Picked up a 1986 Honda ATC 125M from a buddy to play with. Tank was reeking of spent gas. Inside of tank is pretty rusted.

What's the easiest way to clean rust from inside of tank? Anyone have a decent (rust free) 1986 ATC 125M tank they don't need??

Thanks

Flush it out the best you can then throw in a mixture of nuts and bolts, sheet metal screws, put on the cap then shake it up for a few hours to knock off the rust, hot setup would be to wrap with a old sleeping bag and toss into the dryer on the no heat setting let it tumble a while, your wife will probably kill you if she finds out, mine was not home when I did it after you shake it a while dump out the stuff you put in then wash it out with a garden hose real good then dry ASAP.

This guy here lists a cheap derusting solution, but I never tried it. I heard you can nuetralize the acid with a wash out solution of baking soda when you are done rinse good with water.

http://harley-performance.com/harley-tank-cleaning.html


I saw on another site this guy says " Muratic/Hydrochloric Acid is just HCl + Water (not sure of the dilution).
Add Baking Soda (NaHCO3), and one gets NaCl + H20 + C02...

I.E. When one neutralizes HCL with Baking Soda, one gets a resulting mixture of Water, Carbon Dioxide, and SALT, none of them are considered caustic substances."

Just do a search on google for: de rust gas tank muratic baking

and there are all kind of sites that come up about de rusting tanks. Some say it's OK, other say not. Seems simple enough to me as long as you do a good job washing it all out. I never tried the muratic acid solution, but have used the $25 Kreem kits with the liner. I'm going to try the $2 muratic acid next time around though. I don't think a 2 stroke tank will rust back up near as quick as a 4 stroke quick since it has oil in the premix anyway. I also want to stay away from that liner in the Kreem kits. The liner has never given me any trouble, but after hearing other peoples troubles with the liner starting to come off and plug up the fuel system I want to stay away from it.

A parts guy suggested the muratic acid thing to me also, then rince with the baking soda,??? He then saw my look of confusion and said I could take it to the radiator shop and they could flush it...
I like the idea of the liner, but are there that many problems with it???

From what I read about DIY cleaning, you etch the tank with the watered down muratic solution, then neutralize that by pouring in some baking soda. Then dump that out and rinse again with a water / baking soda solution so all the acid is neutralized. Then rinse it out good with water several times and you will have a clean tank inside.

The Kreem Kits come with three bottles. An acid, a neutralizer, and a coating / liner. I think the cleaner in the Kreem kits is probably a muratic acid solution and the neutralizing solution is probably a baking soda solution. The coating is a liquid plastic that you pour in there and it dries on to the inside of the tank covering it and preventing it from rusting. The instructions for the Kreem kit tell you to knock away the major rust by placing rocks or hardware in the tank like Hoser described, then do the acid etch, neutralize, and coat the tank. I've used the Kreem kits probably a dozen times and never had any trouble with the liner coming off, but I always followed the instructions carefully and made sure the tank was very clean and dry inside before applying the liner. I have read about and also had people I know tell me of problems happening with liner eventually starts coming off a few years down the road and plugging up the fuel tank pickups. I don't think the rust preventing liner is critical for a 2 stroke bike as long as you keep the tank full since there is oil pre-mixed in with the gas. The oil should keep it from rusting again. Even so, I'd probably rather pull a tank out and etch it once a year than try and deal with cleaning out the tank liner so I'm not going to use the liner anymore. That means I would be paying $25 for a bottle of acid and a bottle of baking soda If I just used the Kreem kit for cleaning the tank. So I'm inclined to try the home made etching solution next time and see how it goes. The only drawback I can see is the handling of full strength Muratic acid. That is some nasty stuff, wear gloves and don't breath the fumes. It probably won't be to bad once mixed with water. But it is cheap compared to the Kreem kit. It's like $2 for a gallon jug of muratic acid at the hardware store and maybe a dollar for a box of baking soda.

Their is a good paint made by GE ?? that is for painting electric motors and will resist chemicals like gas, fuels, oils, solvents, I wonder if that would be a good alternative to the plastic coatings?

With todays epoxy paints I would think a paint could be used to prevent rust, maybe a catalyzed primer ?

I don't know about the paint, but have heard of people getting the tank galvanized and that is supposed to be a pretty much permanent solution to it rusting inside. That sounded like a good way to go, if you could find a place that does galvanizing.

