since my motor is out of the 77 westy and the gas cap has been off for 5 years while it sat.. i am gonna try to get the tank off and clean it... any tips or suggestions? thanks.. ( i dont know much about cars) this is gonna be hard for me.. i think..
Yea, now would be a good time to quit smoking ;)
Jan
OP was for a Bus
james
Ok. Thanks for clarification (stupid me).
I just got finished refurbishing my Ghia tank this weekend. It had some interior rust, but no perforations.
The steps I took:
1) Tape up all opening except for filler neck.2) 3 vigorous washings with boiling water and detergent (shake hard for about a minute), followed by two good rinsings. I put about 30 1.5 inch lag bolts into the tank with the water and detergent - they helped scour any loose rust and gunk off of the sides of the tank. You will be amazed at what is in there - yuk!!!!!
3) Filled tank with 1 gallon of warm water and one gallon of muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid). Shook vigorously, and let it sit at various angles for a while so that all sides got good contact with the fluid. CAUTION!! If you do this, be careful!!! The fumes are dangerous and nasty - do this outside, preferably on cement. You will need good gloves (wrapped in plastic wrap, because the acid will eat right through leather and canvas)and eye protection. You will also need a big bucket and about 3-4 pounds of baking soda to neutralize the acid. Mix about 1-1.5 pounds of baking soda with a couple of gallons of water in a 5 gallon or larger plastic bucket. When you have finished washing out the tank with the acid, slowly pour it from the tank into the bucket. The fluid will foam and boil ALOT, so do it slowly and be careful. When you have drained the tank and the boiling in the bucket has stopped, pour a little more baking soda into the bucket. If the fluid starts boiling again, then you have not neutralized all of the acid, so keep dumping in baking soda and stirring until it no longer boils or fizzes. Dispose of this bucket of fluid appropriately - it is no longer wildly dangerous, but on the other hand you probably don't want it leaking into a stream. If you have time, just let it evaporate and dump the sludge in the garbage.4) Mixed about half a pound of baking soda with 2 gallons of water, dumped it into the tank, and shook it. This will neutralize any acid left in the tank. Dump the fluid and repeat - you do not want ANY acid left in the tank!!
5) Rinsed the tank twice with water from the hose.6) Treated the inside of the tank with POR-15 Metal-Ready, following the directions.
7) Sealed the tank with POR-15 US Standard Tank Sealer, following the directions.This POR-15 tank sealer is amazing!!!! A little bit dribbled onto the patio while I was sealing the tank. The next day, I tried scrubbing it off - nothing. I tried using a wire brush - nothing. I tried a pressure washer - nothing. I tried some muriatic acid - nothing.
I also got a little bit onto the bottom of the can (about the size of a nickel), and set it down on the floor of my garage. The next day, I tried to move the can, but no go. When I finally jolted it free, it pulled off a thin layer of my cement garage floor with it!!! And that was after only 24 hours, and it supposedly takes 96 hours to fully cure!!!
This full procedure took about 4 hours on Saturday, and I think my tank is now in better shape than a factory new one... As a matter of fact, I would probably even do this to a factory-new tank - it will extend the life indefinitely.
Just be very careful!!!
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