Kreem removel

Any suggestions removing that nasty Kreem out of petro tank. That crap is just crap.

thanks in advance

Acetone dissolves Kreem.

Be careful to keep acetone off paint.

Good Fortune!

What seems to be the issue with your tank resto job using Kreem? When I'm too impatient to wait for POR-15 to ship out to me, I just get the Kreem set locally, and have always had good results. I've done several tanks with Kreem, and cannot complain about the results. However, I do prefer the POR better.

I've had two tanks that previous owners had used Kreem in them. The first was a really good kz900 tank with excellent paint and no damage. The tank had been Kreemed but it was coming off in sheets inside the tank. I took it to a guy who cut two 1" holes in the underside of the tank. Then using some specialized nozzles, he sand blasted the entire inside of the tank. The holes were neatly brazed up and the tank is like new inside to this day. That was 4 years ago and the tank. That fellow has now closed his business and retired.

At the time I didn't know of any other way to so a good job of cleaning the inside of the tank. I now have a method I use myself that is quite effective. The problem is that you may require a paint job as well if great care is not taken.

You'll require the following:
-One gallon of paint stripper from your local paint/hardware store
-On litre of Muriatic Acid (use great care, it is very caustic)
-One litre of Phosphoric acid (one brand name is Rust Mort made by SEM)
-Handful of nuts and screws
-Rubber gloves, goggles, coveralls
-Other stuff

-First make plugs for the petcock hole and filler neck (gas cap is not sufficient)
-If you want to preserve the paint job, mask off the entire tank with many layers
-Put in the bung for the petcock. I used a cylindrical piece of rubber with a hole thru it with a small bolt and washers to expand it inside the petcock hole.
-put in the nuts and screws
-pour in the paint stripper
-install the filler neck plug. I used a piece of rubber, large washer, bolt and a toggle that pulled up against the inside of the neck
-put on your coveralls, gloves, and goggles (in case of leakage)
-get a chair, open a beer, turn on the stereo
-sit down, shake and turn the tank for an hour or so (if you do it standing up, your back will get really sore).
-empty out the tank and rinse it really well with water
-Inspect and repeat if necessary

Now come the hazardous part. Do this in a really well vented area. Take your time.
-Mix the Muriatic Acid 3 to 1 with water. MAKE SURE YOU POUR THE ACID INTO THE WATER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
-Pour the acid/water mixture into the tank
-Re-seal the tank and shake for 20 minutes at least. Don't bother with the nuts and screws
-Empty the tank and dry it out (I use an old Filter Queen vacuum cleaner with the hose blowing warm air rather than sucking)
-If there is flash rust inside that is a good thing
-Pour in the phosphoric acid (Rust Mort) full strength (it's not hazardous). It reacts with the rust to form a hard shell.
-Seal and shake for half and hour
-Empty the tank, let it sit for a while, then rinse and dry

The tank should now look really good inside.

I agree, Kreem is crap! My feeling is, if you don't absolutely have to, don't line the tank with anything. Just keep it full of fuel as much as possible.

An advantage we Canadians have is, we still have access to ethanol free fuel.

Good luck,
Ross

XXWoodmanXX wrote: What seems to be the issue with your tank resto job using Kreem? When I'm too impatient to wait for POR-15 to ship out to me, I just get the Kreem set locally, and have always had good results. I've done several tanks with Kreem, and cannot complain about the results. However, I do prefer the POR better.

I think the issue is that since Kreem is so readily available, anyone can do it...and a bad Kreem lining is really easy to do. I suspect 'bad' Kreem jobs way outnumber 'good' Kreem jobs. Two of my motorcycles came with lined tanks...one was peeling off in large sheets and the other had been lined twice (one over the other) and neither Kreem job had cured correctly...when fuel was added, it began dissolving and coating the inside of the lines, clogging the fuel pump, injectors, and combustion chamber...I ultimately replaced all the above.

I think the message is that when a lining job is done absolutely correctly, it is fine. The procedure is far more exacting than the directions would lead you to believe. Hence, it is easier to do a bad lining job with the end result being a ruined tank and a poor product reputation

Mcdroid,

I am sure that Kreem, when prepared and applied properly, may well be just fine. There have been many testimonials as to it's worthiness. My experience has not been from my own application, but rather with previous owners. For the purposes of this post, perhaps I should not have editorialized. This post was about how to remove Kreem, Above is my method.

Having said all that, my feeling is that tank linings are not necessary. If it is a little rusty inside, so what? Run it and empty the carb bowls once in awhile. If there is a lot of rust, or if it bugs you, then do the Muriatic/phosphoric acid wash. Then keep the tank full of fuel as much as possible.

Cheers,
Ross

I've used KREEM in my Z1 and KZ gas tanks since the early 1980's with great success. Proper tank preparation and following the instructions to the letter does the trick. In fact, my '73 Z1-900's gas tank has had just one KREEM application and it's holding up fine to date after three decades.

GregZ wrote: Any suggestions removing that nasty Kreem out of petro tank. That crap is just crap.

thanks in advance

My little KD100 had a crappy tank seal job. I used MEK (methyl ethyl ketone). You can get it at Lowes where the paint strippers are. I bought 2 gallons.

I put about 1/2 gallon MEK in the tank along with a length of chain and sloshed it around. wear nitril gloves, safety glasses and put a rag over the fuel cap. after a few minutes, I dump the liquid into a clean 5g pail and repeat the process. I used a sieve to strain the bits from the cleaner and did the process all over again. I think I even filled the tank and let it sit 24 hours too. Keep straining the MEK, you can reuse it as much as you want. Keep a clean rag handy in case some gets on the paint.

It took 2 days to do, but I got 99% of the Kreem out.

In the end, the tank was fine. All it really had was a little surface rust which was removed cleaning out the sealer.

Run an inline filter a for few tanks after.