I know rust removal has been covered,but I thought I would add these websites.The first 2 would apply to almost any parts,motorcycle,car,truck,tools,doesn't matter.The last one covers removing rust from inside the tank.It's easy and a little less messy.Also there are no chemicals to ruin your paint,hands or enviroment.



http://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-aka-Magic/

This one has a downloadable .PDF for future reference.
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/rust/electrolytic_derusting.htm

This one is my fav.Derust your tank the easy way.Other motorcycle tips can be found here.Not GS specific.
http://cycletips.blogspot.com/2007/08/de-rusting-your-fuel-tank.html

How is electrolytic de rusting actually better than using acid. The actual prescribed method is a few hours with hot water and dilute acid, I prefer to use ~a pint and sloshing with full strength acid. I have asked this on the virago site where it was posted over winter, and it came down to the fact that it was $1 as opposed to $10 for 2 gallons of muriatic ... of which I use 1 pint ... and presumably the rest is a waste ... not for me ... but. They all eat good steel slowly ... and rust very fast. Acid just takes minutes with my method.
Cool.
Buddha.

i like the idea of the electrode capturing the rust. it's just neat. kinda neat that electrolysis can bore holes through solid steel over a short period of time. i've seen 25" diameter prop shafts that were hollowed by salt water and a poor ground in a year. wow stuff to me, yawn stuff to others.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 20, 2008, 02:18:02 PM
How is electrolytic de rusting actually better than using acid. The actual prescribed method is a few hours with hot water and dilute acid, I prefer to use ~a pint and sloshing with full strength acid. I have asked this on the virago site where it was posted over winter, and it came down to the fact that it was $1 as opposed to $10 for 2 gallons of muriatic ... of which I use 1 pint ... and presumably the rest is a waste ... not for me ... but. They all eat good steel slowly ... and rust very fast. Acid just takes minutes with my method.
Cool.
Buddha.

Not better,just a little more user friendly for us that don't like using the acids for derusting.There's more than one way to do a job.Everyone has their own way. 

Only problem is though ... electricity isn't any better than acid ... and its not truly 100%, it is going to be better where there is lower resistance (aka closer location - the middle bottom of the tank) or like where there isn't caked up rust (in the crap pockets) ...
The acid method works on contact, contact is giverned by gravity, that is controlled by ... your hand, and acid normally gets into the crap pockets and basically eats it well.
The acid method is quick. That helps a lot.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 21, 2008, 03:27:53 AM
Only problem is though ... electricity isn't any better than acid ... and its not truly 100%, it is going to be better where there is lower resistance (aka closer location - the middle bottom of the tank) or like where there isn't caked up rust (in the crap pockets) ...
The acid method works on contact, contact is giverned by gravity, that is controlled by ... your hand, and acid normally gets into the crap pockets and basically eats it well.
The acid method is quick. That helps a lot.
Cool.
Buddha.

I found the easiest method to be: find another, rust-free tank, sell the crummy one.

Ha ha ... it works fine, till you get a batch of fuel that is rust blended from the dregs of the oil tank, or the ethanol in our fuel put in there to increase the profits of oil companies, duck Cheney and corn growers and to decrease your gas mileage and wallet (in more ways than 1) as well as starve people in most of the rest of the world by burning up their food eats through the crap pockets in your tank ... which have been installed by counterparts of the same people that work for suzuki, that are putting in ethanol in your fuel.
Cool.
Buddha.

Has anyone tried anything like CLR or Lime away to clean out their tank?  Then rinse well and fill with gas?  Just an idea but not sure what it would do long term if anything

Quote from: tom42 on June 28, 2008, 03:23:02 PM
Has anyone tried anything like CLR or Lime away to clean out their tank?  Then rinse well and fill with gas?  Just an idea but not sure what it would do long term if anything

I've thought about it.Never tried it tho.Maybe 1 day.

Not for the tank, but has anyone used Naval Jelly for removing rust?  Hows it work?

Quote from: SIKDMAX on June 28, 2008, 07:33:13 PM
Not for the tank, but has anyone used Naval Jelly for removing rust?  Hows it work?

dgyver swears by the stuff.Uses it a lot.

Quote from: ben2go on June 28, 2008, 06:25:58 PM

Quote from: tom42 on June 28, 2008, 03:23:02 PM
Has anyone tried anything like CLR or Lime away to clean out their tank?  Then rinse well and fill with gas?  Just an idea but not sure what it would do long term if anything

I've thought about it.Never tried it tho.Maybe 1 day.

