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Clean Gas Tank?


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Whats the best way to clean out a gas tank for the 510. Its a bit rusty I would prefer to not spend a lot of money on it. Any DIY method would be great.

 

I've looked at a few of the Google methods id like to know what the Datsun guys do.

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phosphoric or muriatic acid, then baking soda/water wash, then acetone to remove water. If rust is really bad add some nuts and bolts into the acid to knock it loose while you shake it up. If your not gonna put gas back in right away, some marvel mystery oil swished around to prevent it rerusting.

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The best method I have found for cleaning a tank is

  • Remove the tank and drain out all fuel
  • disassemble the tank (remove all old fuel lines, sending unit, filler neck, etc.)
  • Use purple power or another strong degreaser, pour it full strength into the tank with a short piece of steel chain.
  • Shake the tank and slosh around the degreaser an make sure you try to knock all the loose rust out with the chain.
  • rinse and repeat until your heart is content or until you cant get any more gunk out of the tank
  • Rinse thoroughly with water
  • either air dry the tank in the hot sun or tape a hair dryer to the filler neck hole and speed dry it.
  • once all of the water is out of the tank blow out the tank with compressed air to ensure any loose particles are removed
  • coat the inside of the tank with "red kote" it is a fuel tank sealer available at most auto parts houses
  • follow th einstructions on the red coat and allow it to air dry for several days
  • re install the tank and admire your work.
  • Be sure to install a new fuel filtter and flush or replace your fuel line system.

GOOD LUCK!!!

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The best method I have found for cleaning a tank is

  • Remove the tank and drain out all fuel
  • disassemble the tank (remove all old fuel lines, sending unit, filler neck, etc.)
  • Use purple power or another strong degreaser, pour it full strength into the tank with a short piece of steel chain.
  • Shake the tank and slosh around the degreaser an make sure you try to knock all the loose rust out with the chain.
  • rinse and repeat until your heart is content or until you cant get any more gunk out of the tank
  • Rinse thoroughly with water
  • either air dry the tank in the hot sun or tape a hair dryer to the filler neck hole and speed dry it.
  • once all of the water is out of the tank blow out the tank with compressed air to ensure any loose particles are removed
  • coat the inside of the tank with "red kote" it is a fuel tank sealer available at most auto parts houses
  • follow th einstructions on the red coat and allow it to air dry for several days
  • re install the tank and admire your work.
  • Be sure to install a new fuel filtter and flush or replace your fuel line system.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

 

 

Excellent info thanks allot! gonna go look for some red kote.

 

Is the seal for the sender unit easy to find?

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When my tank was showing some rust in the filters I:

 

1. Removed the tank, left the fuel level sender.

2. Poured in a half gallon of naval jelly, a pint of denatured alcohol (to thin the naval jelly) and a box of BB's.

3. Shook the tank like a Polaroid of a red headed step-child.

4. Drained the tank through the filler neck & rinsed with water/soda

5. Let it dry a bit and then flushed it with more denatured alcohol to remove the water.

6. Re-installed it

 

Been running clean for 3 years now :)

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When my tank was showing some rust in the filters I:

 

1. Removed the tank, left the fuel level sender.

2. Poured in a half gallon of naval jelly, a pint of denatured alcohol (to thin the naval jelly) and a box of BB's.

3. Shook the tank like a Polaroid of a red headed step-child.

4. Drained the tank through the filler neck & rinsed with water/soda

5. Let it dry a bit and then flushed it with more denatured alcohol to remove the water.

6. Re-installed it

 

Been running clean for 3 years now :)

this would work as well but the red kote will address the problem at hand and prevent it in the future. The red kote will prevent water from coming into contact with the steel within the tank. Water in gasoline tanks is inevitable.

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Actually I've found a product called Kreem it is sold by motorcycle dealerships parts counters. I found it at Chaparral Motorsports $34 for the complete kit $25 For just the sealer per pint.

