rust in tank, what do i use?

[wildbill]

Ok, so today was my first chance i started fidiling on my bike, fixing little things here and there. The bikes been sitting for 9 months so i got to thinking that the tank most likely had rust in it since it wasn't stored with a full tank. So i look inside and to my not so surprise there's rust. Now i've been doing some thread searches and reading on what stuff to use to get rid of the rust. The rust doesn't look too bad, now i was reading there is POR 15, kreem, acid, etc.. what is the best and easiest method to getting rid of light to medium amount of rust. I was thinking about getting the POR 15, any suggestions on what i should use would be nice. And also where can i buy these items.

[The Buddha]

Light rust - I like Kreem. Heavy rust and likely holes I guess I am leaning towards POR15 as a small intermediary step to welding.
Kreem's acid is fast and pretty rough. You'd blow a hole in it if you dont have a thick wall. But it will clean out the tank in 5 mins or less, and you drain it and dump baking soda in it and follow it with water, then finally very very very hot water (from a house hot water faucet is fine) ... then off you go with MEK and then the white stuff. In effect you'd do steps 1 and 2 in maybe 30 mins. The kreem steps take more time, usually 24 hours, several coats of it.
POR acid step takes hours. It needs to be marine cleaned before that preferably, again hours together, but your tank blowing a hole is less likely in that. Then POR itself has to be 1 application. cant be added to or thinned out or anything. Its tought to get full coverage and tough to know what you're doing till its too late. IMHO. lack of experience with POR - maybe - but I did 1 with it. not bad but its a design limitation IMHO.
Cool.
Srinath.

[tussey]

Light rust - I like Kreem. Heavy rust and likely holes I guess I am leaning towards POR15 as a small intermediary step to welding.
Kreem's acid is fast and pretty rough. You'd blow a hole in it if you dont have a thick wall. But it will clean out the tank in 5 mins or less, and you drain it and dump baking soda in it and follow it with water, then finally very very very hot water (from a house hot water faucet is fine) ... then off you go with MEK and then the white stuff. In effect you'd do steps 1 and 2 in maybe 30 mins. The kreem steps take more time, usually 24 hours, several coats of it.
POR acid step takes hours. It needs to be marine cleaned before that preferably, again hours together, but your tank blowing a hole is less likely in that. Then POR itself has to be 1 application. cant be added to or thinned out or anything. Its tought to get full coverage and tough to know what you're doing till its too late. IMHO. lack of experience with POR - maybe - but I did 1 with it. not bad but its a design limitation IMHO.
Cool.
Srinath.

if I wanted to drop off my tank at a shop what service would I asked to for clean the tank? Do I say, can you clean the tank or is it called something else? I thought it was called something else in another thread...   

[The Buddha]

OK I doubt they do that. However if they do, they'd most likely screw up the paint cos they drop the whole thign in some caustic solution which will eat the outside and the inside. of course that will be the right way if your paint is frucked up.
I did some tanks that just needed kreem and powder coat straight black (Jiggersplat in particular) but I failed on several others that were too far gone. Average, Pdg1018 and others. Light rust is OK, severe with holes etc. Get a different tank.
Cool.
Srinath.

[wildbill]

yeah i dont think its heavy rust, i checked the tank again and i say its looks like a nice even coat of rust . But seriously i don't think thers any holes or leaks, it looks like the tank had a paint job not too long ago either. I think im gonna use the kreem, I was thinking about the acid way since it doesn't looks like the rust is doing any major hoel eating but i dont have a hose in my backyard  , thats philly for you. thanks for the info.

[coyotee]

i just went thru this, i have an extra set of the tank prep kit w/o the liner (for sale $12 plus shipping)...


its a very time consumeing process but im pretty happy w/ the results so far

[wever411]

What's the best way to prevent the tank from rusting on the inside in the first place? Or is it just inevitable that the tank will rust?

[Mandres]

I used Por15 and am very pleased with the result.  Just follow the directions and be sure not to accidently get any of the sealant on your gloves because it will get all over the paint when you go to rotate the tank and never come off.  Ask me how I know  

[wildbill]

What's the best way to prevent the tank from rusting on the inside in the first place? Or is it just inevitable that the tank will rust?

you can easily prevent rust in a tank buy keeping the tank full of gas when you put in storage for the winter, if you store your bike in the winter. As long as the tank is full there is no oxygen to oxidise the metal and cause rust, unfortunately the place i bought the bike from was a slavage place and the owner who sold it to them didn't leave it with a full tank. I suppose if you wanna save $$ you can also fill the tank with water. I also think they make a winterizing additive to tanks of gas for winter storage if im not mistaken.