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rusty gas tank - anyone use rusteco?

37K views 88 replies 30 participants last post by  nodd89 
#1 · (Edited)
Has anyone any experience using rusteco rusteco.com to clean gas tanks (or other rusty parts) on their bike? sounds like snake oil to me, but if it works, it sounds awesome. curious.

edit: also found out about EVAPO RUST. anyone try that?
 
#2 · (Edited)
tranceamerica,
I have not used EVAPO RUST or rusteco before. Which is suprising because I have tried fixing so many rusty tanks. I think my favorite method is eletrolysis. If you would like a link to a great how to, let me know. If you are sold on the EVAPO RUST or rusteco take some pictures and do a good how to for us to take a look at. Let us know how it goes. Hopefully someone on here has some experiece they can tell you about.

What are these items sold for, application wise?
 
#3 ·
both are sold for removing rust. rusteco is specifically billed for removing rust from gas tanks. both claim to be safe/environmentally friendly, FWIW.

Yes, I'd like to see the link about eletrolysis.

I'm thinking I'll try EVAPO RUST, as I can buy it locally. It's a chemical you dump into the gas tank, swish it around, let it sit then rinse it out.
 
#7 ·
I have to hear more people doing the electrolosis deal. It sounds cool, but would be dangerous. To have that hooked up for several days, is a big risk to me. I'm sending my tank to a shop. They will probably perform the same procedure and coat it for $100. I don't think I could get any sleep at night while a battery charger is running into water in my garage.:eek: I wonder if that cleaning soda would be good to use to just clean the inside of the tank, though.
 
#8 ·
Wow, thanks for the link WAC. While I have definately heard of electrolysis method, is it really this easy? I am guessing it makes sense. The only thing the guy left out was what setting to set the charger on, i.e. slow or fast charge.

How dangerous (i.e. - explosive :) ) is this method (obviously so long as the gas is ALL out?

I am supposed to be getting an older barn bike (82 Suzuki, I think) for like $100 from this guy next month that I plan on using as a project bike. I am sure the tank is rusted on that. I think I may try it on that before I try it on my Cb350.

Mike
 
#9 ·
mike,
I used a homemade charger (yeah I know way dangerous) when I did this to my CB tank. The reason was because the charger I have is a smart charger and it would automatically turn off when putting it into the solution. When doing this you will need an older charger that doesn't have an automatic shut-off. From another forum the guys say the 2amp setting is the best to use for this. But any setting will work.
 
#10 ·
Yeah, I went the cheap route and got the one without the automatic shut off.

Thanks for the info, it will be a while before I do this, but like to know the info anyway.

One more question - does it really get ALL the rust off?

Mike
 
#11 ·
If it isn't too horribly rusty it does a great job. If there is quite a build-up of rust I think eventually it will get it off, but it may take a while. I would suggest putting a bunch of sand in the tank and shaking it a bunch to try and break down a bunch of the rust. This will help with the process.
 
#13 ·
Actually sand is really easy to get out of the tank with a lot of water from a hose. It tends to rise to the occasion. Another thing when you are done with the electrolysis the tank will be covered with black soot. It's pretty much the rust turning into black soot. A good pressure washer will do the trick. Then to get rid of the water a good bath of rubbing alcohol swished around the inside of the tank. I don't remember if the how-to mentioned that or not so I thought I would throw it in.
 
#14 ·
News. I dropped by the parents farm a few days ago and tried the electrolysis technique on the rusty gas tank from one of my '74 XL 175s. Very rusty beforehand. I left it there overnight and asked my father for a report the next day. He said he didn't see any rust remaining after he hosed it out. I haven't seen it yet, but that's pretty cool. I'll send pictures when I get there! Unfortunately, no pictures beforehand. However, I'll tell you what I did before that. I turned the tank upside down and shoot it. A pile of rust about 4 inches in diameter and a quarter inch high came out. WOW!
 
#19 ·
I've been thinking about doing this with my tank this winter. I have minor surface rust on the inside, so I installed a fuel line filter in the mean time. Gas seems to be clean coming out of the tank. Can't wait to see the pics. Was it hard to set up? I saw a diagram of it somewhere, but now I can't find it.
 
#15 ·
guy at the motorcycle shop mentioned that rocks can help break up the loose rust too.

I'd think if you used gravel (1/4" diameter or larger?) it'd do a similar job to sand, but w/o the worry about getting it stuck in the tank (you'd hear loose pieces rattling around)

Just a thought, since I haven't tried it, I don't really know how it works.

I don't have a battery charger, but maybe will get one so I can keep the MC battery charged up too. Then i can do the electrolysis method.
 
#20 ·
It wasn't too difficult. The most difficult part was trying to seal the petcock hole. After that, all I did was find a bottle cap that fit nicely over the filler hole, punched a couple holes in it, installed a wire coat hanger, filled it with water and washing soda (not baking soda), and hooked it up to the charger. It probably took me a couple hours, but I worked slowly.
 
#23 ·
Emerging the entire tank will do a good job removing rust from the outside of your tank but will not touch the inside. It's pretty much what ever is in sight of the anode is going to get the treatment. The electrical current cannot go around corners or through the medal tank. If you want to get the inside you need to put the water and anode in the inside of the tank. If you want to do the outside put the water and anode in the outside of the tank.
 
#31 ·
Well I just picked up a 74 Honda cl360 with a rust factory in the tank. Did this workd with that charger, Hansen? I have that same trickle charger. Any other tips on just CLEANIING out the tank without the electrolosis or after the electro?
 
#26 ·
I think I know why it didn't work so well. Your charger is what they call a smart charger. If you watch it after about 15 minutes it will shut off and stop charging. I have a charger identical to that one and had to make a charger that wasn't smart to prevent it from turning off automatically. Or you can stick with this one and keep turning it off and than on every 15 minutes or so.
 
#28 ·
I tried evapo rust on my tank. I bought two 32 oz bottles from autozone. Every hour or so I'd reposition the tank. At the end of the day I emptied it out, rinsed it with some water and then some acetone and checked it. There was still some surface rust in there. The main problem with evaporust is that it's expensive as hell. 2 32 oz bottles isn't enough to really get all of the nooks and crannies in the tank. I'm sure that if you bought enough to come close to filling it up then it would work fine, though. I'm just not going to spend $40-$50 on a couple of gallons of the stuff when there are cheaper options out there.
 
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