Cleaning the gas tank

[FiatDavidFiat]

I have a can of acetone that I plan to use to clean my gas tank.. I want to take my tank out, rinse it with acetone (possibly let it sit over night) and then put it back in. Is this a good way to clean it? Thank you!

[narfire]

I believe acetone is part of the equation. The re-furbish kits contain a can of the stuff to prep for a selant as the last step.
I started off by using water and marbles, small pebbles, whatever and rotated to bang any rust flakes loose. Let that dry and then the acetone and then the selant. I don't know what the benifit would be with just a rinse of acetone. Clean I suppose.

[FiatDavidFiat]

Thanks, any cheap sealant recommendations?

[mgbgtn]

What I have done in the past is to take the tank to a radiator shop to clean it in their castic tank they use to clean radiator cores.

[narfire]

Thanks, any cheap sealant recommendations?

Here a kit costs about $60.00 including the acetone.
It was enough to do the fiat spider tank.

[basarabam]

Narfire, was there supposed to be a link there? I am interested in the kit also...

[narfire]

Up here , one of the local jobber stores sells a complete kit to clean, prep and add a sealer of sorts to the inside of the tank. Last time I bought one , it was around $60.00 cdn. (about the same now in usd)
Others here have done much the same with a kit sold from a local jobber store. Is there a habour freight nearby? Perhaps check there.

[baltobernie]

POR15 makes a kit. I've used it successfully. The instructions are very explicit that the cleaned tank must be completely dry before applying the sealant. I used a small "muffin" fan from a PC to blow air into the sender/float hole for a few days.

But if you have a radiator shop nearby, they can do the job better for about the same outlay.

One thing I wish I had done was install a bung in the lowest point of the tank bottom. Maybe cut out the oil pan drain and weld it in. Would make for easy draining for Winter storage.

[FiatDavidFiat]

I'm not a welder, but I wouldn't mind having a drain-plug in my tank.. is there like a drain-plug kit that I can get that you would just need to drill a hole + put a plate on there with a plug in the middle and bolt it down?

[narfire]

Again , Here the jobber store sells a O2 sensor "bung" that can be welded into an exhaust pipe. I'd be thinking one of those would work as they have a plug that can be screwed in instead of an O2 sensor.
Take the tank to a welder though as the fellow down the street from me when working on fuel tanks purges the tank with Nitrogen before any cutting or welding takes place.

[FiatDavidFiat]

I ended up being brave and just took the bolts off the top of the tank and pulled the hoses out to have a look inside.. it's flippin clean in my tank!! There's barely and dirt in the bottom and NO grime on the sides or bottom at all!! Whew! =P