warn me against it if you think so, or if you have a better idea. I will go shopping for the gravel now and I will check the site before I commence with the stupidity.

Wish me luck.

Rust never stops once it starts.

A lot of others will argue, but I've done three tanks with POR-15 and helped with a fourth and had excellent results.

Yes, you'll have to seal it with por15, kreem or the like. Looks like your new paint job is in jeopardy. Just the fumes from cleaning out the tank with acetone ect will probably strip the paint off.

I think everyone has gone through this one already. I fixed the problem as I got lucky and found a brand new tank for 200.
Before I did I acid washed and had all of the rust removed from my tank. They sell it at the bike shop. It is a two step process. Muriatic acid and neutralizer. The problem went away for a season and then it came back a little. Once the tank rusts it does seem to be an issue that like a gremlin keeps coming back.
Did you read the post about rusty tanks? Problem with kreem is that the stuff dissolves after awhile and gets into the carbs.
There should be a process to coat the inside with plastic or something that would at once be impervious to gas and keep the tank from rusting out. I don't think Kreem is a permanent solution to that problem although others swear by it.
Would powder coating the inside work guys? Someone should know of a better way than kreem. If you just painted the tank that poses another snafu. Oh well, good luck on figuring that one out. I got frustrated with all of that and bought a newer bike until I found a brand new kz tank and at that price? I put her back together after I lost my other bike in a fire.

Qdude, sorry to hear that! When I worked at a dismantler we used to use muriatic acid. Remove the petcock, gas cap, seal up the holes, insert a few large washers and shake, shake, shake. Drain the crap, rinse with water and dry with compressed air. Finally, spray with WD-40 to displace any water. These tanks that we preped like this always had really good results. Shinny and clean!! Where do you get the acid? Unfortunatly I have no idea :huh: :huh:

Qdude wrote:

I took off the masking tape and found surface rust.

I rinsed it out with water and dryed it out with the exhaust end of a wet dry vac blowing through the tank while it sat in the sun.

Now I see brawn crap on the bottom of the tank. I wat to go get some pea gravel, wash it, put some in the tank, then shake it with water in there, then rinse and dry it again, the put in gas conditioner and gasoline.

Sound like a bad idea? Warn me against it if you think so, or if you have a better idea. I will go shopping for the gravel now and I will check the site before I commence with the stupidity.

Wish me luck.

This may sound crazy but water is the last thing to put in the tank; perhaps the rust isn't too bad. Get the pea gravel and maybe try some kerosene or diesel to put in the tank to swish around. I swished my with gravel and rocks the first shook the spit out of the tank until my arms felt like falling off which worked for a bit. Make sure you run an inline filter and clean out the tank and petcock really good. I got frustrated with that pos that kawasaki put on them and bought a nice petcock from pingel. That alone made the fuel flow so much better and I wasn't constantly fumbling with that extra press in nipple that is notorious for falling off The second time in addition to pebbles I did the muriatic acid treatment which worked for a couple of years as I recall but then I let the bike sit and it started to come back a little. Just make sure you really dry that sucker out quick and good with a blow dryer or something because metal rusts up really quick when it doesn't have the hardened coating on it. Once you do it you have to be on it like white on rice make sure the tank is full and that when you store it you completely drain the tank and put it inside warm and dry or use stabil. There is no really GREAT fix for that but maybe you will get lucky and doing it that way the first time may cure it.

One good thing about the influx of custom choppers are there are alot of welders/fabricators popping up all over the place. try taking the tank to one of them, see if they can split it, clean it, weld it back together. Option #2 is try ebay, and be patient. I had the same problem with a honda gas tank, bought one from a junkyard, that was rusty too, sent it back, 2 moths later i finally got another gas tank with rust still inside. During that time i believe there were 2 tanks that came up on ebay for half the price and twice the condition. Good luck!

The acid I bought at the yamaha shop. Instead of using the water the neutralizer i think was mainly isopropyl alcohol. That is the way I would go. I would stay away from the kreem because if is not done just right it will give you even more headaches. Try the pebbles or nuts and bolts but use at least rubbing alcohol or something to dry it out with and the wd40 excellent idea.

I used slingshot and pellet gun steel bb's

Put it in the dryer propped with towels. For an hour.

Rinsed it with white vinegar.

Rinsed with water.

Blew it out with the exhaust of the wet dry vac.

got it with the gas and went.

So far so good.

Got to go all, will keep you posted.

Now that for sure is American thinking. Dryer? Damn! I wish I would of thought of that. Of course I didn't have one at that time in my life everything was laundromat. I just know that would never have gone over well with the owners. Now that I have my own house I woulda tried that and the tank woulda leaked out or something. I must've shook that tank for half an hour to an hour straight! I couldn't even ride that bike for awhile after because I didn't have any strentgh after that. lol My mom thought I must've gone mad I am sure. May she rest in peace.

Took it 30 miles away to Seattle and back. Daring is my middle name. (my other two names are Herschell and Pantybottom)

Intentionally ran it completely dry of the first gallon of gas (that I put in it out of the little plastic emergency can I used to fill it up with initially after completing the fix). Including tipping the bike to get the last few drops from the right side to the left over the hump in the tank.

Filled the tank being careful not to get any on the new clear coat paint.

Rode it, and rode it some more. Seems no trouble from the contaminated gas tank.

Just gotta replace the lamps and mirror and wait for the panel and tach cover (all on the right side) and I'll be completely fixed from the crash.

The scooter is safely back in the back yard, I'm officially free-way ready again.

Q

Woo-hoo!!

And rustless so far!