I purchased a low rider tank and had it painted. I bought the tank from the same guy who painted it and never saw the tank until it was done. The paint looks awesome, but I noticed that their is some surface rust inside the tank. I really cannot believe that this was not addressed before the tank was painted. Anyway, it appears to be fairly light surface rust, but there is allot of it. Should I get some rust neutralizer & paint & try to take care of it. Obviously, I have to be very careful as I do not want to damage the external paint. Or, should I just leave it alone?

 

Is the tank free of any lines, pumps, or and sending units?

 

Yes. I am going to put the lines, pump & sending unit in from the original tank. At this point I think that I am going to just put in an external in-line fuel filter & switch it after a couple of tanks. I don't wan't to take a chance and damage the paint.

 

A bit of rust is normal after a paint job. Treat it with Evaporust and you'll be fine. It's paint safe as well.

 

What he said, slight rust will occur faster then you would think once that metal gets exposed....like when getting it painted. In 1998 I had the same issue after a paint job, I just flushed it out with some regular gas, but had I known about product like vapour rust and a few others I would have used that.

but in all honesty, you should talk to the painter and ask them what they think might be safe to use to wash it out, they might even do it for you...

 

I asked because the product Ospho I was going to recommend I wouldn't use it with any internals in the tank. Don't know about the Evapo Rust product, and it's affects with internals. I have never had a paint issue with sealing all holes, applying the product, inverting the tank to coat all areas, then draining the tank. We let them dry and either just put gas in, or use redcoat tank liner after. Your plan is fine too, and think with you going to the precaution of the inline filter will guarantee you won't have any issues.

 

The tank pump has a replaceable filter in it. I will run w/ this filter this summer & then replace the filter. Not quite as easy to replace as a inline filter, but this filter would get clogged first anyway.