• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Tank Rust

  • Thread starter Thread starter dude608
  • Start date Start date
Gas cap has a vent so liquid spills out when shaking the tank. What kind of plug can I use so it won't leak?
 
The thought of swapping the cement mixer for a tumble drier appeals to me - I could do the rinse with the hose and put it back in to dry!:) I expect the missus would shoot me though!
 
Nessism said:
Gas cap has a vent so liquid spills out when shaking the tank. What kind of plug can I use so it won't leak?
Click to expand...

McMaster Carr sells expanding tapered rubber plugs in many different sizes and they also sell modeling clay. I used the plugs to plug the sender hole and the gas cap hole then used the clay to seal up the two "ears" that are on the sides of the gas cap hole. I made a metal blanking plate and a gasket to plug the fuel outlet's oval hole.
 
Jaguarjoe said:
McMaster Carr sells expanding tapered rubber plugs in many different sizes and they also sell modeling clay. I used the plugs to plug the sender hole and the gas cap hole then used the clay to seal up the two "ears" that are on the sides of the gas cap hole. I made a metal blanking plate and a gasket to plug the fuel outlet's oval hole.
Click to expand...

Good suggestion! Thanks. :-D

Spent last night and this morning working on my tank where the POR-15 job didn't work. After close inspection I've determined that the coating did not stick to the surface of the tank. I think there was water inside when the sealer was dumped in despite my baking the tank in the oven (should have cooked it longer). The POR sealer cures by absorbing moisture so water in the tank must have caused the sealer to harden up too fast and not stick to the metal. There were large chunks of hardened sealer in the tank which I managed to chip out but now I need to figure out how to get the rest out. Commercially available paint stripper doesn't seem to effect the POR sealer (I have chunks of sealer soaking in stripper and nothing has happened yet after about one hour). POR sells a stripper kit so I guess I'll have to talk to them about that.

I really created a mess with this one. :oops: Electrolysis is looking pretty good right now.
 
You can make plugs easy enough. Just get a couple of sponges. Cut to fit and wrap with duct tape or cling wrap (to stop the fluid from being absorbed) stuff in tank opening afer removing the gas cap. You can also get different size rubber plugs at the local wine or beer make it yourself stores. They likely will have a hole in the center (for the vacuum lock) so you will need to fill it or again wrap the plug with cling wrap.

On the subject of the sealer, I ordered one of the Caswell kits today. The order taker told me that the feed back on this product is very good. Tank prep is not as critical as with the other products as this epoxy likes the rusty surface to bond to. Speeds up the process a bit.

I am hoping to ride a bit this weekend so I'll pull the tank tomorrow night and sluice it down with the acetone wash. I should get the tank kit by midweek so I should be good to go qagain next weekend.

I'll report back once I get the kit and try it out.

Cheers all.
Spyug.
 
Nessim,
Sorry to hear of your problems. Acetone will get the sealer to come free but be careful using it as it will eat your paint finish. Get a trash bag and wrap and tape it over the painted surface.

Also, putting heat to a gas tank that has been in service is extremely dangerous as you likely know. Gas fumes can be present even after washing. Gas fumes are extremely explosive so when drying the tank stick with compressed air or point a fan at the opening.

Be safe guys.

Spyug.
 
spyug said:
Nessim,
Sorry to hear of your problems. Acetone will get the sealer to come free but be careful using it as it will eat your paint finish. Get a trash bag and wrap and tape it over the painted surface.

Also, putting heat to a gas tank that has been in service is extremely dangerous as you likely know. Gas fumes can be present even after washing. Gas fumes are extremely explosive so when drying the tank stick with compressed air or point a fan at the opening.

Be safe guys.

Spyug.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your concern Spyug. The Por-15 kit includes three parts: alkaline degreaser (followed by water wash), phosphate wash (followed by water wash), and the sealer. I cooked the tank after the phosphate water rinse thus there was no risk of gasoline remaining in the tank.

