[TR] Removing TR3 Fuel Tank Sealer

[William Brewer]

     I decided to remove the old MOSS fuel take sealer and prep the tank for
KBS sealer. First I used methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) to remove the old white
coating. It just sort of turned it to goo. It did get soft though. After that,
I put crushed pea gravel in the tank and rocked it back and forth. After many
hours, the tank was mjostly scraped clean. I tried to get the residual coating
our with paint remover. Not much results there. I rinsed out all of the goo
with lacquer thinner. I then tried some muriatic acid to remove any rust or
remaining coating. The tank looked great. I then followed KBS's instructions
with a de-greasing wash, an acid etch/rust blaster, drying and then the KBS
coating. The tank looks great. It had better, because I worked on it for two
days.
     The KBS coatings stated "There is no known solvent for removing cured KBS
tank coating". That should do the trick.
     If I had known how long it would take and how semi-questionable my
results would be (I never got 100% of the old sealer out), I probably would
have just bought a new aluminum tank...
     In hindsight, I didn't do a acid etching with the MOSS coating 13 years
ago. I just washed it out with muriatic acid followed by a wash with a baking
sodawater solution & drying before applying the MOSS coating. Maybe if I had
it would have adhered better with a etching solution first.
 
     Bill in Tehachapi