Re: cleaning old gas tanks

[Pat Brown <patb@sonic.net>]

Rod wrote:
>    Then you get a "Gas tank sealer kit" from Eastwood and finish the job.
>The kit consist of a bottle of chemical cleaner, a bottle of rinse, and a
>bottle of sealer. When you are all done the inside of the tank has a coating
>of epoxy that looks like it will last for ever. The kit for small tanks and
>motorcycles cost $24.99 plus shipping. Kit # 1618Z.......well worth it!

Or, just go down to your friendly local motorcycle shop. I bought a kit,
for about $25, that had the same ingredients. The cleaner is phosphoric
acid, the rinse is acetone. The sealer is a nice white color, which is
impervious to gas and water. It does, however, disolve in . . acetone,
so it can be removed and replaced for other repairs. The brand name I
used was "Kreme" (think cream). I did my tank about a year ago, and
have had gas (nice California MTBE gas)* in it ever since. I haven't
been on a run yet :-(, but I highly recommend this treatment to save
your tank!

Stan wrote:
>>Here is a trick a friend of mine uses to clean gas tanks.  He removes the
>>tank from the motor car and bungie cords it to the wheel of his tractor.
>>He throws in a hand full of square nuts and puts the cap back on.  He
>>then uses the tractor and its bush hog to mow the grass around his farm.
>>When he is finished he removes the tank, empties out the nuts, rinses out
>>the tank with kerosene and has a gas tank with a polished inside.

I didn't think of the tractor, but I do have a cement mixer:-). I put
a shovelfull of pea gravel, along with soap and water, in my MT-19
tank, then after carefully wrapping it in an old sleeping bag jammed
it into the mixer and tumbled away for an hour or so. It worked really
well:-). After a water rinse, then air dry, and acetone rinse, I
put the "Kreme" in. I wished I had a random tumbler to do this, the
stuff is really thick and slow. I found a few new (sore) muscles in my
arms and shoulders after doing this for a couple hours. These kits are
also sold for auto restoration, I can't imagine rotating a 25 gallon
tank over my head for a few hours!

* The Califonia legislature just decided to get MTBE out of our gas.
There will be no oxygenated gasoline in CA this winter, EXCEPT the
LA Basin, and metro Sacramento areas! Must be an election year!

Pat Brown <patb@sonic.net>
Sebastopol, California