TheSamba.com :: View topic - Inquiring minds like to know things....?!

Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:11 pm

So I kicked my can into the kettle and got my dad to take me on the motorcycle(43MPG :lol:) down to Nampa to get some hydrochloric acid for my gas tank to "re do" it. Anywhoo it was not very fun because I was already burned pretty good from yesterday from floating the river for three hours without a shirt and sunscreen (laugh all you want) anyways we left about mid-day and it was hot today it was not a fun ride down there....anyways enough bird walks. A couple of days before I had cleaned my tank out with some water and contact cleaner thought I would throw it in there and assumed that it couldn't hurt it. So I crack it open the duct tape and rinse the tank out and most of the heebie-jeebies(who knows what) in there was all gone and I could see silver on the bottom! Puzzled as I was I rinsed with some more water and just loads of heebie-jeebies came out and I could see more silver on the bottom. So I am soaking it in Hydrochloric acid(nasty crap but very entertaining) right now overnight and I am curious am I going to need to use the POR15 sealant and stuff if it is silver or does it still need to be sealed because I don't know if that stuff takes the seal off or not?! I don't know what its supposed to look like. Anyone have any chips to munch on about this?

Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:20 pm

You are going to want to hit it with POR 15 or some other phosphoric acid/metal converter type product. The silver you are seeing is bare metal. There is nothing protecting it from rusting again at present.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:21 am

After you are finished with the acid don't forget to neutralize it using baking soda and water. Otherwise the acid will continue to work even though the tank may appear to be dry.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:35 am

not that i know about tank resto specifically, but i can tell you how i do bare metal prep for paint. yes phosphoric acid, but then to neutralize that, i pour boiling water onto the metal so it evaporates fast. but the gas tank enclosure holds the vapor- so if i was faced with the task, i would connect a compressed air line to the pipe at the bottom and perhaps even at the recovery pipes on top. this way the water vapor would be driven out quickly. only one catch, the compressor has to be charged up empty to full right before use on the tank, otherwise the cooler compressed air will cause very heavy condensate. i would even use a moisture filter to ensure that the air entering the tank is both warm and dry.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:45 am

well I let it sit overnight and cleaned it pretty well...but there is still gunk in there so I will wait to monday till I get the POR15 kit I still have some acid left over so I will probably do another acid dose sunday night. (the night before the POR15 comes) :lol: