Acid cleaning of gas tank

coppertales wrote:

Any special kind of epoxy? I have a tank that needs sealing and it has a couple pin holes in it.....chris3

Yes, you have to use the hardner. Sorry, I should have mentioned it. You only need to mix enough to do the job. It doesn't really take much, less than a cup full. Probably a half a cup.

coppertales wrote:

Any special kind of epoxy? I have a tank that needs sealing and it has a couple pin holes in it.....chris3

I use West System epoxy, but only because that is what I had left over from another job. It is a little pricey and probably any epoxy would work. The Caswell stuff mentioned above is certainly cheap enough. Tape over any pin holes, I use duct tape.

Thanks. I will give it a try. The tank I have was creamed so I need to remove that first. The pin holes are presently plugged with JB weld. The paint on the tank is toast so a repaint is necessary, bummer. I hope I can emulate the stock paint job. chris3

Pinholes too huh? I'd dig up another tank instead.

I second what OKC says , if it has pin holes then there is a weak spot or more in the tank,,, I dont want to play that game

For Patton... where do you buy enough BBs to fill a tank sufficiently for the shake-em up method? I would guess you would be turned into Homeland Security long before you got the tank 1/4 full of BBs bwhahahaha

I used a 4000 pack of BB's I bought a Wallyworld for about $6. Worked great, although my wife came home while I still had the tank in the dryer..I still hear about it 6 months later....

I love saltydogs method. For those of us who live in the real world. Saving money at any turn is a big help. thanks for help.

You mean i didn't have to use my super long needle nose pliers to peel off the creme?

Now you tell me.

Instead of BBs you could slosh a length of cheap swingset type chain around the inside. Comes back out in one piece.
I did it to a boat gas tank once. Used phosphoric acid along with the chain. Pulled it out, rinsed the tank, then immediately dumped in a quart of two stroke oil.
It didn't have any pin holes in it though. If that was the case, I would've just tossed the tank. Leaky gas tanks and boats don't get along too well IMO.

I have now been going threw this for over a month. Removing the rust is the simple part. There are quite a few different GOOD lining materials on the market POR-15 and KBS just to name two. (KREEM does not fall into the category of good)It is,removing the OLD epoxy stile liner that was once put in there and is now pealing off in sheets which is the problem. I have been experimenting with many different solvents to try to do this and none work. See thread, kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=6&id=287915 When using chain to chip the old rust off with Muriatic acid which works very well. Just make sure that the chain (or anything els for that matter) is not Galvanized. This can produce a very dangerous, sometimes explosive condition. This is not a good condition to have when you are dealing with Acid. After cleaning the rust with Muriatic acid (which you can buy at any good hardware store) It is a good idea to use Phosphoric Acid afterwards. This will Phosphate coat the tank and will promote maximum adhesion of any other sealer used next. The way to seal pin holes is to put a small dent over the pinhole and solder it closed with a good silver based plumbing solder being very careful not to over heat the surrounding metal. I just took a tank to a local radiator shop just to see how well they do the job and how much it will cost me, and the total job was $150 including the soldering of the pin holes and sealing of the tank. The amount of time you will spend cleaning the tank and on the materials required to do it (not to mention of ruining a pair of trousers and a shirt most likely) It is not worth doing it yourself. The only thing you want to do yourself is to remove the old tank sealer. The radiator and tank shops burn it out, and this softens the metal and can cause other corrosion problems. A quart of aviation grade paint stripper and Two cups of pennies to spread it around in the tank is about the only good and reliable way to remove it. The pennies are reusable and the stripper can be washed out with a mild acid solution or pressure washed out. Other solvents are ineffective.
I've tried them all.