Author Topic: Rusty Gas Tank Cure ...  (Read 2464 times)

pd

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Rusty Gas Tank Cure ...
« on: November 09, 2012, 07:36:15 PM »
This was an experiment for me . My Simplex had a bit of rust forming in the gas tank . Not too bad considering the bike is 55 years old . I'd read that different acids worked for removing rust .

I used muriatic acid to clean my XT350 tank with decent results . That tank did flash rust and I retreated it and then neutralized the acid ASAP . It still formed a small amount of flash rust . I'm running it with an in line paper fuel filter and haven't had any problems .

The Simplex tank is a bit more rare and harder to find . I was reluctant to use muriatic acid in it for those reasons . Through research , I read about oxalic acid , sold as wood bleach . Oxalic acid is a lot safer to work with , but still requires due caution ( READ THE LABEL ) . It's not nearly as toxic as muriatic acid . It does NOT harm painted surfaces . It just eats rust and leaves a protective coating on the steel after being thoroughly rinsed with water .

I used a diluted mixture from what is suggested , which is 12 ounces to 1 gallon of water . I used 12 ounces to 2 gallons of water . Being as the solution was weaker , I left the mixture in the tank twice as long and the results are shown below .

This is what I used :



Here's the rusted tank :



And, here's the tank after being filled with oxalic acid for a couple of days :



This stuff really does work great . I'll use it from now on when treating rust .
« Last Edit: August 28, 2017, 05:41:09 PM by pd »
Goes around , Comes around . :)

LARRYBROWN

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Re: Rusty Gas Tank Cure ...
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2012, 12:21:39 AM »
 Tkank you for posting this  :)

pd

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Re: Rusty Gas Tank Cure ...
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2012, 01:14:17 PM »
I should add one finishing instruction :

After the final water rinse of the tank , use a heat gun or hair drier to thoroughly dry any remaining water .
Goes around , Comes around . :)