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FW: Gas Tank Rust

To: "mgs%autox.team.net" <mgs@autox.team.net>
Subject: FW: Gas Tank Rust
From: "Cram, Geoff" <gcram@wdni.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 95 16:30:00 PDT
I am suspicious of the longevity of any tank sealing system, considering 
that there is no good way to predict what the gas companies will be adding 
to their blends in the future.  For example, I heard that the old tank 
sealing compounds don't like the gas-with-10%-alcohol blend we get in winter 
in the Seattle area, which causes the sealant to return to something like 
the gooey state it started from, with the expected results to the rest of 
the fuel system downstream.

That said, I can say that I had a Triumph motorcycle tank with internal 
surface rust, but no perforations.  I bought a couple of packs (100/pack) of 
1/4" steel BBs for slingshots and swished them around in the tank with a 
couple of quarts of methanol for a few minutes.  No damage to the tank, all 
rust accessible to the BBs removed, along with the nasty varnish from the 
last tank of gas to evaporate during storage.  I still needed a filter to 
trap the last of the loose rust particles, but it is clean and happy.

To do this to a car tank is a bit more of an effort, obvously, but no more 
so than with slushing compound.  And acetone should work as well as 
methanol, if methanol is unavailanble.

Geoff Cram

66 B
69 T120R


>>The gas tank has rust forming on it's
>>inside. How can this be fixed, I've heard there is a sealent that can be
>>applied. Is this any good? Or should I just install a good fuel filter
>>and live with it. Any other advice on getting it re-started would be
>>appreciated.
>>Thanks,


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