Removing Goo From Gas Tank

[Fishcop]

Hi Guys

Well I'm having another dose of restoration energy, and have repainted and detailed the front luggage compartment.

I want to restore the rusty (inside and out) tank back to the stippled grey finish. My question... How the fuch do I remove the original rubberised coating?!! I've tried paint stripper, brake cleaner and a sharp chisel. I have a grinder and wire wheel, heat gun and a torch... but question the danger involved with this. Is filling the tank with water a safe option before applying heat or creating sparks?

What have you guys done?

[SteveF_911]

I just did this.

1/4" wood chisel and about 4 free days. It took me a month all up to get the tank out and cleaned.

I stripped the rubber using a chisel and the angle grinder. Once the paint is off I dropped it into a guy here in Brisbane to clean out the tank in his acid bath.

I then painted it with grey POR15.

Enjoy the Journey your Webbers will love you.

[david.avery]

When I did this on a rusty 71, I used a makita 4" grinder with a braided wire brush attachment. *Caution* wear the proper gear, these things shed wire.

This was much faster than scraping, and it leaves the tank with a nice pre-prime finish.

[Mattias Hellore]

Originally posted by Fishcop
Hi Guys

Well I'm having another dose of restoration energy, and have repainted and detailed the front luggage compartment.

I want to restore the rusty (inside and out) tank back to the stippled grey finish. My question... How the fuch do I remove the original rubberised coating?!! I've tried paint stripper, brake cleaner and a sharp chisel. I have a grinder and wire wheel, heat gun and a torch... but question the danger involved with this. Is filling the tank with water a safe option before applying heat or creating sparks?

What have you guys done?

1-2 hours with a grinder armed with a wire wheel and Beepbeep doing that on my fuel tank.

[real550A]

John- I used the electrolisys method on the inside of my '72 tank, and it really did a fantastic job.
In a nutshell:
Fill tank with clean water, add 1 tablespoon Lye per gallon.
Suspend a stainless steel rod (electrode) into the water. (I hung it from a board through the sender opening.)
Make sure electrode is not touching metal tank!
Attach + cable of battery charger to electrode, and neg. cable to metal tank. (filler neck works good).
Do this in a well ventilated area, as the byproduct of this method is Hydrogen!
My tank took 48 hours @2 amps, and came out looking new and grey
inside. It was really bad after sitting over 18 years.
I then flushed it out with a pressure washer, and chunks of rust went all over, but the tank looks mint inside now.

[Evans, Marv]

I did one of mine with a heat gun and scraper (outside). I suspect it took about the same amount of time as the other methods mentioned here. Have fun!

[73911guy]

The tank in my '73 911 started to rust badly on the inside, and released chunks that got past my fuel filter and clogged the idle jets.

I recently the gas tank done by the Gas Tank Renu process. From what I gathered, they put the tank in an oven and burned off the outside coating. Then they sandblasted the tank inside and out, applied a PVC coating to the inside using kind of a rotational molding movement, and then brushed on a PVC coating on the outside. Cost was around $125 plus shipping both ways. Caution: UPS shipping can be very expensive depnding on how you box up the tank (the size box required puts it into the multiplier of the weight charge).

My criticisms:

Nothing was done to stop or slow the rust in the seam around the edge of the tank, so how long it will hold together is anybodies guess.The PVC coating inside the tank is very thin, there was a plastic "hat" inside the tank that is gone now, and the exterior of the tank looks like it was done by a 4 year old with bad hand to eye coordination. The guarantee applies to only the tank and not any of the connecting tubes, which were painted with just a primer nad started to rust in a month.

In retrospect, cleaning the tank using the electolisys method described here and strippng the exterior with an angle grinder and a cup brush doesn't sound too bad. I'd probably use the Por 15 tank coating on the inside.

Also, I heard that repro tanks wouldn't be available for another 6 months. Given my experience with the importer, I'd add another 6 months to that estimate.

YMMV.

Jim

[Fishcop]

Matt, inspirational photos

Mike, I'll definitely give the electrolysis thing a go. Remarkably there appears to be little rust inside the tank (that I can see), but now that I've gone this far, it makes sense to do the job properly...

Steve, what's the name of the place in Brisbane?

Cheers