Gas Tank Liner/Cleaning

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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Im working on an vintage Arctic Cat snowmobile with a 6.5gal metal tank. The inside is rusty, gritty rust, not large rust flakes. It does not leak so its not beyond salvaging. However its bad enough something IMO needs to be done about it. I've been thinking I may have 2 options.

1st option is to use rust eater. I have a gallon jug of the stuff and I use it for other items and it does remove the rust, and would require me to put it in, and let it sit for a period of time, rotating the tank so it can get it all. Im assuming its some sort of acid.

2nd option is to use POR 15 tank liner kit. Looks like its just shy of $50 on Amazon.

Looking for opinions on what you all have used or done to make the tank usable again.
 
straightlinespeed said:
Im working on an vintage Arctic Cat snowmobile with a 6.5gal metal tank. The inside is rusty, gritty rust, not large rust flakes. It does not leak so its not beyond salvaging. However its bad enough something IMO needs to be done about it. I've been thinking I may have 2 options.

1st option is to use rust eater. I have a gallon jug of the stuff and I use it for other items and it does remove the rust, and would require me to put it in, and let it sit for a period of time, rotating the tank so it can get it all. Im assuming its some sort of acid.

2nd option is to use POR 15 tank liner kit. Looks like its just shy of $50 on Amazon.

Looking for opinions on what you all have used or done to make the tank usable again.
Click to expand...
I would use the POR 15 and neutralize the iron oxide and seal it. It should never rust again if you do that.

POR 15 contains phosphoric acid that converts the iron oxide to iron phosphate making it non-reactive to water. Keep the tank moisture free after that and you will never need to worry about it again.
 
Look up a product called "caswell" fuel tank liner
It's a two part epoxy

I've used it with good success on plastic fuel tanks
 
Kreem | Fuel Tank Liner

I've got an old Suzuki TS-185, and this stuff is in the tank. It was rusty like you describe yours, and it worked fine. A friend who had a vintage motorcycle shop did it. They put a hand full of 3/8's nuts and sloshed it around to break up the rust, and then did it again with a hand full of steel BB's. If you have a fuel cut off valve, just make sure it doesn't goop that up in the process.
 
there's still some radiator shops that will clean gas tanks. the valiant cost me $60
 
Buy yourself a 5 gallon pail of Evaporust.

Evaporust Pail.jpg
 
straightlinespeed said:
This is actually what I currently have and thought about giving it a try. I wasnt sure, if that was a good idea, so wanted to ask here first.
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I recently came across 3, gas can, "Jerry Cans" that sat for years, and had corrosion on the insides of them, for sitting for who knows how long, in an unclosed environment.
That Evaporust worked great, cleaning the insides of those Jerry Cars.
Go for it.
 
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