I did CLR waaaaaay back in 97 on my 89 tank, and it did not do much.
Naval jelly yes its good but the fact that it needs to be sprayed is a turnoff. Then youbhave to use tons of water to get it out, and by then its flash rusting again.
Cool.
Buddha.

CLR and Naval Jelly are both phosphoric acid, aren't they?  Jelly is thicker.

Don't you have to rinse muriatic out, Buddha?  How is that different than rinsing CLR or Naval Jelly?  When doing (amateur very poor) body work, I've often had the same problem with the  phosphoric acid wash for removing surface rust.  Dry it after rinsing and it flash rusts.  Didn't want to risk painting without rinsing. I don't know what the solution is.

I just tried electrolysis on my tank. I only had a 400ma power supply, and after a week, I got bored with it. It was working, but slowly. If I had a bigger power supply, it probably woulda gone faster, but...

I got bored and mixed up some muriatic acid solution, and had the rust gone in 45 min. Worked great, and I'd do it that way again

 
Muriatic acid is the schnitz ... fast ... so fast it will make your head spin. You better have the duct tape, the hot water, the garden hose, the tower cut to strips, the sprayer and all of the rest right at hand, else you'd be scrambling ...

We do have to rinse muriatic acid, but its not impregnated into some goopy crap. Its a liquid, tip the tank and its out, then throw in super hot water 1 gal worth, slosh till your hand catches fire, then dump it. 2 mins later - repeat. Then put in the 3rd gal which will have baking soda ~1/2 cup dissolved in it. Dump it, and while its still super hot, throw in the towel and soak it all up. Immediately slap all the fittings back in the tank, plate and inner tube and cap bolts for the top at the ready ... toss in 1-2 pints of acetone and slosh. Guaranteed, the tank will not rust. Now dry the acetone ... the heat will dry it ... but past that, towel into the tank ... then put Kreem in. Guaranteed no rust and beautiful coating. Kreem and acetone mix up well and coat superbly. heck I may drop POR 15 for kreem, I am hating POR 15, however POR 15 will have kreem for lunch, especially if you wanna powdercoat it - ever.
maybe you can rinse naval jelly like you rinse Muriatic acid, but the fact that it goops up is a disadvantage IMHO. And phosphoric acid creates a lot of powdery crap ... who knows what that does.
Cool.
Buddha.

I didn't even do all that. I just mixed a nominal amount (who knows how much, I guessed) with water, let it sit at certain angles for a few minutes, dumped it all out, and flushed it for 5 minutes with a garden hose. Then, shook out all the water I could, dumped in acetone, shook it, dumped the acetone, and kreemed the hell out of it. It looks good in there, though I haven't filled it with gas yet... that'll be coming very soon (gotta clean the carbs first, and before that write a paper)

I do it in 5 mins with full strength acid.
Cool.
Buddha.

I haven't seen any recent information on this lately, has anyone's opinions changed, or is the general consensus still por-15 being the best option for resealing a tank?

I've been looking around the internet, as well as this site, but there's just so much information, and so many varying opinions that you kinda get overwhelmed by it. I had to reseal a tank a couple years ago, and I remember using por-15 combined with simple green, I think instead of their marine clean, but you still need something to actually clean away the rust, I think I used the other por-15 product for that one.

Is there anyone that could just give me an easy simple answer as to what would work to clean out this tank? I don't think I know enough to try hooking up re-bar to a battery. I'd really love to go to home depot or pepboys and just pick up what I need there, I was thinking of starting with simple green to clean the tank, then try some of the ZEP(whatever they have at HD at the moment) to clean out the rust like this guy used.... http://www.ldrider.ca/techpages/gastankrepair.htm and then maybe just buying a small container of the por-15 to seal it, unless I could find something local and not have to deal with the mail order. http://www.por15.com/US-STANDARD-TANK-SEALER/productinfo/TSG/ would I need the pint or could I do it with the 8oz? I don't remember how much I used last time.

Anyway, sorry for the repeat information/question, but I'm kinda confused at the moment from reading so many opinions and options.

Electrolytic rust removal is quite a bit different than acid cleaning. Electrolytic rust removal actually removes less material than acid cleaning. In fact it actually converts the surface rust back into iron on the object. It's much gentler than acid and is in fact used by museums and restoration experts for antiques since it does no extra damage to artifacts so if you've got the time and equipment it's the best method to remove rust and not do any further damage.