Rust removal from inside gas tank

My wife broke her hip so I'm down and out for the moment. I will quiz our chemists to get the latest solutions to corrosion problems. In aerospace, corrosion is a serious concern. Do you want to fly on a corroding airplane? The chelating solution dissolves iron oxide and it is does harm plain iron at all. This is really good stuff. It has no acids that would attack metals.

I see things in this order:
1. Electrolytic rust removal. This hurts nothing and most of the rust is reverse plated away.
2. Use the chelating solution. The electrolytic removal may do all of the work for you and the chelating solution may be unnecessary. I choose the whatever produces the very finest of results.
3. Phosphate the inside to convert the bare iron inside the tank to a phosphate. This is such a good thing that I cannot recommend it higher. This is wonderful for inside tanks or anything else that you wish to paint. I love old cast iron door stops. If I sand blast and phosphate everything. should a paint chip happen, no rust occurs. It's like insurance for all of the work that you do.
4. Paint, now thats another subject. Our non-metallics chemists says epoxy is the only way to go. There again, I cannot comment as I know that many modern surface coatings are top drawer. I will not comment on paint. After phosphating, many many coatings are excellent. I invite paint experts to front and center. Ya, front and center. Ya, I'm old military. I am CIB Viet Nam.
 
Was reading a page today about Kwik Poly, you can look them up they have a specific section for motorcycle tanks. mix pour in swish around and let it settle. ten minutes your done and the inside is sealed for good. for like $35 I think. www.kwikpolyllc.com look under applicatons.
 
So I am leanign towards the CLR method, as mine has slight rust. Did you remove the petcoks and gas cap, plug them with corks(?) and then wash out, or is it safe to leave them in? I would think it would be safe to leave them, but asking.
 
I know everyone has their own favorite or reasons for what they like. But phosphoric acid is so tried and true, easy to work with and easy to get, I truly don't understand why there is still some many questions. And some of the "new" things out there that people ask about . are just variations on the same chemicals. Guys, just get some phosphoric acid and be done with it. It should be a moot point.
 
hi ya i removed my petcocks and flushed out with acid .i flushed twice then flushed out with hot soapy water then rinsed with hot water till it ran clear.then if u happen to have a helper he can heat the tank with hair dryer keeping it moving so not to burn paint if ur not painting and then compressed air through the cap area and through petcocksthe heat dries out the moisture and the air cleares it out then i used por 15 tank sealer and just like new
 
FWIW after any of the tank coatings you need heat and time for them to set properly. I like to hang the coated tank over my wood stove for a month or two in the winter, no issues after that. Personally a week with several excursions above 90 degrees for a few hours would be the minimum before I poured in the witches brew we call gas and longer is good insurance. If that coating gets gummy and starts to dissolve into the gas you may never get your carbs right again.
 
well i hope i didnt cause i have used this step before and never had any issues once the por 15 kicks off its like a ceramic coating hard as hell so far so good
 
Having done this once (with acid), and having gotten instant flash rust after using the heat gun to dry after flushing, here is my take:
After the final flush, before drying the inside, pour a mixture of kerosene and motor oil in the tank and slosh it around. Then use the heat gun to dry it. Then immediately use the kerosene and motor oil mixture again. Then use the heat gun again for a final drying.

This assumes that you will not use any type of commercial liner such as POR, etc.
 
yes i understand ur procedure which all makes sence but in my case i was sealing the tank .i have used por 15 products and they actually tell u let it flash lightly aparently it gives a better bond and por 15 is ethanol friendly if i have any issues i will give u all heads up but last 3 tanks i have done have been a sucess thanks for all your feed back joe
 
Some acids will react badly with aluminum. The inside of the cap is steel, the outside is chrome plated alloy so it should be ok. The petcocks are raw aluminum.
You might want to use some raw alloy to test the CLR. Like a soda can. Sand the bottom clean to the alloy, pour a bit of CLR into the bottom. What happens? If nothing you can leave the petcocks on. If it starts to boil and stink and eat the alloy then it will do the same to your petcocks.
Leo
 
in mi case the tank i bought was sealed for 25 years with no key,when i open it was a mess.i went to the bolts and nuts box use only the smallest ones then i started shaking it every now and then.when i finished the shaking i can even see a cloud of rust coming from the inside.i tried to take out the metal pieces by shaking the tank upsidedown and of course that didnt work.went to the kitchen to grab a refreshment(beer) closed the door vigorously and the magnetic pad with my day instruccions fall to the floor.i grab the magnetic piece ,went to the closet and choose the nicest wire hanger i found ,build a handle with it and i use it to pick up the metal pieces in the tank along with all the rust that was inside.all the rust was coming out very easy even the small flakes.im not saying is the way to go but my tank looks like new.
 
After using phosphoric acid, if you feel you need some type of coating, pour some Master Series into the tank and roll it around for complete coverage. I have done this and it work wonderfully. Please do not pour POR into the tank . . OMG. Don't get me started.
 
I had a serious case of rust in my tank when I bought my bike and used Napa's Naval Jelly rust removal. Worked great and it seriously didn't take much effort. Just poured the whole thing in and sloshed it around everywhere and checked it every 5 minutes. It says to empty it out after 5-10 minutes but I just kept sloshing it around every 5 min until all the rust seemed to be take care of. Then I just washed the tank out with water and it didn't even flash by the time I got gas in it. Still looks great after a couple of months and doesn't look like it will ever have any problems. I highly recommend using this stuff as I tried many other things that just took too much effort and didn't completely get "All" the rust out. This stuff worked great.
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7651292_0361152248
 
Navel jelly is phosphoric acid based. Some of you guys are saying the same thing, you just need to understand the chemical or product you are using.
 
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