Couple of comments about your FAQ or whatever from a motorcycle list about
handling rusty
fuel tanks.
While chemicals such as muric acid or vineger (my favorite) are very good at
disolving rust,
they cannot handle stuck chunks. The rocks the author eschewed are quite
usefull for
knocking stuck chunks of things lose so the chemicals can do their work. A
suggestion I saw
once (and have never used since I learned of it after doing the last tank) is
to use
aquarium gravel. Small, lots of sharp edges, should scrape things very well
and very
quickly. Especially compared to the rounded gravel pieces laying in the
driveway.
>IMMEDIATELY coat the inside of the tank with the liner as it will start to
>rust within minutes because it is very bare metal in there. CAUTION: the
>liners will also eat paint, as they are caustic in order for form a
>chemical bond with the metal surface.
I disagree with the assessment that the tank will start to ruse within minutes.
More like
seconds, if not instantly. Especially when the agents you have used to clean
the tank are
suspended in water, or the tank was rinsed with water. Water rusts bare metal
superbly.
I would also strongly advise against using a tank coating chemical. The
manufacturers, even
the one who makes the best, Krem, will admit under some pressuring that it will
fail within
a few years at best. Giving people like me more money as you pay me for taking
out of the
tank what you just payed me to put in the tank. People really have done both
when I was a
motorcycle mechanic. A car fuel tank may hold up better with this then a
motorcycle beause
of the lower vibration and beating a car tank would get. But I still wouldn't
do it for
love nor money.
The best most reasonable chemical I have found for coating the inside of a fuel
tank to
prevent rust is gasoline. A liberal coating on the metal keeps water displaced
and
prevents rust. Namely, keep your tank full, especially if it's going to sit.
Gas doesn't
rust, and it doesn't atract water. Though it is up to you to not pour water in
the tank via
cheap gas or parking it with the cap off in the rain.
Just some ruminations as I lay here chewing my cud.
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