Fuel Tank Electrolytic Rust Removal

[dontlikeoc]

What did/will you use as a temporary cover plate? When I did the electrolysis, I could not come up with a good leak proof temporary cover and ended up submerging the whole tank. Which made the job much harder than it needed to be.

[psycoreefer]

I used a piece of aluminum I got at home depot. Its about 1/16" thick I think, came as a piece about 12" long and 4" wide. I picked it over steel because I figured I could cut it with my tin-snips, which I did. Then I used the rubber seals off the petcocks and gauge to between my plates and the tank. Only problem was I had to double up the cover for the gauge hole because the thin aluminum was to flexible to hold the rubber tight to the tank.

I can post some pictures tomorrow or the next day when my tank is done.

[clcorbin]

What did/will you use as a temporary cover plate? When I did the electrolysis, I could not come up with a good leak proof temporary cover and ended up submerging the whole tank. Which made the job much harder than it needed to be.

When I did mine, I used some 1/8" aluminum I had a round. I have access to a band saw, so it was easy to cut it to size and then drill the mounting holes on the drill press. I did cover each cover in RTV that I let set up for 10 or 15 minutes before I bolted them in place. I wanted to RTV to skin over so it would make sure there was no electrical connection between the aluminum and the steel.

I didn't have any problems with them.

[foreda]

Cover

A blank electrical box cover works well for the fuel sender hole. You can cut with tin snips pretty easily or use a bench ginder to cut it down to size. A piece if alunuminum strip works well for the petcock holes, just use the existing gaskets for sealing.

[dontlikeoc]

Alminum plates, electrical plate and RTV. Clever choices. Why haven't I come up with them instead of items from plumbing department when I did it...

[psycoreefer]

yeah, the thing about plumbing is that it's almost all round, not so good for square holes.

When I start something like this I generally start by looking around the garage, do I already have something that will work? No? Then I go to Home depot, by my self. If I have an idea what I want I'll go right to it (like the aluminum I've seen before and I knew what I wanted), but If I don't I'll wander around for an hour just looking at different things and departments until I find something that looks like a good fit.

BTW going to dump the tank tonight and see how its going, man this is taking forever!

[clcorbin]

Then I go to Home depot, by my self. If I have an idea what I want I'll go right to it (like the aluminum I've seen before and I knew what I wanted), but If I don't I'll wander around for an hour just looking at different things and departments until I find something that looks like a good fit.

When I do that I tend to get very strange looks from the store clerks when they ask if they can help me. My standard reply is "probably not!"

Then I go on to explain what I am trying to do and they either leave quickly to get away from the crazy man, or admit they have NO IDEA what I am trying to do THEN leave quickly to get away from the crazy man!

[psycoreefer]

When I do that I tend to get very strange looks from the store clerks when they ask if they can help me. My standard reply is "probably not!"

Then I go on to explain what I am trying to do and they either leave quickly to get away from the crazy man, or admit they have NO IDEA what I am trying to do THEN leave quickly to get away from the crazy man!

Yeah, I've gotten that, generally I just say "I'm just looking" when they ask if I need help, or I'll say "I need some flat metal" and give the most general description I can. I figure at least I'll be known as the "crazy man" with the nice old motorcycle....

[latexeses]

You guys are lucky.

The cowboy poet Baxter Black sumed up Big Box employees like this:

Box store employees are like wild Elk. You can't actually walk up to one.

[psycoreefer]

Here is how mine came out, not sure how you guys got such good pictures in the tank? This is the best I could do...


And some of the junk I dumped out


And the block off plates I made


here you can see that I doubled up the gauge cover to get it stiff enough


And the hunk I cut the block off plates from...


Very happy with the results!!!

[3Phase]

Here is how mine came out, not sure how you guys got such good pictures in the tank?

Before I dropped it under the lawnmower a few months ago my old HTC 8525 mobile phone camera had a close-up/distance setting on the lens and a small L.E.D. flash.

Depending on what I was trying to photograph at the time I could set the lens, then use the flash or a 60 watt drop-light to shine light through one of the petcock openings, the fuel gauge opening or the filler neck.

Very happy with the results!!!

It works pretty good, doesn't it.


Now that I have a new SE C905a mobile phone with a 8.1 Mpixel camera that takes better pictures than my old phone and my digital camera combined I haven't had any projects to photograph. Maybe I'll revisit the 1-ton van horns and the relay wiring installation, then clean it up a bit while I'm in there.


Regards,

Scott

[Macamon]

Well Steve your post has helped yet another XS-er I picked up a tank from Andreas about 6 mos ago and it was terribly rusty inside. Today has been an XS repair and maintainence day so I decided to attack that tank. I streatched out a coathanger, Added a large rubber grommet at the end and twisted the hanger down it's length (figured more is better when it comes to your steel strength) Bent it in such a way that the grommet would wedge between the top and center bottom of the tank (where your nuTz sit when you're riding) so it couldn't ground out and start a fire in my garage. Put a tank mount in the filler hole and voila! I'm on the road to a second body set for my MaXS... Thanks again for spending the time to post this information... BTW This thread should be moved to the technical section :P

[natemoen]

Wow I never saw this before! I love the idea and it sounds like a good winter project!

[Macamon]

Glad I bumped the thread then...

I got home today after 20 hours of cooking and dumped the tank into a bare patch of dirt. I eagerly looked inside and....
STILL RUSTED; noting a statement made earlier in the thread I figured "wipe" stuffed a couple old socks down the filler hole and soaked 'em down with the hose. After sloshing them back and forth a few times in an area I could inspect when I was through I viewed the area to find it did little good.

Well, son-of-a Start again. I get the impression that it doesn't hurt the unrusted metal to repetitively perform this operation until clean.

Blocking the petcock holes:
I discovered that the ovular rubber pieces from a disasembled airbox I had laying around worked out perfect. I removed the screen towers from the petcocks, used the rubber thingies as a blocking gasket with the petcocks on top and cranked it down. Works great and the electrolisis operation doesn't effect the petcocks at all. Best of all I didn't have to fabricate a hole blocker.
Fuel guage hole:
I was able to take a sandwich bag and place it over the whole assembly, then simply tighten the bolts until there was no leak.
Twisted coathanger idea:
Worked out great! After 20 hours it was still in good enough condition to use again. I chose however to use a new one for the process.

[3Phase]

Well Steve your post has helped yet another XS-er

You're welcome, Mark! Glad you found it of some use!