The gas tank on the bike I'm restoring has a bit of rust on the interior. It's nothing major just enough to make your finger a little orange if you run it inside it. I've heard all sorts of ways to clean it ranging from BBs to Muratic acid but I'd like to get some proffesional advice from you pros! I'd like to keep it as simple as possible and not coat the inside with any plasticy material.

Edit: Upon searching, I came across this site: http://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/Removing_rust_from_a_gas_tank It's for mopeds but the amount of info here is great, deals with just about any way you could think of cleaning your tank out.

The gas tank on the bike I'm restoring has a bit of rust on the interior. It's nothing major just enough to make your finger a little orange if you run it inside it. I've heard all sorts of ways to clean it ranging from BBs to Muratic acid but I'd like to get some proffesional advice from you pros! I'd like to keep it as simple as possible and not coat the inside with any plasticy material.

Part fill the tank with either.........

clean m6 nuts

Aquarium gravel

Broken glass from a car windscreen (go to your local wreckers yard for this)

Then fe fit the cap and give it a good shaking

it might be an idea to cut a disc out of some thin plastic (kitchen packaging) just to protect the underside of your plastic gas cap

Part fill the tank with either.........

clean m6 nuts

Aquarium gravel

Broken glass from a car windscreen (go to your local wreckers yard for this)

Then fe fit the cap and give it a good shaking

it might be an idea to cut a disc out of some thin plastic (kitchen packaging) just to protect the underside of your plastic gas cap

Pssst, and some white spirit or parafin to act as a sluice.

Windscreen glass is no good these days as they are all laminated using 2 pieces of "plate" glass which cracks but doesn't shatter. You need a door glass or rear window. I'm a glass fitter.

I've heard that vinegar is good for removing rust so the aquarium gravel & loads of vinegar would get my vote. If you decide on using "toughened" glass I would advise that you wash it 1st to remove all the really small particles. You still get teeny weeny bits with it & they will be a nightmare to get rid of.

Good luck & let us know how you get on as this crops up a lot on other forums too.

Go to Canadian Tire, and get some Evaporust (Envirorust)....should be in the body supplies section....check out the British Columbia Collector Motorcycle Club forum:

http://www.bcclassicmotorcycleclub.com/simplemachines/index.php?topic=425.0 a bit of a discussion on this stuff here.

I've heard that vinegar is good for removing rust so the aquarium gravel & loads of vinegar would get my vote.

I use vinegar and a toothbrush on my Dragstar's wheels and it works a treat, so I'd have a go with the above...

Great info guys, I've been making some calls to some radiator & Gas tank shops and the cheapest price I could get was 90$ CND, one place was asking 150! I'm going to head down to CanTire today to pick up some of that Evaporust but before I do, will the rust come back if I don't coat the inside after I'm done cleaning it? I know this will happen when you use acids but I wasn't sure If this stuff will "coat" the inside or not.

Edit - They've got 4 bottles of Evaporust at CanTire!

One more question, could I use Methyl Hydrate instead of the other alcohol?

The gas tank on the bike I'm restoring has a bit of rust on the interior. It's nothing major just enough to make your finger a little orange if you run it inside it. I've heard all sorts of ways to clean it ranging from BBs to Muratic acid but I'd like to get some proffesional advice from you pros! I'd like to keep it as simple as possible and not coat the inside with any plasticy material.

Edit: Upon searching, I came across this site: http://www.mopedarmy...from_a_gas_tank It's for mopeds but the amount of info here is great, deals with just about any way you could think of cleaning your tank out.

I've tried every method of removing rust from tanks that you can think of. I even used the method of sticking a steel rod with a rubber boot on the end into a salt solution filled tank - then you put a jumper cable from a good battery on the rod (+ or - ) and clip the other cable on the outside of the tank somewhere. This actually works great at removing alot of rust.

All the other methods you spoke of - vinegars etc... work well too, but the exposed steel will start oxidizing ( rusting) immediately.

If yo really want a good looking interior, I would suggest KBS coatings. They have kits for @ $40 that work great and the coating looks metallic grey when you are done. I did two tanks with it and they came out great.

Roger

etc...