Rusty gas tank interior

[BMFR6]

So it turns out the chopper (read: moped) has some rust in the tank. Anyone know of a good home based remedy to clean it out? I am well aware of Por15 and the like and I swear by the results as I've used them on other builds, but I'm looking to keep this whole build at $200 or less so spending a quarter of the budget on the tank isn't an option.

[Rambunctous]

Fill tank with 10 % saline water soulution. Using battery charger put negative to outside the tank. Using a coathanger the Positive will go into the
tank but it cant touch metal. Use a cork or any Yankee know how. The forces of science will remove the rust. The coat hanger will also be gone. The process has a name but it eludes this uncluttered mind.

[BMFR6]

Fill tank with 10 % saline water soulution. Using battery charger put negative to outside the tank. Using a coathanger the Positive will go into the
tank but it cant touch metal. Use a cork or any Yankee know how. The forces of science will remove the rust. The coat hanger will also be gone. The process has a name but it eludes this uncluttered mind.

1) What happens if the coat hanger touches the tank
2) How long does it need to sit for

I should add, this tank is on a moped. I have it stripped down, but the tank is still part of the frame and not a very user friendly shape.

[duey]

When I used to work at riverside I sold alot of THIS stuff. And I always heard good reviews on the stuff but have never personally used it.

[Eric Baker]

So the tank won't come off the frame?

Take the petcock/fuel level sensor and any filters out of the tank, and seal up the holes left from removing said items. Fill it with a vinegar/water mix and let sit for a day or so, repeat if needed until rust is removed, then pour in a cup of baking soda and shake around to coat the inside of the tank, leave for 45 minutes or so, to neutralize the vinegar. Then rinse with distilled water and let dry thoroughly, finally rinsing with some gasoline to remove any remaining water.

If you can remove the tank, you can use a sand and water mix and rigorously shake for about 15 minutes before doing the vinegar procedure to remove most of the scaly rust.

After this, you can coat the tank with one of various products to stop future rust, or just keep the tank full when sitting for a while.

[BMFR6]

So the tank won't come off the frame?

Take the petcock/fuel level sensor and any filters out of the tank, and seal up the holes left from removing said items. Fill it with a vinegar/water mix and let sit for a day or so, repeat if needed until rust is removed, then pour in a cup of baking soda and shake around to coat the inside of the tank, leave for 45 minutes or so, to neutralize the vinegar. Then rinse with distilled water and let dry thoroughly, finally rinsing with some gasoline to remove any remaining water.

If you can remove the tank, you can use a sand and water mix and rigorously shake for about 15 minutes before doing the vinegar procedure to remove most of the scaly rust.

After this, you can coat the tank with one of various products to stop future rust, or just keep the tank full when sitting for a while.

It's a moped, the tank is part of the frame. Think I am going to try some kerosene and BB's and shake it as long as I can (again, it's a whole frame I need to shake). After that I'll probably try I vinegar/water solution, etc. We'll see what happens.

[Expat]

You can use dry coarse sand, that will work better than BB's, rinse thoroughly with water and dry completly then coat with POR15 or similar.

[zimquidl]

Fill tank with 10 % saline water soulution. Using battery charger put negative to outside the tank. Using a coathanger the Positive will go into the
tank but it cant touch metal. Use a cork or any Yankee know how. The forces of science will remove the rust. The coat hanger will also be gone. The process has a name but it eludes this uncluttered mind.

Google: Electrolytic Rust Removal. Better living through science.

You'll need Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, aka sodium carbonate. You can also find the same stuff in pool or spa pH UP. Probably need something thicker than a coat hanger, as the process will pull iron oxide off of the inside surface of the tank and deposit it on the anode. Then you can pull the anode out along with all the rust.

You can do the same thing for rusty parts. I built this:

using a 5 gallon bucket, three lengths of rebar that were just taller than the bucket, all wired together. Fill the bucket up with the water/sodium carbonate solution, then suspend the rusty part in the solution on a wire. Hook positive to the rebars, negative to the suspension wire, and you can see bubbles starting to form. That's hydrogen gas, by the way. Might want to keep flames away from it.

The rebars will end up coated with iron oxide, and the part will have a black oxide coating replacing the rust.

As far as the gas tank, when cleaning the rusty tank on my GS1000G, I used bolts, nuts and screws. They have a more aggressive surface than bb's, and can remove more rust. Just count them before putting them in, and make sure that same number comes out. I'd caution against sand... unless you can guarantee that every last particle is out of the tank. Probably be a good idea to run a fuel filter anyway.

[BluGixxer]

It just wouldn't bee the same if I didn't put in my 2 cents.
Last tank I cleaned had bad rust. I had a car window,(tempered glas, beaks in little managable pieces) .fill tank as much as you can , try for half, that gave me good results. I attached a piece of 5/16 copper tubing , 8 " long,to the end of my airgun, bend to satisfaction. Straight doesn't get corners or the top/roof inside tank. Put rag over open holes, don't breath dust, squeeze trigger , and clean , took me about 30 min for a 1 1/2 gal tank wth bad flakey rust. Rinse good with petro product, diesel or kero and airhose. Don't need a degree in chemestry for this one.

