Gas tank clean out

Get it filled 2/4 with water , put mediums size screws ( 2-3 Handful ) in it ( do never use sand or gravel or the like and don't sandblast it ) and hang it on a old washingmachine ( or concret mixer ) and let it have several runs and in between rinse it out, then have it sloshed with aceton and let it very well dry and then use a good tank sealer like LJF PR 1005 L folow the instruction. It's petrol and kerosene resistant but notrestistand to racingfiuls for dragsters.
It will remain elastic so it will not brake at joints if rivet together. we have used it to seal aircrafttanks with a lot of mouvement in joints because of airpressure and thermal differences with very good sucsess.

I like to get the tank chemically stripped in acid. This completely removes the crap from the tank. Then the guy sloshes the tank with a sealer. That way you get a new tank that is clean metal on the outside for whatever coating you want to use. We had a gas tank renu in our area. I've seen a couple of the jobs and they were bad. They torch cut a hole in the tank, did whatever they do to the inside, and then bird crap welded the piece back on. The exterior of the tank looked like a bucket of roofing tar was smeared over it. Based on the appearance of the tank I saw they must of been pretty proud of themselves. I use Central Michigan Stripping to do my tanks. Just dropped off a Marmon tank today and it costs 155 for the dipping treatment and the slosh. I haven't had much luck with long term fixes on muratic acid sloshes and eastwood type sealers.

I found that info, www.rusteco.com went to the web-sight, lots of before and after photos, and info about product. I ordered some for the tank on the Jordan and one of the motorcycles I need to do. They also have a degrease product that looks to work good also, never herd of this stuff. I may get some of this also, and use it on my Dodge Dart. I had a bad oil leak on this thing and the under side is covered in oil <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: --> . Hope this info helps and good luck.

Thanks Josh, I've actually used them before for my A Model tank, and they did a great job sealing it, unfortunately they are about 2 hours away. I don't think there are any holes in it though, I just need to clean it out really well
Thanks again everybody

P.S. 1930 Jordan if you do find the name of that product I would really appreciate it if you could let me know, sounds like the ticket for me as the outside of my tank is in great shape, it even had some cloth strips between the tank and the straps which I think may be original (at least they looked like it) which is another reason I don't want to take it and have the outside stripped

Several years ago I had the tank for my 1936 Cord repaired by the outfit Josh's mentions. It had a bad dent in one corner and was very dirty. I have been driving it since then and it has given me no trouble. Check their web site for a location near you.

An outfit called Gas Tank Renu has franchises around the country. They media blast the tank outside, drill a small hole and blast it inside, then fix the crevices that almost inevitably appear. They coat it inside and bake. Outside is coated or primed based on owner's wishes. Double-coated version is guaranteed for a very long time. I've seen their work and it looks good, but have not used it myself yet.

There is a product on the market that I have seen in the VJMC news-letter that someone used on his gas tank. He did not want to re-paint the tank due to the out-side was just like new, did have some old gas and rust on the insides. Put the product in and fill to the top put the cap back on and let sit for about a week and then emptied it out, all was good to go!! No rust or bad gas residue left. When I get home after work and shoveling the drive, I will try to find out what the heck that stuff was called? and get the info out to you. I heard that the stuff will not be cheep!! But did work wonders of this application. I hope this mag is not at the Summer home. I need to get some for the Jordan car, and for a motorcycle I have that sat for 20+YEARS with a 1/2 tank of gas in it! <!-- s:oops: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: --> and the bike only has 1,564 miles on the clock. It is from 1973!!! <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: -->

Steve -

You have a couple of options, as some of the guys have pointed out. The last tank I did had 1/2 to 3/4" of hard scale/crud in the bottom. The car had been sitting for over 50 years.

We started with Red Devil Lye (note not Draino). We added a couple of bottles to the tank along with warm water. The solution heats up considerabley more as the lye (sodium hydroxide) goes into solution. We did this a couple of times, the dried it out. It got a lot of stuff out. By the way, Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) will not do anything to old gas gunk that is hydrocarbon based. HCl is mainly good for getting rid of surface rust, but be careful as it will attack the steel as well. Not good for an old, thin, corroded gas tank.

You need to handle the stuff very carefully - rubber chemical gloves, long sleeves, face and eye protection, etc. You don't want it in your eyes.

After we got a good bit of the scale out, we did like others are suggesting - we tied it to an engine stand and tossed in several feet of chain and gave it a spin now and then. After as while, we got nearly everything out.

The last step was to internally coat the tank with Bill Hirsch's gas tank sealer - get the alcohol resistant one and follow the directions. I have used his sealers for over 20 years and always had good luck with them.

Hope this helps.

BTW - we happen to have a shop near Houston that will cut open the end of the tank, sand blast the inside, and reweld it back together. A lot easier than doing it yourself and you get a squeeky clean tank that can then be coated. You might want to check around to see if there are any shops like this in your area.

We use to use the cement mixer and coarse sand to polish intake and exhaust manifolds for our old stock car engines. It woud make them slick inside.

POR15 sells a gas tank cleaner/prep/sealer kit that I have used sucessfully on more that three occasions.
I like the cement mixer idea!

If any one needs to clean a tank out that has been sloshed before, the solvent for the slosh is Methal Ethel Keytone. My L-29 tank had been sloshed and then let sit for several years with gas in it. It was sloshed with the old slosh that wouldn't hold up to alcohol so I had to remove the slosh. It took several weeks to clean it out.CORDially Mike

Thanks for the replies, I was going to put some oil in to try and cut down on surface rust as I won't be running it for a while after I get it cleaned out. The stones are a good idea and I've heard other people say a short length of chain works too
Thanks again

I was trying to decide between small gravel and really coarse sand. Your rock description is better.

I would not use course sand. Small sharp stones 1/4" to 1/2" is what I have used. Cleaning a tank is a long tedious process if you want it really clean. Keep shaking and turning till the water runs clear and then go back to acetone to dry it out well. I don't know what you will accomplish by putting oil in. Oil is soluable with gas and it will just get washed away. I would slosh it with a alcohol resistant slosh. Just one persons thoughts. CORDially Mike

oops

Strap it to a cement mixer, pour in a couple of gallons of water and a couple of pounds of real coarse sand, and turn the mixer on.

I took the tank off an 898-A sedan and poured out the old gas which had been setting in it for about 3 years, of course it looked like river water and there was quite a bit of sediment in it. I let it set for a few days then rinsed it out with a gallon of acetone which I sloshed around for a while first. I got more river water looking stuff and a lot more fine sediment. My question is would it be ok to take a garden hose and just fill it full of water and rinse out with that until it comes out clear? I plan on pouring about a gallon of oil in to help cut down on the rust after I let it air dry. I know muiratic acid will help clean it out too but I think there's so much sediment in there I need to get that out first
Thanks