 

So it looks like I will need 2 pints

 

Anyone have any experience with Kreem? Is it good as red kote?

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Naval Jelly converts the rust, which will help prevent further corrosion. Taken from Wikipedia:

 

http://en.wikipedia....Phosphoric_acid

 

Rust removal

 

Phosphoric acid may be used as a "rust converter", by direct application to rusted iron, steel tools, or surfaces. The phosphoric acid converts reddish-brown iron(III) oxide, Fe2O3 (rust) to black ferric phosphate, FePO4.

"Rust converter" is sometimes a greenish liquid suitable for dipping (in the same sort of acid bath as is used for pickling metal), but it is more often formulated as a gel, commonly called naval jelly. It is sometimes sold under other names, such as "rust remover" or "rust killer". As a thick gel, it may be applied to sloping, vertical, or even overhead surfaces.

After treatment, the black ferric-phosphate coating can be scrubbed off, leaving a fresh metal surface. Multiple applications of phosphoric acid may be required to remove all rust. The black phosphate coating can also be left in place, where it will provide moderate further corrosion resistance (such protection is also provided by the superficially similar Parkerizing and blued electrochemical conversion coating processes).

 

I would do the first shake with the bb's to break the loose rust off and then rinse. Then do another shake with just naval jelly and alcohol so that the converted ferric phosphate doesn't get rubbed off.

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Don't use KREEM (or anything really) to coat the inside of your fuel tank!

Come on -- if there was a good coating for fuel tanks, don't you think OEMs would use it?

 

To clean the inside of a fuel tank I strongly suggest electrolysis. Not only will it remove rust well, but it's cheap and has minimal safety issues. It's not the quickest way, but it is the best way to clean any steel tank! There are several web sites with informaiton and examples (oics), but this is a good read ...

 

http://www.oldengine.org/members/orrin/rustdemo.htm

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Don't use KREEM (or anything really) to coat the inside of your fuel tank!

Come on -- if there was a good coating for fuel tanks, don't you think OEMs would use it?

 

To clean the inside of a fuel tank I strongly suggest electrolysis. Not only will it remove rust well, but it's cheap and has minimal safety issues. It's not the quickest way, but it is the best way to clean any steel tank! There are several web sites with informaiton and examples (oics), but this is a good read ...

 

http://www.oldengine...in/rustdemo.htm

 

 

 

 

yes electrolysis would work great!! unfortunately it is very easy to dissolve part of the tank that you want to keep!!!! California really really really sucks, and to show you how much I hate california I will ship you whats left in my quart of red kote if you want it. I only used this quart for a small lawn mower tank, Naval jelly would be a good rust remover as well, it is unfortunate however that these tank walls are so thin. Be cautious using anything more than mechanical means to clean a steel fuel tank as it is very easy to end up with swiss cheese!

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I would think that with all the alcohol mixed in with the gas these days water wouldn't be a problem. Certainly it doesn't pool in the bottom of the tank but stays mixed with the real gas. Used to be the best way to keep water out was keep your tank full at all times, or if storing it.

 

My f filter plugged twice in 80 miles when I drove my 710 home from getting it. I installed a new one at home but was plugged within a week so I had no choice but to pull the tank. I saved all the old gas in a pail and it was ORANGE. The tank, I removed the sender carefully and threw in 3-4 double heaping handfuls of gravel from my driveway and tumbled it around. Holding it in it normal position when in the car I shook it back and fort to get all the rust loose. Then I added a half gallon or water and did it again, dumped it all out and rinsed with the garden hose and let drain. I carefully cleaned the O ring, it isn't rubber but probably neoprene so gas won't dissolve it. The ring was in good shape so I re used it. This O ring is the same used from the '62 Patrol through the '88 Stanza and is very common #17342-18000 under $2 at the Nissan dealer.

 

Being a cheap bastard I ran the old gas (about 4 gallons) through a filter (clear as water) and put back in the tank. Started up and has never run better in well over a two years.

