Renewing/rust removal/cleaning gas tanks

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moreorless

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I will be tackling 3 gas tanks that need help. One is a spare, the other 2 are on the bikes at the moment, but I will be pulling them. Old gas and whatnot.

Any cleaning products, cleaning and repainting techniques or tips you fine folks can offer?
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=171470#p171470:3p0i5cid said:
mjanderson » Wed Apr 06, 2016 11:15 pm[/url]":3p0i5cid]
It's not necessarily quick or very high tech, but I filled mine up with apple cider vinegar and let it it for 2 or 3 weeks, turning it occasionally. It did a great job of cleaning it out.

Mike

Thanks, I could do that with 2 of them, but I suspect (hopefully) I will be needing 1 tank sooner than that.
I wonder if some sort of agitating device would speed up the process.
 
Muriatic acid works fast, & well. :good: Used it several years ago, nasty smell, & vapors, wear breathing, & eye protection :yes:
 
Couple of screens inside you don't want to smash or dislodge so chemicals are best to use, I have used evaporust, it works really well overnight but is 15-18 bucks a gallon but is cheaper in 5 gallon containers,
have used pool acid and it is very fast but has to be done quickly so have a water hose and baking soda or soda ash on hand to neutralize ,
If your in an agricultural area there is a product called milk stone dairies use to clean , a sort of acid but less aggressive, can be found at feed stores etc.
If you have enough molasses it also works pretty fast but 5 gallons geesh.
Seen guys fill them with aquarium stone then wrap in a large blanket and put in a dryer tumble no heat, maybe GL tanks is too large for a dryer, need allot of stone I suspect.
Also make sure your 2 pickup tubes are clear as well,seen a few get it all cleaned out and mounted only to find they have a clogged tube.
some things to think about anyways.
 
I also used Evaporust on my fuel tank it worked well but took a few days to meet my satisfaction.
Then I found the tube for the reserve to the petcock still stopped up so I chucked up an length of 1/8" wire cable in a cordless drill in reverse to clear it out well.
If you do this be careful not to damage the pickup screens.
After everything was clean I coated with an excellent liner product called Redd Kote guaranteed never to peel.

I heard some used pea gravel to loosen up the surface rust and speed up the process. I have no personal experience with doing this and was hesitant to do it this way so I did it the slow patient way.
 
I bought some citric acid crystals from home brew beer/wine store. Also available on Amazon. I think I used 2kg of crystals mixed with five gallons of water, distilled is better. About $11. I still have the solution in a five gallon plastic bucket and still use to remove/clean rusty chrome or steel. It took more than seven days for my 77 tank and an 1100 tank. Every three days, I drained it, filled it with 3-5 pounds of 1/4" nuts and shook it. The second tank, I wrapped the tank in an old blanket, put it in the dryer, put more blankets around it to make it snug, and let it roll.

If you use it for other parts, I found it will wreck chrome plated aluminum. Here is before and after of a twilight bracket.
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When the vapors clear, :heat: & it stops boiling on all sides, poured the strained acid back into it's container, for later use. :yes: Rinsed tank very well with hot water, then dried with heat gun. :good: Kerosene, or A T F to coat well, then ready to store or used. :salute:
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=171483#p171483:14n445zo said:
ekvh » Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:16 am[/url]":14n445zo]
I bought some citric acid crystals from home brew beer/wine store. Also available on Amazon. I think I used 2kg of crystals mixed with five gallons of water, distilled is better. About $11. I still have the solution in a five gallon plastic bucket and still use to remove/clean rusty chrome or steel. It took more than seven days for my 77 tank and an 1100 tank. Every three days, I drained it, filled it with 3-5 pounds of 1/4" nuts and shook it. The second tank, I wrapped the tank in an old blanket, put it in the dryer, put more blankets around it to make it snug, and let it roll.

If you use it for other parts, I found it will wreck chrome plated aluminum. Here is before and after of a twilight bracket.
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Did the rust come back or gone for good ?
 
Probably better. Takes a fair bit of shaking to get everything out. Take a look at the screens in the pickup area. You don't need anything finding its way into the lines or pickup area to plug it up. Not sure if bb's could get in there or not.
 
Used vinegar in one tank for a test. That actually works. you can see the rust line. But what the heck is all that black stuff still on the bottom?
 

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I added some lime-away type cleaner and it cleaned the pick up screen rather nicely. It was pretty caked with I don't know what. That black residue seems to be getting eaten away also. More experimenting on this one tomorrow.

The pulled tank from my 1980 GL1100 doesn't look too bad. Pick up screen on the reserve is pretty dirty and there was no gas flow from it at the petcock. Gonna try a little oxy clean remedy on this tank.
 

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If you have some old hardware you want to shine up toss that in during the cleaning and shake it around. That should clean off most of the crud stuck at the bottom.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=171913#p171913:p85w9pxp said:
slabghost » Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:51 am[/url]":p85w9pxp]
If you have some old hardware you want to shine up toss that in during the cleaning and shake it around. That should clean off most of the crud stuck at the bottom.

I'm leery about doing that. I don't want to take any chances on damaging the pick up screens.
 
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