The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Rusty fuel tank

my fuel tank is in pretty decent outside condition but the inside is rusted, what is the best way to clean out the rust so I can coat it, I had gotten some POR15 from Napa.

I recently went through the same thing. I brought it to a radiator shop to be boiled out. After they looked out it they told me it would also need to be coated. I ended up buying a new tank since the cost was about the same as cleaning and coating the old tank.

You can buy kits that contain a mild acid to clean the tank and a liner. I've used that type of kit in the past but I discovered that using muriatic acid is much quicker. Also note that because it's a much more caustic acid the safety requirements are more stringent. I used muriatic acid to clean my '38s tank because replacement tanks are not available. I then dumped several gallons of soda water into the tank to kill the acid, rinsed well, let it dry and coated with Redkote liner after brazing the larger holes shut. Five years now and no issues.

Take it to a radiator shop and have them boil it. Something that big would be best done there. You don't have to worry about disposing the acids.

IF you're lucky enough to have a radiator shop that will touch it. None around here will come close to an old gas tank.

I'll add my experience. I had a '66 tank with bad rust. I bought Muriatic acid at Lowes and followed the directions on the Eastwood Gas tank repair kit I had purchased. I had to acid wash the tank more than they said, but I was happy with the rust removal. The white sealer was more than enough, so you might start by using only 3/4 of the bottle. Overall, I was pleased with the results. I hear that POR-15 makes a nice kit too.

One thing to keep in mind is that neither kit contains the Muriatic Acid, even though the POR-15 kit says it's complete. I imagine it has an acid wash, but I say get the gallon of Muriatic at Lowes and then you will have everything you need.

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-gas-tank-sealer-kits-for-cars.html

http://www.por15.com/FUEL-TANK-REPAIR-KIT/productinfo/FTRK/

I'm with Lugnuts - DIY!!!!!
Eastwood's kit is the BEST out there. You suppky Muriatic Acid and baking soda and go to town. It's not that hard and the sealer coats it beautifully.

I've done several tanks with it now and they are all perfect.

I have an article on it on my website.

I went with phosphoric acid then let vinegar sit in there and shook some sand around inside it to knock the rust off then drained and rinsed then rinsed and rinsed again, let it dry and coated it with POR15 I'm letting it dry right know, hopefully it will work out.

The last tank I had I took to a local radiator shop. They boiled it out, & redkoted the inside for about $100. No mess, no clean up.