Regarding the acetone, after your suggestion I put a chunk of sealer in some acetone but after 30 minuets the sealer is unaffected. :cry: Honestly, that Por-15 sealer is some seriously tough stuff. Boneheads, like me, stay away. :oops:
 
Last edited:
Which way? What's the dif?

Which way? What's the dif?

I found one thing confusing between the two methods of electrolysis cleaning. In one example the positive terminal was connected to the tank and in the other the negative was connected to the tank. One stated that the flow was from positive to negative, the other stated the flow was negative to positive.

If I remember my electronics classes correctly, it is generally considered that electrons flow from negative to positive and current flows from positive to negative.

Obviously, in both cases the tank was cleaned. Is the difference the precipitate or the sacrificial element?

My brain hurts. :-s

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Last edited:
BassCliff said:
I found one thing confusing between the two methods of electrolysis cleaning. In one example the positive terminal was connected to the tank and in the other the negative was connected to the tank. One stated that the flow was from positive to negative, the other stated the flow was negative to positive.

If I remember my electronics classes correctly, it is generally considered that electrons flow from negative to positive and current flows from positive to negative.

Obviously, in both cases the tank was cleaned. Is the difference the precipitate or the sacrificial element?

My brain hurts. :-s

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...
Good question....i'm not sure which would be considered the sacrifcial anode.but i will try to find out.basicaly it should be the same principal as the sacrificial anode that is added by the manufacturer to the hot water tanks in most residential homes to make them last longer.
 
Spent another huge chunk of my weekend struggling with my failed POR tank lining job. Would have just junked the tank after the failed lining attempt but the tank is freshly painted and looks great – thus I don’t want to give up on it.

Bought another POR tank kit, but this time with the POR-Strip product included. The stripper softens the liner material but does not dissolve it. Went through two sessions with the stripper and managed to fish out lots of flaking sealer material through the petcock hole. Went to the degreaser which yet again produced loosened sealer chips. I’ve got the phosphate wash in the tank now and when I shake it around it sounds like there is yet more sealer chips coming loose. Frankly, I’m not sure I can get all the loose sealer off from inside which is a major concern to me – the new chips are coming from around the filler neck area I think. Went and ordered some of that Caswell epoxy sealer material stuff because I think it will do a better job of encasing any loose sealer than may remain in the tank after everything is all said and done compared to the POR sealer which is relatively thin.
 
Nessism said:
Spent another huge chunk of my weekend struggling with my failed POR tank lining job. Would have just junked the tank after the failed lining attempt but the tank is freshly painted and looks great ? thus I don?t want to give up on it.

Bought another POR tank kit, but this time with the POR-Strip product included. The stripper softens the liner material but does not dissolve it. Went through two sessions with the stripper and managed to fish out lots of flaking sealer material through the petcock hole. Went to the degreaser which yet again produced loosened sealer chips. I?ve got the phosphate wash in the tank now and when I shake it around it sounds like there is yet more sealer chips coming loose. Frankly, I?m not sure I can get all the loose sealer off from inside which is a major concern to me ? the new chips are coming from around the filler neck area I think. Went and ordered some of that Caswell epoxy sealer material stuff because I think it will do a better job of encasing any loose sealer than may remain in the tank after everything is all said and done compared to the POR sealer which is relatively thin.
Click to expand...

What a mess! Good luck.
 
I think there must be a couple of threads on this subject since I replied to another this morning.

Anyway Nessism I think you will find the Caswell product more user friendly for your application. It will grab the rusty surface and encapsulate any loose bits.

I did mine last week and have been painting the "tins" over this past weekend. The bike will now be gloss black.

I found the sealer job easy as the prep is negligble. a pint of acetone and a handful of drywall screws. Swish about to knock off loose flakes. Pour everything out. Dry with compressed air. Vacuum out larger flakes and use a magnet on coathanger wire to grab tiny rust dust. Prepare sealer and pour in. Plug holes and swish about to coat.

Pay attention to the mixture ratio (3 parts base to 2 parts hardner), mix well and use only 1/2 of the kit. As detailed in the other thread I used it all and the excess hardened in a lump in the area my sender unit was supposed to go. Plain stupidity on my part.

I found that it stays liquid for quite awhile ( maybe 90 minutes or so) at 70F then suddenly kicks and goes hard in a flash. Keep the tank in motion for as long as you can to get coverage all over.

The only real downside to it is that it is colourless and as such is hard to see if you've covered an area. A colour would give you a better sense of this for what little you can see.

Let us know how this works for you.

Cheers,
spyug
 
Last edited:
Nessism said:
Called and talked to Por-15 today about my tank where the coating set-up before it covered the entire inside surface of the tank. The guy said that after the paint kicks off, nothing will stick to it thus I can?t just dump in another can since it will peal off. Also, if you don?t get full coverage, the void area will create an edge and gas in the tank can work its way underneath. In my case, I think the coating is going to have to be stripped back out and the entire process started again ? major bummer. He said the coating may have kicked early because there was high humidity (it was drizzling that day) or if I left some moisture inside the tank (which shouldn?t have been the case since I baked the tank for 1 hour at 140 degrees F to dry it out). At any rate, major caution to those people considering doing a job like this ? the conditions need to be perfect. If you don?t get the entire surface covered, the paint can peal off. If your tank is large, 5 gal or more, I?d recommend getting a full pint of sealer ? you can always drain out the excess.
Click to expand...

Man that sucks - 8oz is a bit slim. I was very concerned when I received my kit as well. I was able to get mine done, but I was working the heck out of my tank to get it covered. For anyone else that is thinking about the POR-15 kit, I would talk to the reps and see if they will double the sealant and charge you a bit more for the kit. Its better than running short and having to do it twice, and cost twice as much. After hearing that additional sealant cant be added later, I will surely keep this in mind when I do the next one.

Thanks for the heads up.
 
Sorry to bump this thread back up since we seem to have two different gas tank rust threads going right now...

Drained the phosphate solution out of my tank after a day and a half. Most of the rust is gone and the surface of the tank has a white chalky coating. Unfortunately, using a flashlight to look inside the tank shows that there is yet more loose pieces of the old POR sealer so I'm going to have to go another round with the paint stripper. The Caswell website indicates that a paint stripper with Methylene Chloride is what is needed to strip out the POR/Kreem coating. Going to check the local shops for some of this type stripper since I don't feel like ordering anymore from POR.

Failure is not an option.](*,):evil:
 
Last edited:
Nessism said:
Sorry to bump this thread back up since we seem to have two different gas tank rust threads going right now...

Drained the phosphate solution out of my tank after a day and a half. Most of the rust is gone and the surface of the tank has a white chalky coating. Unfortunately, using a flashlight to look inside the tank shows that there is yet more loose pieces of the old POR sealer so I'm going to have to have yet another go at the paint remover. The Caswell website indicates that a paint stripper with Methylene Chloride is what is needed to strip out the POR/Kreem coating. Going to check the local shops for some of this type stripper since I don't feel like ordering anymore from POR.

Failure is not an option.](*,):evil:
Click to expand...

DO IT MAN!!! i have faith in you Nessim...
 
Stayed home with my 8 year-old son today because he was sick. Read some Peanuts comics and one made an impression on me:

Linus says (while reading book), "It says here that we learn by making mistakes".

Charlie Brown (after a long pause...screams), "That makes me the smartest person in the world"!

Well, this tank restoration job has been one "learning experience" after another.

Finally managed to get all the old POR sealer out of the tank after another long session with paint stripper. New concern surfaced though, the phosphate left the metal with a chalky coating that acetone would not remove. The residue was a result of prolonged dwell time with the phosphate trying to get all the rust and old sealer off. Wound up buying a bag of aquarium rocks and more acetone. Swished that stuff around for a while and now the tank is clean. :) Finally! The Caswell epoxy is coming tomorrow so I'll do the coating when I get home from work. I'm confident that the tank is clean and ready for coating. Can't wait to finish and ride the bike again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top