1987 s find

[kingkamehameha]

Picked it up for 200 buck from a cop. Has never been registered before. 1275 original miles. The gas tank is a mess any ideas on removing lots of rust and corrosion from inside it

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

NoisyGuy has a thread for tank cleaning in Tech Documents. I cleaned an Aero tank 3 years ago that had been left for dead with 1/2" resin in the bottom. It eventually housed Flash I and II's Precious Fuely Fluids.
If the rust is insanely bad, consider This.

[Smile]

Ill share a secret with removing rust from the tank. Remove gas from tank then remove tank from bike, remove sending unit, cap, fuel filter, and fuel valve. find a cork from city mill that can plug bottom. I use this thing called acid magic and you can get this from city mill also. pour the acid magic into the tank and let sit for about an hour. then remove cork and pour the acid magic in a plastic jug and dispose correctly. quickly rinse with water then dry quickly with compress air. this is the tricky part metal will rust very quickly, so get a rust inhibitor to coat the inside of the tank. hope this helps

[kingkamehameha]

I already have the tank off the bike and I plan on filling it with gas soon after I clean it out. So clr isn't the best way?

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Commercial tank-cleaning 2-part products can be had at any M/C dealer. Kreme is one brand. They all use Muriatic (HCl) as the de-rusting agent.
The rust can lift off the thickcake of hardened fuel cruat in chunks. Search The Beast! From 2008.
Wear goggles. Acetic, phosphoricor any acid will work but not as fast. Elecvtrolytic cleaning gets it ALL.

The Coating is less importanr than the Cleaning phase. Good luck!

[evilone]

So clr isn't the best way?

CLR never impressed me. I'd do like wheelman said....Electrolytic cleaning.

[Carnie]

When I was spicing up my spree a while back, I just plugged the hole and poured some vinegar in there. It had to set about 6 hours but it was safe and gave me time to do other things while it was soaking. All the rust comes to the surface, then I dumped it out, put some gas, carb cleaner in it along with some small washers, shook it up, dumped it out, rinsed it and called it good. Whole process took about 6hrs and 20 min.

[kingkamehameha]

I tried to read your write up wheelmen but I still don't really understand what your doing.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Pretty simple really. Tank, water, wash soda. 12V battery charger, negative on the fuel tank, positive on a bar of steel stock, dipped in the soda water. Enjoy the bubbles for a few hours.
The sacrificial steel rod rusts, and the tank comes out clean.

[devenex]

I used vinegar to clean a tank before. Much slower than the other acids, but safer (both for yourself and the metal) and easily disposed. Just let it sit overnight, drain, inspect and repeat as needed.

[kingkamehameha]

I'm gonna look into the vinegar because I live in a condo and I'm not allowed to have gas on my lanai. Im not looking for a speed clean either. Wheelman your write up was confusing

[Carnie]

Then definitely go with the vinegar. It does well and is harmless. Don't forget to replace your fuel lines as well!

[Mystic]

I dont see what is so confusing about what Wheelman said, maybe its just you who are confused

[kingkamehameha]

Yeah what's wash soda and how come in your write up you had a battery connected to the tank and bar. Do I connect the charger to the battery and then the battery to the tank. Mystic I don't want to get into it. I don't have time anymore to pick fights on HS. I just want to cruise cuz

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

A-Hyuk! Tha's 'cause Ah'm a-talkin' Texan is whut fer yuh cain't un'erstand. Ah'll trains-late intuh Caribbean Island RastaTalk. Shood be close enuff:

OK cuz ya take ya plastic tub mon. Ya fill it wit watah. Ya go to Grocery sto an check out da Laundry aisle. Ya find Arm an' Hammah Laundry Soda in da big yella box, OK cuz? An' ya po 'bout half a box in da two gallon watah. Ya gotta covah dat tank or what-evah ya gotta de-rustify.

Now ya gotta keep some Big Wiyahs from da battery to da tank. Ya need twelve volts, an' dat little battaree won' keep it up fo' long witout da chagah. So ya hook up da chagah to dat battaree to keep da good time rollin'. Connect da neg-a-teev to dat tank mon. Look my pic show da steel plate inside dat tank connected to da pos-ee-teeve. It don' make no vi-bra-tions, Mon! It make Bubbles!! Da bubbles trandfer dat Rust-a (na mon, not "Rasta") back to dat pieca steel mon!

I trust this dissertation served to clarify the electrolytic process.

Sincerely yours,