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You could swish some vinegar in there to get rid of the rust, then rinse it with isopropyl alcohol, then swish some gas or diesel around and seal it up with some tape until you are ready to reinstall. Then it will stay shiny as long as it doesn’t get damp.
You could swish some vinegar in there to get rid of the rust, then rinse it with isopropyl alcohol, then swish some gas or diesel around and seal it up with some tape until you are ready to reinstall. Then it will stay shiny as long as it doesn’t get damp.
good job so far though!
So swish white vinegar, dump out vinegar, swish iso alcohol, dump out alcohol, swish gasoline, leave in gasoline, and tape up until ready for install? I have the new gas cap now so I can just install that and then I only have to worry about one hole.
vinegar to dissolve the rust, Alcohol to absorb any water (or blow dry it with a hairdryer etc), gas to prevent moisture in the air getting to the metal. Yes - best to put the gas cap on and then just seal the other end with duct tape or something. As long as there's a cup or two of gas in the tank, the vapor will stop everything rusting.
Not sure where you are but it appears you're in a humid environment given how quickly that tank is flash rusting.
vinegar to dissolve the rust, Alcohol to absorb any water (or blow dry it with a hairdryer etc), gas to prevent moisture in the air getting to the metal. Yes - best to put the gas cap on and then just seal the other end with duct tape or something. As long as there's a cup or two of gas in the tank, the vapor will stop everything rusting.
Not sure where you are but it appears you're in a humid environment given how quickly that tank is flash rusting.
Okay, I will do that today after work. When I started this whole tank cleaning process, it was raining pretty hard for a couple of days straight. I live in Florida. Supposed to be the sunshine state but even a little bit of rain makes it feel like I'm swimming that's how humid it was. I'm sure that the humidity caused by the rain only made it harder to keep the rust out. I have the last part coming in tomorrow to put it all back together so I will rinse it out, put a little gas in it and seal it up until the part gets here to put it back on the bike.
I'm in FL as well - 25 year old tank, zero rust - it just has gas in it all the time.
This bike sat for 6 years and ran fine for 70 miles before the rust gave me any issues. Looking back, I should've known it was going to come back and bite me for not doing it right the first time. I just wanna get it right so it doesn't give me trouble again. Once it is clean, I will keep gas in it all the time as the cold season here isn't bad enough to drain the tank IMO.
So I did like the last post said and let the tank sit with gas in in with the holes blocked off and the tank in a garbage bag tied. I went to put the fuel pump in and noticed the tank has rust even worse than when I bought the bike. The rust looked almost bubbly. I was able to wipe it away but I cannot reach some of the spots in the tank. Putting a little vinegar in the tank and swishing it around odes absolutely nothing. I think I did the process right but I guess not? What is the next step?
Post photo of this rust again? Where is it coming from when previous photo shows minimal amounts?
Might also want to put rubber caps on external vent ports so you can swish tank 360-degrees all around and get rust-remover into those little tubes all way to end. One suggestion would've been to not leave it. As soon as it's dry, proceed with POR-15 kit and apply cleaning and rust-inhibitor layer. THEN you can leave it around for bit, but why? Just complete job.
If you wish to stick with simpler chemical methods, phosphoric acid (Naval jelly), is only acid that dissolves rust and leaves good metal alone. Can be found at Home Depot as "concrete stain/rust remover". Read ingredients to be sure. I've used it lots on classic bicycle restorations where metal is only 0,5mm to start with and can't afford to lose any more. Phosphoric also leaves mildly-protective grey phosphate coating. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-St...0220/100406369
EvapoRust has similar effects and uses chelation reaction rather than acid.
But again, once you've removed rust, you MUST immediately move to next stages with rust-inhibiting treatments.
I have done the inside of my fueltank using 'Tankcure'. I used a cleaner and rust remover to get rid of the rust and than used a sealer to prevent the inside from going rusty again. It worked perfectly and quite easy.
This is the approach I took and it seems to be holding up… although I had the more difficult job of also removing a really stubborn failed liner repair.
