??CLEANING TARNISH OUT OF GAS TANK FROM OLD GAS??

I have the tank off my bike and you can smell the old gas is horrible smelling,should i rinse it out good with some
lacquer thinner or what would work best,there is no rust inside of tank that i can see

Ted

thinners like that may cause you problems with your paint job what i would do is just use fresh gas and swirl it around as best as you can.then drain and repeat a few times.

and buy a collection of inline filters and change often

If you have any of the brown tar build up in the tank, I would go to a auto supply store and buy a gallon of carburetor cleaner to loosen it up. Regular gas will not dissolve that muck and most solvents wont either. I just bought an old tank from eBay and have a bit of experience in this. I wound up using a pressure washer and boiling the tank in mild acid.

My tank was an absolute mess inside with rust. Radiator shop cooked it out, soldered up a couple of leaks and then coated it inside. All that for $53:)

Even after the cooking in the hot tank, the 30 year old Kawasaki paint had to be blasted off.

The shop around here charges $85 for that service. This tank, after i could hit some of the inside with the pressure washer was pristine metal. The built up muck,however was over an eighth of an inch thick. When I pulled out the fuel sending unit, I had a hell of a time pulling it out, how it was tared in.

its not really that awfull bad its just got that tarnish smell,a guy told me to drain all the gas out cap the petcock off and put a whole large bottle of lemmon juice the green bottle of concentrate,he said thats all he use on carbs and tanks,that was a new one on me.
the last tank i had rust in and cleaned it was a square tank
off a cub cadet tractor i took a hand full of pee gravel for mixing in concrete and put it on a paint shaker and shook the heck out of it till it was just about clean and added a pint or so of zylene and shook it some more with the gravel and the zylene and it looked like new when i was done.
this tank is not as bad as the tractor was,this guy buy me swears buy the lemmon juice i think i will try it,
i will let everyone know hoe it works.
the trick with the gravel in the tank was my dads idea he told me thats how they cleaned there stainless thermos bottles so i tried it on the tank but with the paint shaker and it looked just like new inside when i was done


Ted

the problem with gravel, is getting it all out. I use pennies to do the same thing. What many guys use is a section of chain, which I hear works very well. It is very easy to remove. Vinegar works just as well as Lemon juice and is much cheaper. You can also go to the hardware store and get a bottle of muriatic acid. It is specifically intended for this kind of work. It dissolves rust very quickly without harming virgin steel.

otakar wrote:

If you have any of the brown tar build up in the tank, I would go to a auto supply store and buy a gallon of carburetor cleaner to loosen it up. Regular gas will not dissolve that muck and most solvents wont either.

+1 Acetone (which is the main ingredient in carb cleaner) is what works on oxidized gas varnish.

Do NOT let it touch the paint.

otakar wrote:

the problem with gravel, is getting it all out. I use pennies to do the same thing. What many guys use is a section of chain, which I hear works very well. It is very easy to remove. Vinegar works just as well as Lemon juice and is much cheaper. You can also go to the hardware store and get a bottle of muriatic acid. It is specifically intended for this kind of work. It dissolves rust very quickly without harming virgin steel.

i know exactly what you mean about getting all the gravel out when i did the tank on the tractor i had a heck off a time getting one piece of gravel out,i have a whole gallon of muratic acid i mentioned using it to my son in law,i think i may just try it.
this bike is actually in pretty decent shape i wish i would have took some pics of it when i brought it home this thing was terrible filthy,from just sitting uncovered in a garage,but is cleaning up pretty nice.
the mag wheels are gonna take a lot of elbow though

Ted

For anyone who might not already know, should keep muratic acid away from aluminum parts.

Good Luck!

patton
thanks for the reminder
i messed some aluminum parts up once 24yrs or so ago on a 79'440 yamaha SRX that we drag raced,if i remember right the aluminum parts it got on it turned them grey were it got on them and ruined them,
they never would polish up good after that

Ted