Rust removal/repair of gas tanks

General forum on fairings, seats, tanks, tail sections, painting and other bodywork modifications

Moderator: rztom

Post Reply
Message
Author
LC Cnd
-----
-----
Posts: 1454
Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2014 5:39 pm
Location: Vancouver Is. Canada

Rust removal/repair of gas tanks

#1 Post by LC Cnd » Thu Mar 30, 2017 2:40 pm

Fixing (hopefully) the attached photo'd tank. Odd that the major holes are at the top fwd curve and not on the bottom. Suspect it was hung up on a wall/rafter for a bit. Gone thru this form bodywork looking for some insight which is best; electrolysis (eco friendly for disposal) or muriatic acid (speed/reusable) to rid the rust. Petro67's 2013 thread was interesting with Guard Clean etc at 80 Eruos. Pretty good a deal even back then. To acid dip and Red Kote the tank, after I weld the holes, is $300 locally. Sounds steep. So, which is the better process? Willing to try either
Attachments
IMG_3571.JPG
IMG_3571.JPG (122.67 KiB) Viewed 1887 times
IMG_3570.JPG
IMG_3570.JPG (145.95 KiB) Viewed 1887 times

User avatar
JonW
Posts: 10599
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:33 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Rust removal/repair of gas tanks

#2 Post by JonW » Thu Mar 30, 2017 7:44 pm

Thats pretty much toast im sad to say without some serious welding. Initially I only saw one of the pics and said you really need to graft on another front half to effect a good repair as this is more than pin holes as the metal surrounding the holes will be very thin indeed. :/ And that assumes the rest is ok... which I doubt as being so thin and bad there means its been wet for a long time... and I was right, when the 2nd pic finally showed I could see the pin holes all along the bottom. One or two would be ok, but wow its terminal Id say from the spread :(

Im still playing with my RZ tank from my 250-350 build thread, Ive been using Metal rescue most recently, but good ole vinegar was my first choice as its so cheap to make up a massive bath of it. Molasses is another cheap option if youve a source locally but ive never tried it. I would start there as I reckon after a dip you'd have very little left on that tank sadly :(

Do you remember the LC tank I cut open and looked inside? it was rusty on the top after a wire wheel and the bottom looked immaculate but turned out to be a sieve once the paint was removed... thread should still be on here somewhere, worth a look? Sadly I cut across the front bit you needed or i could have sent it to you if it was all you needed, but I fear you have a job too far on your hands with this one Scott.

My advice... buy one of the new good copy tanks for sale in the UK, I did in the end for my LC resto. Sure it was not cheap but good peace of mind as a failed paint job would cost way more than the tank did if i needed a redo on it here.
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com

User avatar
JonW
Posts: 10599
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:33 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Re: Rust removal/repair of gas tanks

#3 Post by JonW » Thu Mar 30, 2017 8:02 pm

Found links for you...

My rotten LC tank : viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13121" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My recent foray into cleaning the inside of tanks etc : (latter half of this page) viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4650&start=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
80 XT500 Supermoto!
81 RD350LC Resto
82 RD421LC Hybrid
82 RD350LC decapitation project
82 RD250LC JDM '251LC' YPVS
83 RZ350 Resto
84 RZ500 Resto
85 RZ350 F1 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Resto
86 RZ350 F2 Hybrid

Like Watches? www.PloProf.com & www.DeskDivers.com

User avatar
OldTZracer
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:21 am
Location: Alberta Canada

Re: Rust removal/repair of gas tanks

#4 Post by OldTZracer » Sat Apr 01, 2017 9:19 pm

I saw one of Rory's replacement Airtech fiberglas / epoxy tanks last week. Pretty nice piece...
"...its a 2-stroke ya twit - Its supposed to smoke..."

Post Reply