How did the factory do it?

A question came up in conversation recently in a discussion about fuel tank aftermarket sealants. Some folks have had good luck with some products; others had bad luck, and perhaps the results reflected the prep that went into the job. BUT, no doubt the factory making the fuel tanks did not originally (and do not today) use these aftermarket products. SO what did they originally use to paint the inside of the tanks? My 33 year old tank is still not rusty inside so what ever they used was pretty good stuff. Is there any way to find out what it was or what is used by factories today, so that maybe folks repairing/restoring tanks can use the same stuff? Does anyone on this site have access to factory information? Inquiring minds want to know. Ed

Ed:
My 28 year old tank was completely rust free until a couple of years ago. Then I removed the tank for painting, blowing it out with compressed air. The tank sat up for a few weeks before I finished the paint project. I had the openings taped over, but the Gulf Coast humidity caused a very mild amount of surface rust to form, which I discovered after removing the tape.

My theory is, that as long as there was some fuel in the tank, it may keep oxygen in the air from attacking the surface. I can see no evidence that the factory had put any type of coating inside the tank. I could be wrong. Anybody else have an opinion?

I read an article here about how to clean a tank. They suggested that after you clean the inside of the tank use wd40 to prevent flash rust until you can put gas in it.

As far as those sealants go. I think Kreem is a brand name.
Once you put that in a tank your time left on the tank is ticking. once it fails you are worse off than you were before.
If you have a leak something like that may be your only option to give you time to replace the tank. But I would never put it in as a preventive measure.

It also drop's the value of your bike to a educated buyer.

The article on here about tank cleaning is really good. I'd check that out.

I didn't think they put anything on it, it's just plain old steel I believe.
Which is why if kept fumed out and empty when not in use, and by no means ever introducing H2O into it, they stay perfect. (I have a 77,80,83 tank, all mint inside) The slightest amount of moisture introduced and you end up with what all steel looks like when left to the elements. So if you're too lazy to empty and fume out your tank for long storage periods, at least have the decency to be lazy enough to put in both a fuel stabilizer and a moisture removal additive.

"tank Liners are total crap!"
I've personally seen many tanks done in by these after market so called fixes. They just make a recoverable tank, pretty much unrecoverable after thier application. I've never seen anyone use them and not land with fuel delivery problems a couple of years down the road. LOL
I'm amazed that after so many years of horrid results/reviews these products are still being made and sold. ((but then people do buy MIGHTY PUDDY, roflmao))

Funnier yet, is that at the cost of most of them, you could just take the dang tank to a rad shop and have it put in an acid bath to remove all rust and moisture. Then repaint and take care of it.

HINT: I've seen people put water inside tanks for various reasons, it's like standing at a grave side. Heh. Whatever genius tells you (even if it's yourself) to put water in your tank for one reason or another, that is the person you Most want to Ignore.

As for the factory tanks, I believe they were "flashed" in a caustic bath. I know there was some kind of electrolisys setup in the bath, zinc or something else... guessing on element.

Tank liners can work fantastic, if the prep is correct.
The answer is steam, real high pressure steam.
I take all the tanks I'm going to recover to a local rad speciallist who hooks it up to a steam machine that seals to the tank and pumps ultra hot steam through it. You can litteraly see the tank expand slightly!

Afterwards, its all just plain shiney new metal inside. He throws in what I believe is acetone and shakes it around for a minute, then puts it on a dryer machine. Ten minutes later, in goes the coating in a very abundant volume, shake-shake, hangs up to drain.

Just like a diesel truck rad, and it lasts so far, indefinately. Been many years of happy clients I'm told, and the guy is like 70 yrs old.



Water in the tank is only ok if it is followed up immediately with generous water repellant like oil/wd40/penetrant/etc. Gotta protect that metal or it flash rusts very fast.

x2 on the rad shop tecnique.lots of bike tanks been done at our local shop by the same guy and since peeps are still bringing bike tanks in,I assume it must work.The pickup truck spray bedliner stuff works well too.Thats what Im using and it has worked great so far.bj

I read an article here about how to clean a tank. They suggested that after you clean the inside of the tank use wd40 to prevent flash rust until you can put gas in it. ..

He wasn't really asking how to treat tank rust.
Personally, I think wd40 is too thin & kinda evaporates. A better alternative would be snowmobile fogging oil. Or use motor oil & roll the tank around to coat it.

JMKZHI wrote:

[ He wasn't really asking how to treat tank rust.

Correct, thanks! I was asking if anyone knew what the factory originally used on the inside of the tanks. Ed

650ed wrote:

JMKZHI wrote:

[ He wasn't really asking how to treat tank rust.

Correct, thanks! I was asking if anyone knew what the factory originally used on the inside of the tanks. Ed

Gasoline.

testarossa wrote:

650ed wrote:

JMKZHI wrote:

[ He wasn't really asking how to treat tank rust.

Correct, thanks! I was asking if anyone knew what the factory originally used on the inside of the tanks. Ed

Gasoline.

survey says: :woohoo:

Ed, The answer is Fish Oil!....Smart People!

testarossa wrote:

650ed wrote:

JMKZHI wrote:

[ He wasn't really asking how to treat tank rust.

Correct, thanks! I was asking if anyone knew what the factory originally used on the inside of the tanks. Ed

Gasoline.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: You'd think I could have figured that out on my own. :laugh: