Subject: Re: Rusty Tank
Author: joe jump
Date: Sep 24, 2001, 7:19 AM
Post ID: 1708353665
I agree-the cost for the Rusteco treatment makes it out of reach for most
except for the "Cost is no object" crowd. I can offer a couple of
alternatives. I would say there are two ways to address the problem of a
rusty tank-chemically & mechanically.
This subject comes up from time to time on Brit Iron (British bike list). A
few years ago "Treakle" was all the rage for a slow, harmless, enviro-safe
way to remove rust chemically. Treakle is just molassas & water-that's it. I
tried it on a fist full of rusty bolts I had to clean. I made up a batch in
a 3# coffee can-about a cup of molassas and a quart of water. I tied the
bits together with some bailing wire and put it in the mix. It worked, but
it was slow. I think I let it go for a few weeks, and there were a few spots
that didn't come all the way clean, but a few strokes with a wire brush and
they were fine. To be truthful, I wasn't real impressed. But the stuff won't
attack the base metal-only goes for the iron oxides.
I once tried muriatic acid in a BSA tank. It was somewhat successful, but I
didn't leave it in long-I was afraid it would eat all the way through. I
shook it up in the tank with some nuts & bolts, and a dribble streaked
across the chrome side pannels, which left a stain. Not real happy with that
either.
On the mechanical side, my buddy used a cool trick on a Yamaha tank that he
said was in real bad shape. He put a couple handfuls of nuts & bolts in the
tank, along with a bottle of Simple Green. He then put the tank inside a
couple plastic trask bags, wrapped it in an old sleeping bag, then placed
the lump inside wifey's dryer & tumbled it for a few hours. He reported that
it came out spic & span-like new! He then coated the inside with POR-15 tank
sealer to keep it from rusting again. I like this method!
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