Troyce Tank Tips

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Gas tanks: A lot of the ones we come across have been sitting with fuel in them for years. There's a lot of different opinions on how to go about this, but since this is my page I'll put down my preferred method and add others (ha) to it as the complaints come in.

First you got to get all the stuff out of the tank.Two strokes with oil in the gas are worst in my experience, often leaving a sticky varnish in the bottom that's cut best with more gasoline. A dangerous fluid to work with, so be careful, and in all cases be sure to dispose of your waste properly. A sad note: prior to my environmentally conscious days I dumped a tank full of varnish/gas combo out on the ground in the woods near my house. We had a wonderful old cat, name of Skid Row, who as cats do, would circulate among various spots to lie down. He had apparently decided prior to my abuse of the landscape on that spot where I poured out the gas. He lay in it, tried licking it off, and died from internal poisoning. Take care of our earth if you can.

Some advise working with bolts and nuts or pebbles in the tank and shaking it furiously, but I could never get furious enough for that to work. If you have access to a paint shaker, that would probably do for that method though.

Once the yucky varnish stuff is out, it's time to work on the rust. I use a 3 parts water to one muriatic acid solution. Obviously the petcock and crossover and whatever other holes there are in the tank must be sealed at this point. If there are weak points where there's nothing left but rust, this solution will go right through it. The acid will remove the rust very well, but will not get out the old gas varnish, so that has to be taken care of as in the previous steps somehow. The acid solution must cover all the rusty surfaces eventually to get it all clean, so best is to fill the tank to the brim. If that's not possible, tilt the tank often to cover everything, as the bare acidized metal will rust very quickly again. This solution doesn't seem to bother paint if it's removed quickly from the surface. Now wash the tank out thoroughly with clean running water.

Then slosh a small amount of acetone around on all the tank inner surfaces - don't get it on your paint if you want to keep it. The acetone evaporates very quickly and takes the water with it. Now you will have a VERY bare metal surface which will begin rust immediately, so go quickly to the creamy next step.

I use the following brand of sealer simply because it works, and I can get it sent to my doorstep when I need more quite easily. As far as I know, all the creamers are good products if used according to the instructions.
Downing
P.O. Box 461
Irvington NJ 07111
1 quart = 12.95 plus $4 shipping
2.quart = 24 plus 5 shipping
1 gal= 46 plus 7 shipping
I have no financial or other interests in this product, but I do recommend it.

Seal all but one - usually the filler - openings again, and pour in enough sealer that you will be able to rotate the tank around and eventually cover the entire inside. Be careful not to let the sealer get onto the paint, as it is caustic itself in order to adhere and cure as it should, and it will eat paint right off. Pour the remaining liquid back into its container, let the tank set for a half hour or so then repeat the process. If the covering looks good after 24 hours, it's cured and ready to put on the bike. Don't attempt to add more liner after the first half hour or so up to 24 hours, though, because the new stuff will melt the existing. If it needs more, do it after the first 24 hours.

Whew. On the bikes with the tank bottom crossover tubes, I've had good luck inserting a paper stem Q-tip (cotton tip swab to you perfectionists) with the cotton pulled off up into the holes and pulling it in and out every hour or so while the sealant cures.

On cleaning tanks:
I've saved a couple of old tanks by sand blasting the affected areas then repairing them with fiberglass/resin. Since there's going to be sand inside anyway, remove all the petcocks and so forth and blast away what you can inside through the filler hole before the repair. Then clean all the sand out of the tank with many, many soapy water washin's and a shakin's. The whole repaired area has to be dressed up with some effort to try to retain the visual lines of the tank, but it's doable. If the tank is still rusty elsewhere inside, do the muriatic acid thing, it won't hurt the fiberglass. Then cream away.

On cleaning gas residue from old tanks:
Q: - I want to ship an old gas tank. The old gas has been drained, but there is still gasoline residue and fumes present.

A: - I had a alloy tank that required welding and of course no one would touch it until all the fumes where gone. I took it to the airport where my sister is the manager and was able to defume it at their workshop. All they did was shove a hose in it and preasure steam cleaned it. Took about 10 minutes and I was supplied with a certificate of clearance. There was no chemicals used whatsoever. I sure couldn't smell any fumes after.

Another A:
I saw Mike A's post on this and thought I'd pass on what we used to do when welding tanks. After emptying, we'd flush them well with alcohol to remove any gasoline residue and fumes, then flush them with water to remove the alcohol, then blow dry with compressed air. When putting them back in use, it was the reverse: flush with alcohol to remove any moisture, then fill with gasoline.
Brad

On alloy tank repair:
Waldridege motors in London, Ontario did a steel tank for me which was severly dented on an area which had an original crease. The tank is now flawless. Round trip postage was about $40 US and the repair was $125 CDN, or about $85 or so US. The tank I sent was steel. I believe they do aluminum alloy as well, suggest you contact Mike Partridge at the following e-mail address: matchless@std.net

I received prompt service from them; Mike is also good about answering e-mail. If you do decide to use Waldridge, follow their mailing instructions to the letter to avoid customs hassles.