Gas tank cleaning

geerbangr wrote: Does the muratic acid dissolve the black tar looking shellac out of the tank from 30 year old gas sitting in it ?

Not very well. I've used acetone but acetone will damage paint right now. Wonder how well some of that Engine Bright spray degreaser would do if it had 24 hours to soak.

Acetone will dissolve the "tar" ? Paint isn't going to be an issue with me as the paint is already crapola. I was just going to send mine out to this metal cleaning place in Pa. Like a Redi Strip. Had good luck doing that before. Get the tank back, there's no paint,oil,rust. Just fresh clean metal.

What exactly are these gas tanks coated with from the factory, some sort of zinc coating ?

Z Parts wrote: I work in a radiator shop and we clean a lot of fuel tanks. We sandblast the inside and then coat the inside with Redcoat made by Damon Products. You can only buy it at some radiator shops. It can not be shipped because it is very flammable.This is the only way to prevent rust that we have found.

Good Fortune!

geerbangr wrote: ...What exactly are these gas tanks coated with from the factory, some sort of zinc coating ?

The inside of the tanks are just mild steel. The way to prevent rusting is to store the bike with a full tank of fuel.

Bill

So gas tanks are bare steel on the inside when you buy a new bike ?

how cheap are you? I used apple cider vinegar and a container of bbs (yes like for a bb gun). The bbs dislodge the big chunks of rust. I Shook the crap out of the bb/vinegar filled tank for about half an hour then spent another ten minutes shaking all the bb's out. I'm sure it isn't the best method but its super safe, cheap and effective. I still had some mild rust pitting afterwards but it made a huge difference and the liquid i poured out of that tank looked like chocolate mink (that good dark chocolate milk!). Its a good method to try first, if you aren't satisfied you can always use another product, I thought it was well worth the $6.

geerbangr wrote: So gas tanks are bare steel on the inside when you buy a new bike ?

No. They have some kind of very thin protective coating, and they are silver inside rather than raw steel. A new tank that has never had fuel in it doesn't rust inside as long as it is kept dry, but if the tank is used and then stored empty it will rust. A tank that is used normally won't rust as long as decent fuel (not contaminated with water) is kept in it all the time. Ed

Check this out, works great www.rusteco.com