 

Damn those filters clean...

710gastank005Large.jpg

 

This is what was left in the 5 gal. pail from emptying the tank out.

 

710gastank001Large.jpg

.

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I would think that with all the alcohol mixed in with the gas these days water wouldn't be a problem. Certainly it doesn't pool in the bottom of the tank but stays mixed with the real gas. Used to be the best way to keep water out was keep your tank full at all times, or if storing it.

 

My f filter plugged twice in 80 miles when I drove my 710 home from getting it. I installed a new one at home but was plugged within a week so I had no choice but to pull the tank. I saved all the old gas in a pail and it was ORANGE. The tank, I removed the sender carefully and threw in 3-4 double heaping handfuls of gravel from my driveway and tumbled it around. Holding it in it normal position when in the car I shook it back and fort to get all the rust loose. Then I added a half gallon or water and did it again, dumped it all out and rinsed with the garden hose and let drain. I carefully cleaned the O ring, it isn't rubber but probably neoprene so gas won't dissolve it. The ring was in good shape so I re used it. This O ring is the same used from the '62 Patrol through the '88 Stanza and is very common #17342-18000 under $2 at the Nissan dealer.

 

Being a cheap bastard I ran the old gas (about 4 gallons) through a filter (clear as water) and put back in the tank. Started up and has never run better in well over a two years.

 

Damn those filters clean...

710gastank005Large.jpg

 

This is what was left in the 5 gal. pail from emptying the tank out.

 

710gastank001Large.jpg

.

 

So if I just throw some chain there and shake it and rinse and repeat a few times I should be fine without any coating?

 

This tank is being used with a Walbrow 255lph external fuel pump for a KA24de swap.

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Be careful the chain doesn't bend the pick up tube inside or you may find yourself running out at 1/4 tank. .

 

Yes this will work but there are no guarantees it won't keep rusting, though the best thing is to keep using it. Most Datsuns have a return line so the fuel is constantly circulated, and filtered so it stays clean. Lining the tank is also a good idea to preserve it. I don't plan to unless it leaks.

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yes electrolysis would work great!! unfortunately it is very easy to dissolve part of the tank that you want to keep!!!!

To each his own,

 

Electrolysis won't dissolve good steel, it doesn't work like an acid or anything like that. I think it's a safe and effective way to remove rust from a tank. If your tank ends up looking like swiss cheese afterwards, it's not an electrolysis problem ... it's a problem with rust. Like I said, to each his own. For me, if a tank has so much rust that it would look like swiss cheese after cleaning all the rust out of it - I would find a better tank instead.

 

Chain, misc hardware, or other types of course metal abrassive is a safe approach - no doubt about it - but it won't get all the rust out. The thing with rust is, if you don't get it all out you've left "seeds behind" for the next round of rust to start even quicker.

 

Of course Mike is correct in that, keeping a tank full of fresh gas is THE best way to keep it clean inside. I have had nothing but grief from products used to line a fuel tank, so I'll never mess with those types of products. I did have an old Falcon station wagon that had rust on the ceiling of the tank. That was a pain in the arse. Filling it up to about 3/4 of a tank was the norm with that car, if you topped it off ... the filter would clog in 10 miles. Then I would have to drain some fuel from the tank, plus back flush the filter, to be able drive it further than 10 miles again.

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k trip, your exactly right

xzile my offer still stands, I will be more than happy to ship you some por 15 or red kote whichever you want, like i said I hate californias laws, red kote is good shit, and so is the por 15. We will do whatever we can to help you get your fuel tank back in tip top shape.

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  • 2 years later...

How long was too long on these cars sitting with gas? Where are these situations on sitting projects? My car has been sitting for close to a year and I finally got parts to start replacing and fixing however I don't have resources or space to empty gas tank etc . Would a shop do it any idea on cost or if under a year I'm still clear thanks guys

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