A safe way to clean and restore a gas tank?

[beetleman217]

How do I go about cleaning a gas tank that has had fuel sitting in it for a couple of decades?

I read LT's thread and how he cleaned his by throwing in a bunch of nuts and bolts to act as abrasive, and then filled it with some cellulose thinners/mineral spirits and shook the can around and then flushed (BTW, an easier way would have been using a metal chain instead of all those bolts, lessening the chances of forgetting one inside).

But aren't those fluids highly flammable? So if a spark is ignited inside from all that metal to metal friction, won't I be holding a potential bomb?

Are there any non combustible fluids that are good for the job of dissolving years' worth of fuel residue?

Or is there a totally different method of doing this?

[hudsonce]

It's not worth it. A local radiator shop cleaned mine (and even welded pinholes) for about $50. Then I poured the liquid liner stuff in it.
_________________
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[craigman]

There's not a radiator shop within 100 miles of here that will touch a gas tank.
I strap a old tank to a cement mixer, fill it up with small rocks, a gallon of purple power degreaser, tape up the openings, and let it go for a few hours. Comes out clean!
Then if you fill the need, seal it up with your favorite sealer, let dry, and your good to go!

[beetleman217]

Has any body had experience with the POR-15 kit?
http://www.por15.com/FUEL-TANK-REPAIR-KIT/productinfo/FTRK/

[Trevor P]

[DDub]

Find a farm feed mill that still makes their own cattle feed. Buy about 3 gallons of mollassas from them and mix it with water in a 3:1 mix. Fill the tank and let it sit for about a week, outdoors. Make sure the tank is completely full and cover the opening but do NOT seal it, with tape etc. The solution will remove all rust from the tank, but won't take paint or grease off. By removeing all the rust you may have pin holes. After rinseing the tank with LOTS of water you can solder the holes.

[JeffRens]

Took the valve off and capped the outlet. I filled mine with about a gallon of lacquer thinner and about a quart container worth of nuts and bolts.... Every once in a while I shake the crap out of it for several minutes. Been doing that over the last few months... probably a total of 15 or 20 times. Almost looks like new inside. I'm sure it'll be fine by the time I'm ready to use it when winter breaks around here....

[GLHTurbo]

engine machine shop? They should have a hot tank to clean engine blocks?
_________________
1957 Beetle
1966 Bus

[Snort]

[DDub]

I've used it several times. The mollassas solution is a fairly weak acid. Animal feed M. is made from red beets, human M. is made from corn. I've done a Model A tank, several lawn mower tanks, lots of small steel and cast iron parts. When possible I wash the parts with Spray Nine or Simple Green. It stinks like hell, but works great. I think I paid 10 cents a pound for it.

[forkzilla]

I hot tanked mine then pickled it in sulfuric acid (8%) for 15 minutes, rinsed in neutralizer, dried and lined the inside with "Redcoat", painted the outside and it looks like new.

[volksaddict]

Damn, Wish I had a cement mixer. I like that one!