Wonder if that por stuff would work maybe contact them?

Not sure how they would keep the galvanize out of the pickup tubes.

Galvanize coating is usually real thin like chrome plating only a few thousandths thick. If anything it would keep the tube from rusting as well. Hot dip goes on in mils I think so it is not even in the thousandths thick, so it keeping it out of the tube wouldn't be a worry. I'm sure the galvanizer guy could control how thick it goes on. Boat trailers and salt water stuff they lay it on thick, but for fasteners and sheet metal and what not it is usually applied pretty thin.

All the hot dip I seen done is they take the part, in this case a gas tank and throw it into a pot of liquid zink then take it out and let it drip dry, cool off, their is a place in Peoria that does it not sure how they would do a tank I guess you would have to ask the guy before he done it.

To coat the inside would be the hot setup they would last a long time we need to find someone to do it, I have a few old ATC90 and ATC110 tanks that need done, one ATC90 tank years ago I heated the bottom with a torch then dumped in a few cups of flux then dumped in a 1/2 pound of melted solder, then took the torch and heated the bottom and rolled it around untl the bottom was coated, works pretty good but it only coats the steel that is 100% rust free and is a pain in the ass.

My vote goes for a epoxy paint coating heh

I think there is an electroplating process for galvanizing or applying zinc also. I'm pretty sure that's how they put it on in thin layers like chrome.

I went and looked around the web a little. Learn something new everyday I suppose. I found this link (and about 10 million others heh):

http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article40.htm

And basically what it says is the electrogalvanizing process is the one used to put on a thin coat. I guess that's why all the boat trailer places stress Hot Dipped when you go over there to get robbed buying a boat trailer.

That's what I've always suggested.

I've had a highschool buddy in the plating business do mine for years and he's always zinc plated my 250 tanks when I've needed it done. Works beautifully and you don't even need to paint the outside if you don't want to.

I still have to pull out the three pilot tanks and do them. I can't remember if he double or triple plates them, but at least it doesn't flake off in a couple of years like the kreem or similar products usually do (I have a 250 tank now that is doing just that).

It was something like 30 bux the last time for a tank.

Post some pics of your next one you get done it sounds like the hot setup.

I will, at the rate I'm going I may not get to it very soon because of all the friggin projects going on....... I will probably continue to use the gravity feed tanks and pull the pilot tanks when time permits.

hey Ody_stable

just wondering if you have any of those 250's projects close to be done???
i know you are real busy. i just want you to know that i am still interested in some parts.
Maybe one of them zinc coated 250 gas tanks?

have a great day

Curtis

I knew that was coming......

Yes I will be getting that done sooner than later. We've decided to get rid of all of the 250's since we have way too many toys now..... (3) Pilots, (1) 350, (5) complete 250's, (1) 250 project, (1) mid-engine 2-seat buggy, the new (old) Manx and (1) mid-engine buggy project, not to mention the FJ40, '69 Camaro and '68 Firebird (all in different states of restoration).

The wife figures that at the current rate of completion that all of the "projects" will be done 10 years after I die, which will be soon if the Firebird doesn't make some noticeable progress soon.........

The daughter that's supposed to "help" me with the 250 for you has just been grounded "indefinitely" so it will be moving along here soon (she may be out of college before she gets here cell phone back).

sorry

Sorry for what?

Hee Hee Hee

for being a pest

I've got five of em in the house, you're nothing!

thanks

i just got thru talking with my brother in Encinitas. how far is that from you?

About 15-20 miles southwest of me.

where do i find this kreem stuff???

most any bike shop wil have Kreem, definately one that orders thru tucker rocky or parts unlimited which most every cycle shop does


There are a few pitfalls with the main one being that the Kreem will block the pick up tube, as well as coat the tank. You will probably need to get the pick up screen off and rod out the hole with a wire or something.


You can just do the cleaning part with a super good flushing like 5 times to make sure all the junk is out of there.

radiator shop is one way, dumping a bunch of nuts or something in the tank then tossing in dryer is another method, navel jelly, muratic acid, and plenty others like bill has mention, any chrome or metal plating or galvanizing shop will have a dip tank but that will strip the outside too.

before you get in too deep you might want to do a poke test around the tank with a screwdriver, at one part of my tank the metal was so thin the tank was unuseable without welding metal. I tossed it just not worth the hassle.