[VTRumble]

This is a topic over on a 2 stroke forum I'm on, and a few people swear by the works toilet bowl cleaner. I guess it has muriatic acid in it and eats the rust. Plus they sell it at the dollar store. I'm going to try it on my tank this week, I'll let you know how it goes.

[PinHead]

[DuncanMoto]

When I used to work at riverside I sold alot of THIS stuff. And I always heard good reviews on the stuff but have never personally used it.

Kreem kit is a great solution.
Done it twice and it works great.

[BluGixxer]

When I worked on boas in S.Fla, we had a rubbermaid trascan filled with muratic acid and water, 50/50, it stinks, it does eat rust, it will not touch anything with oil or grease ,paint, rubber, on it, aluminun will disapear or become soft. Don't spill it on cocrete, or anything with lime. , after awhile it leaves a blck film which can be tough to clean ,do not drink , it won't give you a buzz, but will burn your eyes.
I've tried a lot of things to remove rust, and I think muratic acid is one of the messiest and most difficult to clean up , being that the tank doesn't come off the bike
You should look into the electrolisis way with bat charger and electrodes

[joeswamp]

I'd really like to hear the experiences of those that tried the electrolysis method. I've used it on old tools and it works really well. Usually you have to scuff some black stuff off with scotchbrite at the end though, not sure of the best way to do that on the inside of a gas tank.

[BMFR6]

This is a topic over on a 2 stroke forum I'm on, and a few people swear by the works toilet bowl cleaner. I guess it has muriatic acid in it and eats the rust. Plus they sell it at the dollar store. I'm going to try it on my tank this week, I'll let you know how it goes.

Going to give "The Works" a shot as well, picked it up at Home Depot for $1.58 . The electrolysis seems like it would be one of the most effective and least detrimental to the tank, but the way this tank is built it would be just about impossible to do it and not ground out the metal rod. As far as various methods, I found this link that explains a few of them. http://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/Removi...rom_a_gas_tank


For those of you that need to do this and don't mind spending $40-50, Por15 is by far the best stuff out there. I'll see if I can track down the pictures I have from doing the tank on the CB.

[BMFR6]

Thinking out loud about drying the inside of the tank after rinsing it. Picked up a couple bottle of 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. As per the link above, they say 70%. My understanding is 70% isopropyl = 30% water so going with a higher concentration = better due to less water. Any other suggestions?

[Eric Baker]

They probably only suggest 70% because it's easy to get at any drug store, whereas 91% etc is harder to get except at specialty stores.

[zimquidl]

[BMFR6]

They probably only suggest 70% because it's easy to get at any drug store, whereas 91% etc is harder to get except at specialty stores.

Wal mart actually, think it was $1.00 for the big bottle

Thought of that as well.

[BMFR6]

So I went with "the works" solution........ and it worked. Last weekend I sprayed about half a can of PB Blaster in the tank, dumbed in a bunch of 1.5" drywall screws and I just kept shaking the tank every time I walked by it hoping to knock off a bunch of the big/loose stuff. Dumped it today and then rinsed a handful of times with hot water and dish soap. Next I dumped in a half gallon of water and two 28oz bottles of "the works" then topped it off to the brim with more water. Let it sit for about 1.5 hours or so. I was skeptical because what I read online it said it would be bubbling, mine wasn't. Figured I diluted the solution too much. Dumped the solution and went to rinsing it with a water and baking soda mix, used a whole box of baking soda at roughly 1/4 cup per gallon of water so I'd say i rinsed it 6-7 times. Dumped in 2 bottles of 91% rubbing alcohol. Once I dumped that I fogged it with wd40. The results are impressive to say the least. It's probably as good as it will get for under $10. One word of caution, now that the rust is gone I can see how pitted the interior is. If you try this yourself, start with a diluted solution and increase from there. I think if I went full on "works" from the start, my next thread would be about how to patch and seal a gas tank.

[Garandman]

[Jim]

EvaoRust. just used it 2 months ago

[RandyO]

Oxalic Acid

[PurplePackage]

Just found this stuff:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/19...es/AR51002.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/Archoil-AR510.../dp/B00607D3XI

Claims to be better than evaporust. I'll let ya know.

[PurplePackage]

Just found this stuff:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/19...es/AR51002.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/Archoil-AR510.../dp/B00607D3XI

Claims to be better than evaporust. I'll let ya know.

Results are in; https://ibb.co/album/C5k1qb

Its better than evaporust because its cheaper and does the same thing. You can make a 15 gallon dunk tank for $150! look around for a coupon code, I got 10% off and free shipping

https://www.archoil.com/products/ar5...nt=40925863502