Rust in tank

Hey,just got paint back and all looks fantastic,but there is rust in my tank now i guess from the water involved with the paint job.He had it 4 months.Any solutions for this .Please help!

Be careful. There are a lot of tank flush kits and instructions on the internet and Eastwood (eastwood.com) makes some nice rust removal products.

But I'd be really worried about any chemicals coming near that paint.

Anything you put in the tank has to be drained out. No matter how careful I try to be, when the stuff comes draining out the petcock holes, it just seems to run all over the place.

I'd call Eastwood and ask if they have any rust removal products that won't harm your paint.

Oh, one more thing. After you get the rust out and BEFORE you put gas in, you might want to coat the tank with something like Red Kote.

I had a tank repainted, took it off the bike, flushed it and sent it to the paint shop. Came back and looked beautiful.

Put in on the bike, filled her up and within days the paint started to bubble in a couple spots.

The tank had developed two tiny pinhole leaks. Too small to see, but they were there.

I just found this product called Metal Rescue.Safe for paint,hands,.ect.Just pour it in and let it sit,and flush it out and looks new.Anybody used this before.

i am soooo glad you posted this...i have two nice tanks that are on deck for painting/learning to paint...


trouble is....


they came with a nice mold layer of rust......i had heard about acetone and some sections of small chain link dropped in as a scrubby...shake and sit...shake and sit...

my paint is not important as they will get stripped- blasted - sanded -to metal later....

excellent thread....

anyone want to push their favorite liner kits please chime in

reading with interest....rust in tank removal..

It looks like i will be going with the Metal Rescue.
Safe and it gets ALL the rust out.

Looking at the Red Kote that Topper mentioned to maybe sealing after.Or maybe it will be good without sealer?

Rust Remover does look pretty cool and the Rust Remover Girls make a good case for their product

I'd still be wary of the safe for paint claim. Test it out before you try it. Maybe on something around the garage that's been spray painted. Better safe than sorry.

Red Kote was really easy to apply. I might have put mine on a little thicker than necessary though.

You just seal up the petcock hole, pour some into the tank, seal up the filler hole and then slowly turn the tank. The idea is to get the Red Kote to flow into all the little nooks and crannies, but not really settle any where. After doing this for a few minutes, you open up the tank and drain the product back into the can. What comes out of the tank can be used again.

I used the method described in one of the site articles on the front page with great success. I didn't put in a liner product, but you easily could once cleaned out. Photo show's the results in the thread. I'm happy with it - it was a cheap and thorough removal.

If careful, paint will be fine. But the acid used will eat the paint if you have a booboo.

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...d=6&id=387453#387453

That's a great thread. That's basically what I did too but I wish I'd seen the thread before cleaning my tank.

The part I had the biggest problem with though was draining the rust remover (muriatic acid in your case) out without it getting on the tank.

I'd pull the tape off the holes where the petcock is and try to drain into a bucket, but the stuff wouldn't come out in a nice stream. Instead it seemed to just splash and run everywhere. I opened the filler hole to make sure there wasn't a vacumme thing going on.

With a lot of aftermarket paint jobs, it doesn't take much to damage them. I've seen just gas fumes do it. So be careful.

I just did a tank this afternoon. It had been custom painted pro bono several years ago, so I had to be careful about not ruining it. I used a 50/50 mix of muriatic-acid & water. Always add acid to water. I put a qt of water in a pitcher then the acid then used a big funnel when pouring. The rust was light and it came right off. I rotated the tank slowly for a short while to be sure to get all of the surface.

While draining it & afterwards, I rinsed it out w copious amounts of water using a water hose (spray nozzle removed so that the flow wouldn't be interrupted). After draining, i shook out as much water as possible, then used an air compressor to dry it further, tipping the tank on end so that the water would settle at the bottom near the bung openings.

Lastly, I sprayed some lubricant in there. I had some Bel-Ray 6-in-1, so that 's what I used, rotating it to coat it thoroughly. This is one case when WD-40 might be a good product to use - I believe the WD stands for water displacement. Normally, I hate the stuff. hee.

To seal up the tank before getting started, I made up some block-off plates for the bung openings - thick sheet rubber & 1/8" oak wood scraps. I got a 1-1/2" freeze plug (compression plug) for the tank opening. It has a bolt thru it w a wing nut so that tightening by hand was easy.

Hi Guys!

I've gotten the muriatic acid on the paint plenty. It don't hurt nothing as long as you don't turn your back on it for a day or two.

Bill

Sh!t, I wasn't about to risk a free paint job. I'd still use copious amounts of water on it. :laugh: