Gas Tank Cleaner & Sealer

Leonard1

Leonard1

Professional Amateur
What are you guys using to clean an old gas tank out and seal it? I have rinsed it out with water and gotten most of the rust flakes out, but it still looks pretty crusty inside. Ospho? Vinegar? Muratic Acid?
 
new tank is best option. if its rare or irreplaceable then the only tank sealer that is worth a damn is novalac epoxy but even with that it needs to be done right. like paint, one wrong move in the process and its going to fail. i always used muratic acid to derust it then a full water rinse followed by an acetone rinse to get rid of the moisture, blow dry to flash off the acetone and get the epoxy in it asap. by the time you do all this its going to cost quite a bit and its alot of work. only you can decide if its worth it.
 
Most people don't use tank coatings correctly thus the failures. And like Jim said it needs to be exactly right. Different tanks present their own difficulties. I did two gas tanks that were not replaceable (remanufactured). One was a 60's GM , don't remember exactly what car. We cut the top of the tank off just inside where it curved in from the sides. The inside was sand blasted, then I rewelded the top panel back in. The undercoating on the sides and bottom was undisturbed so when the tank was reinstalled you didn't see evidence of the repair. An extreme measure and the tank has to be good enough in the first place. The other tank was from some old Jeep. That had baffles and we cut three panels to get at everything.
I don't recommend this unless you know the danger and how to avoid it. You don't just put a die grinder to empty gasoline tank!
 
Here's how I have done it with a solid just inside surface rust, metal solid. just rusty. Wash as much as you can out with hot water, let it drain and dry out some. Get a couple handfulls of nuts, bolts and washers into the tank along with some muratic acid and shake it all around to knock loose what you can. You can clean up a pretty nasty tank this way. After you are done with the acid, give it a good hot water rinse and blow it dry. That gives you a clean bare metal gas tank. I have tried sealers and never had acceptable out comes. It wont need a sealer if you keep gas in it, a new tank is probably bare metal too.
 
Yes new or reprduction tank is best. I did a 48 chevy tank with the Bill Hersh system years ago and sold the car but I do see it at a few cruise in nights and still holding up but maybe just luck
 
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