Clean and coat inside of gas tank

[arminyack]

I had "Kreem" gas tank coating put in mine at one point in its life...which lead to quiet a disaster last summer. Las year someone poured sand in my gas tank. Not a whole lot managed to make it through the screen as the bottom of the pickup, but enough to half fill my clear fuel filter in the engine bay, kill my fuel pump, and muck up my solex. But that not the bad part, it what the sand did to the old kreem coating..it started to flake off in small chunks, and then peel off wholesale across the whole tank. I had to haul the thing out, washed all the sand out, and then have it hot tanked do deal with the failed kreem coating. The place I took it to hot tanked it over and over and could not get all of it out. It was either cut apart the gas tank, and physically remove it, then weld it back up....or just install a fuel filter right after the pick up.  I went for the second option. 

 

So yeah, don't coat it...

Edited March 4, 2019 by arminyack

[BarrettN]

I like the sound of what the Tank Renu people do - first they bake the bejesus out of it, which should get rid of any coatings. Then they media blast the inside with steel media - they open access holes as needed to have access to all of the inside. Then they fix any holes or weak spots and weld it back up (I was told that they lead over the access holes - can you still use lead for body work in this day and age?) and then they give it a baked in PVC liner, and optionally a PVC exterior coating as well. 

 

 

Has anyone here used them and can confirm that what I've been told is accurate? (my source, voice call with a local Tank Renu franchise owner) 

[NYNick]

On 3/2/2019 at 1:09 PM, AceAndrew said:

If there isn't any more than just a little flash rust, I like to do a diluted acetone clean/shake with a few nuts/bolts.  After that, just slosh around some automatic transmission fluid until the tank is ready for gas.  Do not coat unless it's necessary.

 

If it's rusty and needs repair, then sure a coating is great.  I've seen success with RedKoat and Caswell.  However, as mentioned, it all comes down to prep.

 

On the bottom half of the exterior it's a nice touch to brush on a thick layer of two-part epoxy primer for a little extra oomph.  The brush strokes can be easily hidden by textured undercoating.

Thank you all for your responses.

I plan on putting some nuts and bolts in it and shaking it all about. After rinsing with water I will try some Evaporust and let that sit, tilting and swishing it around to get it on all the surfaces. After rinsing well and drying, I will do the Acetone clean, let it dry, and then put some transmission fluid on the surfaces to prevent it flash rusting while the car is put back together. Kind of a belt and suspenders approach.

Sound good?

Nick

[Dudeland]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a rather large (1-2 liter) dent in the bottom of my tank.  Any ideas to get it out?  Pressurize it?  I am on the side of getting the tank re-done professionally. 

 

Regards

 

[BarrettN]

7 minutes ago, Dudeland said:

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a rather large (1-2 liter) dent in the bottom of my tank.  Any ideas to get it out?  Pressurize it?  I am on the side of getting the tank re-done professionally. 

 

Regards

 

Maybe a bladder of some sort could be used to localize and control the area where the force is applied? Maybe even one of those paint less dent repair guys have the tools to work the dent out from the inside? 

[Son of Marty]

If the dent in your tank doesn't involve a crease in it try heating up the bottom of the tank, when empty, with a heat gun then quenching it quickly with aerosol keyboard cleaner or a c02 fire extinguisher if you can find one the quick temp change will often cause the dent to snap back to it's original shape. 

[Simeon]

2 hours ago, Dudeland said:

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a rather large (1-2 liter) dent in the bottom of my tank.  Any ideas to get it out?  Pressurize it?  I am on the side of getting the tank re-done professionally. 

 

Regards

 

 

Can you get a broom handle through the sender hole and use this as a punch to drive your dent out? This may not be perfect as the steel may be stretched but you could get a few pints back. 

[Dudeland]

17 hours ago, Simeon said:

 

Can you get a broom handle through the sender hole and use this as a punch to drive your dent out? This may not be perfect as the steel may be stretched but you could get a few pints back. 

I have to get a proper return put in the tank for EFI, so I think I might as well fix and coat it at the same time.  I am sure someone in Vancouver can help me out. 

 

[g_force]

On 3/6/2019 at 12:10 PM, NYNick said:

Thank you all for your responses.

I plan on putting some nuts and bolts in it and shaking it all about. After rinsing with water I will try some Evaporust and let that sit, tilting and swishing it around to get it on all the surfaces. After rinsing well and drying, I will do the Acetone clean, let it dry, and then put some transmission fluid on the surfaces to prevent it flash rusting while the car is put back together. Kind of a belt and suspenders approach.

Sound good?

Nick

 

This guy says KrudKutter works better than Evaporust:

 

 

[NYNick]

UPDATE:

 

1) Dumped a small bucket of nuts and bolts into the empty tank. Hooked up a sling from my garage door tracks and shook the tank on all sides for about 2 hours loosening any rust flakes. Rinsed with water twice. Rusty water!

2) Purchased 2 gallons of Evaporust at Advance Autoparts and dumped it in. I closed the tank up with tape and a rubber glove and let it soak, on each side, for 24 hours. Since there are five sides to a tank, that took 4-5 days. I shook it every few hours to keep the interior wet, but I have a feeling that since it was closed it was staying wet anyway. BTW, I kept it in my family room (thank you wifey) because Evaporust wants 65 degrees or warmer.

3) Emptied Evaporust; it's reusable! Rinsed with hot water. Dumped a gallon of Simple Green in, filled a bit, shook, repeat. Filled it to the top 3 times. Rinsed. That's a lot of water!

4) Air dry. Check out my invention. Heat gun in one hole, WetVac reversed to blow in another. Worked pretty good! I'm so smart!

5) Dumped a quart of Acetone in the tank. Sealed it up and shook. Turned it over and shook. Got Acetone all over me. Do this outside BTW. ; ) Don't use the heat gun or you'll die.

6) Stuck the WetVac on blow in filler hole. Dried it right up quickly.

7) Dumped 8 ounces or so of transmission fluid into the tank and rotated to coat all surfaces. This should protect the surfaces from flash rusting before it's installed and filled. Drained it all out until just the surfaces were covered.

? Sealed it up until install.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by NYNick

[Edsta74]

Im about to tackle this job also.  Thanks for the update!  and the heat gun invention!  I'll be using the same method to dry.  I ordered the POR15 kit to seal it.  Im hoping to do it this weekend.  

[NYNick]

I was convinced not to seal it. It seems like overkill and just something else to go wrong (or flake) in the future.
The factory didn't seal it and it's just steel after all. See how your rust removal goes first, then decide. Mine came out fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Edsta74]

That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Hopefully it will be ok and not in need of a sealer. But the POR15 will be there just in case.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk