Cleaning out a rusty gas tank.

I picked up a nice looking and fitting 18 gallon gas tank for my Model A pickup project.
It has some light rust and scale inside. I can get it boiled out at a radiator shop for about $50.00 or so but wondered if anyone has any ideas on cleaning it out myself at home.

 

Spend the 50 Bucks

 

Take the sending unit, and p/u out of the tank, put some water in it with a coupla handfuls of small stone. Shake the shit out of it, rotate, shake more, and see what comes out.

 

Muriatic acid works great. Then a nice metal wash, then you can seal it with some tank sealer for good measure.

 

Has anyone tried the vinegar trick on a gas tank?

 

Have it boiled out. If you are planning to leave it empty, then coat the tank with a generous amount of Marvel Mystery Oil.

 

Hydrochloric acid is what they use in the radiator shop, previously known as Muriatic acid. It just works a heck of a lot quicker, than vinegar.

 

Take it to the radiator shop,I used Hal's at 51st Ave & Glendale looked like new when I got it back.Playing with acid chemicals at home is not worth it.

 

We have used ratchet straps and mounted tanks on a cement mixer. Remove the sender,put in some old nuts and bolts and seal it up. Let it spin for an our or two,it has worked well for us.

 

If you live WAY out in the country, try this. Get your cement mixer (you have one, right?) and tie the tank to the front of it. Put a chain inside the tank. Turn on cement mixer. Leave for a few hours, or crank up the rock music to 11 or something. Take everyone with you, the noise can be heard for quite a distance. It will get annoyingly loud but the chain will do the trick.

 

Muriatic acid and 20 or so rocks then shake it up!!

 

x2 ive done old bike tanks like that before and it works then you can put a sealer on the inside of the tank

 

Distilled Vinegar works great, there are several posts here on that already, I did it on a 35 gallon farm tractor tank.

 

X2 No hassle's

 

Thanks for the ideas!
I dropped a chain inside and banged it around, then used
2 gallons muriatic acid and 16 gallons water.
It's in the yard now bubbling and gurgling away.
Can't wait to see how it looks in the morning!

 

uh,, I dont recommend the chain thing, buddy of mine did that, the chain tied itself in a knot and he had to cut the tank apart to get his chain out.

nuts bolts rocks golf balls anything but a chain.

 

I highly recommend sealing it afterward. I did the muriatic thing on a '50 Olds, and was forever having rust problems after. Turns out that gas floats on water, and acid-cleaned metal will rust faster than a Vega in a Chicago winter.

Cosmo

 

Not that anyone gives a crap but this is the latest in my tank cleaning adventure!
My 8 to 1 water/muriatic acid overnight soak did very little, started looking at new gas tanks again....too much money!
Stopped this morning at a radiator shop to see about boiling, guy said his tank was down but he'd take a look. he suggested straight muriatic acid.
I put 2 gallons in the tank, taped up the openings and drove around on my service job with it in the back of my pickup all day so it would slosh around.
Got home tonight, opened it up ...... and it looks pretty good!
Rinsed it out then gave it a phosphoric acid rinse that is supposed to help seal it?
The thoughts on using a tank sealer are running about 50/50,
any recommendations?<!-- google_ad_section_end --> <!-- begin adsense --><!-- end adsense -->

 

Dangerous--thats all I'll say.

 

Check out some motorcycle shops. There's a product called Tank Kreem . You can get a whole kit to clean, scale and then coat. Motorcycle tanks are notorious for rusting in winter months. I did this to an 85 Virago. Worked like a charm

 

drop a match in it and run.

 

I have cleaned a couple tanks for the 34 by using loose nuts & shaking them up. The latest one had a lot of bad gas stuck on it & I used lacquer thinner then muratic acid to get it cleanest. After a good cleaning I lined both with Eastwoods tank sealer. First time lasted 20+ years till the car was rearended, second tank is doing well so far, 6 months.

 

Radiator shop and have them pressure test it, they can repair any leaks, I don't like coating a tank, had the coating lift in one and block fuel line. If it is rusty you will need to coat it, buy a quality brand that is alcohol proof.

 

If you have access to a farm tractor use some bungie cords and strap it to a rear wheel. Put some small gravel inside and drive it around for a half hour. Wash and rince.........done.

Frank

 

I used CLR and a pressure washer, worked very well.