The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rusty gas tank

Anyone have any experience cleaning a rusty gas tank? The tank is out and empty. Thanks in advance.

Most I have read about say buy a new one.

I pulled the tank out of my '54 and took it to a radiator shop and had them clean it and seal the inside. They charged me around $250 to do the work. You can buy a re-pop for less than that I believe.

Try a few handfuls of used carbide inserts or nuts and bolts with some tumbling and rinsing.

There is a guy on eBay that sells Specta Premium for less than $200 delivered all the time. They are made in Canada and are exactly like the original. Search for 54 Chev fuel tank.

However,...
If you'd rather use what ya got, I've heard variances from a few short lengths of chain to a few handfulls of gravel, and shaking the snot out of it, turning the tank and rolling it over & around to hit everything. Then you empty it, rinse it out, stopper up the holes (that are supposed to be there) and fill with water to look for rust holes. After that, dry it out and coat it. Eastwood has a couple tanl cleaner/sealer kits that are good There's also POR-15 tank kits that come with a metal prep and sealer compound. The POR-15 costs a bit more, but having used thier other coatings I've been pleasntly suprised with the durability and look of the finished products.

Ditto, what Freq2002 says, I filled the tank with gravel and chains. I made a sling to hang the tank from the rafters and tilted it back & forth till it cleaned up. I've seen post where some bolters jack up a tractor, tie the tank to the wheel and let it rotate like a cement mixer? I've done the POR 15 tank on two with good results.

Here's what I did. (originally posted last December.)

I was heading to the Orphans Home Christmas car show to buy my first trophy for the "new" Suburban. It quit on me about 2 miles from the house.

I determined it had trash in the fuel tank that had blocked the fuel filter. The fuel pump has a settlement bowl before the fuel filter and it, too was full of trash.

I drained and pulled the tank. I added some pea gravel and mineral spirits to it, sealed it off and strapped it to the tractor wheel. I brought the tractor in the shop, jacked it up and tumbled it about 30 minutes, then unstrapped it and turned it a quarter turn and gave it another 30 minutes.

I then washed it out with a heavy duty cleaner, like Simple Green but a cheaper brand I can't remember the name of. It took a couple of rinses to get all the gravel out.

I let it air dry a day and a half then poured about a quart of phosphoric acid in. I left that in about 30 minutes, sloshing and turning every 5 minutes or so. Then I dumped it in the gravel. I thought later, "Dummy, you could have saved that and used it to de-rust small parts later."

I rinsed with water a couple of times again. Then I ran a hair dryer in it for 30 minutes. Next I added a pint of acetone and sloshed it around. It is supposed to absorb any remaining water. I dumped that and gave it another pint. After dumping the second pint I let it air dry. I thought about the hair dryer again but was afraid the heat coil might ignite the fumes. Then I thought about compressed air but that would be blowing moisture back into it. By the time I got all those thoughts out of my head, the acetone had evaporated. Even if there was any left in the corners, it is soluble in the Red-Kote. That or MEK are the recommended thinners for it. Mine didn't need thinned.

Next I poured in 2 quarts of Red-Kote. I sealed it off and rolled the tank around a while to be sure it covered all surfaces. There is a big baffle in the burb tank and I wanted to make sure it got covered too.

I drained about a quart and a half back out. It left a thin coat of sealer in there. I thought about a second coat but I really don't think this tank needs it. It was really in pretty good shape after I got all the trash and surface rust out of it.

Replace it, once you have rust, you always have rust,
Scott

So it comes down to around $50 and some elbow grease & replace it in a couple years when/if the coating ever gives out (never heard of it happening on a properly done tank, yet,...), or drop another 150-200 bones now and get a new tank.

For me it's a financial thing, I'd rather save the extra $150-200 and be busy on my day off than have to put off a couple bills for a new piece of tin. That and I like to do stuff myself.

I've used Kreme and POR 15 with good results. I think I like the POR 15 better.

cm

Took the tank to the radiator shop for cleaning and sealing......$75. I should have it back in the truck in 7-10 days. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for the information.

Then the savings will be lost when the truck needs to be towed home the next time it happens. I have had tank sealer fail on a motorcycle and it destroyed the carb!

Been running POR15 tank sealer for almost 10 years now. While I have not used it a lot I can say the one on my 37 looks dang good. Sometime ago there was a good thread on this and lots of folks talked about it "cracking" but investigation showed it is NOT prone to cracking. You can see straight down into my tank and it has held up very very well.

However, I will agree with Scott. After $75 for the vat job and another 50-60 for the kit ect, it makes you wonder if the money you saved is really worth it when, depending on your tank, one could be purchased with not much more money. Buy a new one and give the old one to a guy who has none!

.....and your luck you found a shop that would vat it!!

I just removed the tank on my two ton and got lucky. I can't see any rust, just some stinky gas. Last night I poured in solvent I used on my carb rebuild. I'll drain and rinse tonight. If it was rusty it was going to cost $275 for cleaning and redkote.

OK....the verdict is in............the radiator shop was able to "boil out" the tank and seal it with two coats of MAC's Antique Auto gas tank sealer. I've driven about 20 miles since the reinstall without even so much as a hick-up. The guy at the shop told me that he has been using the stuff for years without anyone reporting a problem. I'm goin to say it.......I'M OFFICIALLY BACK ON THE ROAD! Thanks for all the suggestions....another problem solved by the Stovebolters.

This has been a really helpful post. I am restoring a 54 chevy pick-up and found that my tank was coated with rust on the inside and also the sending unit is covered in rust. it sounds like i can buy. New tank and sending unit for $185 and it I'll be cheaper and more reliable than cleaning the tank.