Pinto Car Club of America

Hey all,  working on a 78 that had been parked for 18 years and today I took out the gas tank to find 1/4 gallon old gas and A TON of dirty rust and rusty gas.  I will be replacing all the gas lines. but what is the best way to clean the tank?  or do they still make tanks for these old cars?

thanks

KBS makes a good cleaner/sealer kit that I've used on a couple tanks. Costs about 60 bucks but works real well. JT

Hi 72,  I have no idea what KBS is or stands for, nor if it is sold in canada, is KBS a company? or a brand name?  thanks

KBS makes a good cleaner/sealer

This is what I do for the rust.  It will also clean a lot of the varnish as well. Just remember that polarity is important.

HOW I USE ELECTROLYSIS TO CLEAN RUST FROM INSIDE METAL GAS TANKS


Google "electrolysis rust removal" and become familiar with the process of removing rust using electrolysis.  Most of what you will read will involve placing the work piece (the cathode) and the scrap metal (the anode) into a vessel together.  For most applications this works well.  Placing more anodes (pieces of scrap metal) spaced around the work piece gives better results. So if you had a large vessel and submerged the gas tank in the solution with anodes placed around it you could remove the rust from the OUTSIDE of the tank however because this is primarily a line of site process the inside of the tank doesn't benefit from this process.  To remove rust from inside a metal gas tank you need to place the anode inside the tank.  Anything metal (ferrous metal preferably---it's safer), rebar, pipe, anything that you can physically get inside the tank will work.  This anode must be electrically isolated form the tank so use electrical tape, plastic screen, or whatever, to isolate this anode electrode from the metal tank. This places the anode inside the tank and if we connect the negative battery charger lead to the tank and the positive lead to the anode (which is now inside the tank) we can remove the rust from inside the gas tank using electrolysis.  I usually leave part of the anode sticking out of the inlet neck or the sender opening (or use both and connect them together with a jumper wire) and connect the positive battery charger to either.  The gas tank may be submerged in the electrolyte for this or just pour the electrolyte into the gas tank.  Just placing the electrolyte into the tank works just as well.  Be aware that the gas bubbles that appear will rise to the surface of the electrolyte.  If the opening of the tank can be placed so that there is an opening at the highest point of the tank then the gas will bubble out.  This should mean that the electrolyte is touching all parts of the inside of the tank.  If its not possible to get the opening at the highest point so that the gas bubbles can escape (rather than forming a gas pocket inside the gas tank) then you will need to let the process work with the gas bubble on one side of the tank then rotating the tank so that the gas bubbles are at a different place the next cycle.  Usually four hour cycles will get the inside of the tank pretty clean, but the rate that this works depends on several factors.  Electrolysis isn't going to work where the gas bubbles are trapped so it is important to move the trapped gas to different parts of the tank clean it completely.  I use a power washer to blast away the grime and wash the inside of the tank about every four hours or twice a day.  A good flash light and small mirror is a great help in looking inside the tank to see when it is clean. When you are satisfied that it is clean enough for you it MUST be dried very well.  After I have removed as much of the water as I can, by pouring, and using paper towels, I then use a heat gun to dry it completely.  Just stick the heat gun into the filler neck or the sender opening for about ten minutes.  It now is your choice to use the tank as is or to coat it with some sort of sealer.  This may take several days but it's easy and works very well.

Louie

I've used a rather ghetto method to clean tanks, but works well. Go to Home Depot and buy a pound of galvanized roofing nails. You know, the ones with the crappy plating and are sharp. Put them in the tank with a couple gallons of water (actually I've used white gas before) AND SHAKE VIGOROUSLY. The sharp edges and points dislodge rust and scale quite well.