TOPIC:

Hey hey all. I pulled my "project bike" (see my post under "projects") out of the shed this past spring to find I had inadvertantly left the tank full of fuel.It had sat in the tank for at least 2 yrs. I was thinking I had heard of a way to rid the inside of the tank of all those nasty chunks and a way to "refinish" the inside of the tank itself. Any info or ideas?

Peace,
Rodger

Lots of products out there Roger.
I did My tank a few years back now.I used "Kreem".It works pretty good.
I remember reading a post a while back about a Guy using His clothes-dryer to tumble the tank around,but inside the tank He used nuts to remove the rust.The nuts roll around inside the tank and remove the rust.Of course the tank was wrapped in blankets to keep it from getting destroyed.lol.
Like I said in Your other post...do some reading on it,because there are a lot of details(do's and don'ts).
There are more ways other than using the "Kreem" product as well.

Might want to check out the "Paint and Body Work" section in the Technical forum, then search the word "tank" and there is a good thread on the subject. Also a lot of info in the archives regarding the cleaning and various treatment coatings you may wish to consider.

My successful personal experience was first filling with acetone to dissolve all the old Kream residue which was peeling off (probably had not been properly applied in the first place) -- keep acetone off the paint -- then drain acetone, put in chain (common porch swing chain is okay) and shake real well to knock off larger rust flakes, then remove chain and fill with muratic acid (swimming pool type) to quickly eat out the remaining rust (about 15 minutes -- longer if diluted), then drain the muratic acid (tank should now look really good inside) and quickly rinse with phosphoric acid to prevent flash rust from the muratic acid and allow a more stable inner surface. Okay to skip the acetone step if there's no old Kream residue to remove. I did not fool with any of the inner coatings, just keep the tank full, and have had no recurring rust problem.

Never tried the "electrolysis" method which sounds very interesting (and safe on the paint) -- but expect to try it if there's a next time.

The "BB's agitated in the clothes dryer" method seems rather ingenious. Don't use sand or glass or pebbles because of difficulty in complete removal. Light chain or smaller nuts, washers and bolts would probably be okay as well in lieu of BB's, just nothing heavy enough to dink the metal. Put the tank inside the dryer tightly surrounded and immobilized by pillows, quilts, blankets, etc., and tumble on gentle cycle without heat. Check frequently to assure the tank is remaining fixed in its position, and by all means do not allow it to bang around inside the dryer. Of course, close the gas cap and block off the
petcock opening to prevent losing the BB's. Others have reported great success with this method.

Wish I had another rusty tank to fix.

Hope this and suggestions from others help get you going in the right direction. Let us know your results.

I would acid wash inside and then see if it leaks.
FWIW, Home Depot has gallon jugs of phosphoric acid pretty cheap.
Something new I noticed in the paint section a few weeks back and forgot to report on.