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"the works" toilet bowl cleaner. $1.50 at Kmart or wherever. Cleans out rusty tanks like no other. take the tank off, get the gas out, fill it half full of warm water and pour in the bottle. Tape it up real good (cause if any of it gets on your tanks paint, it will peel it) Shake it up and let it sit for about an hour. Pour that **** out, wash it out real good with soapy water and rinse real well. Spray WD40 in there and let it dry. The tank no matter how much rust was inside, will be shiny new metal. Ive done this many times to many rusty tanks and it works great every time. very important to fog it with WD40 while its drying or it will rust again.
** One word of caution, if your de-rusting a super old tank (like from the 70s) be aware that this stuff works so well that it removes the rust that could be hiding pinholes in the tank, so basically it could start leaking gas if the rust was so thick it ate through the tank and the rust was actually holding the gas in.
Last edited by saltlick; Sep 13, 2017 at 04:44 PM.
I would urge you that if it's at all possible DO NOT use tank liner/sealer. But if you absolutely must because the tank is in bad shape yet for some reason you can't live without it then take your time and do it right. The tank must be totally clean, absolutely 100% dry and rust free or in a short time the liner will begin to peel.
A- yes you sometimes will see a patch of rust inside your tank.
B- I have found white vinegar a very safe and effective way to remove the rust. Tank off bike (though I guess it would work on the bike as well) fill her up and let it sit for 24 hours. Give it a shake every once and a while. Then flush out the vinegar. I then put another gallon in and shook it up good and flushed. Then two flushes with H20 to get the vinegar out and one final quick rinse with about a gallon of gasoline to get the water out. Install and fill it up with gas, and you will be good to go.
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