rusted tank

[shagg420]

i have a 93 kat 600 that sat for two years outside, tge inside of the tank has a substantial amount of rusting, what can i do? do i need a new tank?

[ViperTom]

Try this link. Cyberpoet has a link in there to a good write up and dealing with rust in your tank.

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=88504&page=2

Tom

[Enjay386]

Follow CyberPoet's instructions and then keep it in a garage!!

[whitecl0ver]

ehh what they said....

[mustangracer42]

I highly recommend the POR-15 route as well. I use it in brand new sheetmetal tanks I build and I also use it to repair those old rusty Kat tanks I come across

[The CyberPoet]

CyberPoet's How to repair your rusty motorcycle gas tank and preventing future rust

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[jsuani]

Still no...

No POR-15. No Kreem Kit. No Sea Foam. TO get the tank back to original without adding something that will eventually break down due to how harsh gasoline is and then go back into your carbs all over agian. Start out with just getting the rust out and back to clean metal. How well then I have two methods for you. I found a shop that splits tanks and sandblasts the two halves. They then reweld and blast spray outside with primer. Inside is oiled for shpiment purposed to you so no flash rust. If you cannot find anyone to do this then just send the tank to me. I can remove all rust with no problem. No Additives here. Works everytime. Trust.

[KenpachiZaraki]

I used kbs, its about 10 bucks cheaper than por15, and its pretty similar. it has a metal finish at the end of the steps, no problems yet. i haven't heard really great stuff from kreem, so i didn't bother. either go that route or get it glass beaded. around here they'll do it for 75 bucks. or you could get a bottle and place it on top of the kat instead of having a tank!

[mustangracer42]

No POR-15. No Kreem Kit. No Sea Foam. TO get the tank back to original without adding something that will eventually break down due to how harsh gasoline is and then go back into your carbs all over agian. Start out with just getting the rust out and back to clean metal. How well then I have two methods for you. I found a shop that splits tanks and sandblasts the two halves. They then reweld and blast spray outside with primer. Inside is oiled for shpiment purposed to you so no flash rust. If you cannot find anyone to do this then just send the tank to me. I can remove all rust with no problem. No Additives here. Works everytime. Trust.

So you're telling me you don't put anything inside of the tank to seal it. That's hilarious. What do you think is going to happen to the inside of the tank when the oil is washed away by gas and then condensation forms? I'd love to hear this one.

You said you have two methods. What's the second one?

Bottom line: there's more than one way to remove the rust from inside a gas tank and I would choose splitting the tank and then rewelding it back together as a last resort ( ie there wasn't another gas tank available on planet earth AND I couldn't physically make a new tank myself). But then what happens to the metal after the rust is removed? You have to put a sealer of some kind on it.

[Kfreak]

Had to search for this link.

http://www.cookhaus.co.uk/vinegar/index.htm

[steves]

No POR-15. No Kreem Kit. No Sea Foam. TO get the tank back to original without adding something that will eventually break down due to how harsh gasoline is and then go back into your carbs all over agian. Start out with just getting the rust out and back to clean metal. How well then I have two methods for you. I found a shop that splits tanks and sandblasts the two halves. They then reweld and blast spray outside with primer. Inside is oiled for shpiment purposed to you so no flash rust. If you cannot find anyone to do this then just send the tank to me. I can remove all rust with no problem. No Additives here. Works everytime. Trust.

The POR-15 dries to a ceramic like finish and will never need replacement (unless the tank rusts through from the outside).

Kreem and red kote problem tanks are usually fixed by POR15 kits.

If you don't treat the existing rust correctly, it will come back eventually.

[jsuani]

Lets just agree to this...

Rust coats metal and creates the problem. In order to stop rust you must remove it completely. The malt vinegar is a nice clean cheap way to remove the rust. He will never have any problems with those drive axles until twenty years from now when they are not used anymore and sitting in someones yard. Gas tanks do not need either the POR 15 or the Kreem Kit. Just remove the rust and keep clean gas in it. By coating something you are just covering it up and not treating it. If you want to solve a problem you eliminate it and not cover it up or it will come back and haunt you. With the Kreem Kit the rust continues underneath and then wears the Kreem down until it goes into the carbs and WALLAH... Another carb clean and new tank to be found. POR 15 well you said it it is a ceramic coating that covers and the only way that the rust will show is if it comes the opposite direction. Well if not eliminated rust lives and will do this. Need new tank and paint job. HAH. Malt vinegar or removing it scientifically the right way gets you a new original surface that needs only to be used periodically with fresh gas. If it rusts again which I doubt would happen unless you just neglected to care for it like the previous owner did. WALLAH Do it right the first time and never have to do or worry about it again. PEACE to all. You can send it to me and I will clean it in Charlotte it you do not want to do it yourself. I am always willing to help another rider stay on the road. Have fun.

Katanafreak 93 did his research. Great job and assist. Slam dunk. That is why I love this website cause we can get on here and help out as well as educate. Oh and the surface was never coated with anything to begin with so why does one have to coat it again. HUH I only ask out of love. LOL. Peace. Lets eliminat erust in all gas tanks. RUST

[Richdog33]

I used Kreem on my tank, but if I had it to do over, I would try the vinegar approach. The prep and lining process was tedious (especially with all the extra precautions I took due to how easy it is for the lining process to go wrong, eventually falling apart in the tank). It took me years of poor winter storage for the rust to become a problem. I'd be willing to give it many more years of better maintenance and do the vinegar process again than have to coat my tank even once!

[mustangracer42]

You really need to read about these things a little better. POR-15 comes with a tank cleaner than neutralizes rust. It turns it from iron oxide (rust) to iron phospate. Then the POR-15 liner product is added to create a ceramic liner inside the tank that is impervious to fuel and therefore will never break down.

If you do as you suggest this is what happens;
A) you need to repaint your gas tank because you cut it in half and then rewelded it.
B) Your tank WILL rust because it is simply impossible to keep a gas tank completely filled. There is always some air space at the top. In that air space, condensation will form. Condensation on raw, unprepared steel WILL rust.

[The CyberPoet]

Oh and the surface was never coated with anything to begin with so why does one have to coat it again. HUH I only ask out of love.

Depends on the brand and make of bike. If you buy a BMW (the high-end segment of the market), their tanks do come from the factory pre-coated on the inside. The majority of other manufacturers do not do this for production-cost reasons; they don't want to do all the better engineering solutions that will push their bikes into the higher price ranges.

Meanwhile, POR-15 does not contain any ceramic. It contains an industrial version of super-glue (Diphenylmethane Diisocyanate, aka MDI) combined with a evaporating thinner (Naphtha) and very fine aluminum powder [source: MSDS Sheet, POR-15 Fuel Tank Sealer].

The basic seal is created by the the adhesive; this MDI compound has a polymerization reaction to water, meaning it actually restructures itself in the presence of water, which is part of the curing process after the Naphtha evaporates (utilizing humidity in the air).
The aluminum acts as a secondary barrier to give additional strength to the barrier, and as a sacrificial electrolytic anode (since aluminum rusts more readily than steel), should any rust arrive either in the fuel, or if microscopic amounts remain in the steel of the tank after clearing/cleaning. Since the aluminum powder is so fine that no single particle (or even chain of particles) should be able to touch both the interior and exterior sides of the liner, there is no carry-through either.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

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