At 10:49 AM 02/11/2001 -0700, Larry Hoy wrote:
>Doug, I found this in my personal archives, I'm not the author and have
not done this, I thought it was worth keeping ... I'm
>passing it along. This was written for motorcycle enthusiasts.
>
>
>The tank must be mostly free of the varnish left by modern gasoline. I
>find that a slightly rusted tank will be spotless in about an hour, up to
>overnight for a badly rusted one. If there are spots where the rust has
>actually perforated the tank even though the paint is still intact, this
>mixture will go right thru that, so beware of that. In that case your tank
>needs more work anyway. This solution isn't too bad on paint either, as
>long as it's rinsed from the surface immediately.
>
>Rinse the tank with water next to clean out the residue, then rinse with a
>small amount of acetone [CAUTION: acetone will remove paint and the oils
>from your epidermis, USE RUBBER GLOVES] - which will mix with the water,
>carry it all out with it. Acetone evaporates very quickly leaving a
>spotless surface inside the tank. The other methods, rotating rocks for
>sure, and chemical boiling probably, won't leave a surface clean right down
>to the pores of the metal the way this method does.
>
Super caution
Acetone will leave its own vapors and you can not weld anything near the tank.
I had a TC tank which I had boiled out by a radiator shop. I sloshed the
tank with sealer (acetone base) and a week later tried to braise a small
whole in the seam. I am lucky to be alive and the TC tank looked like a
medicine ball.
Mike
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