MTFCA Forum

I bought a round model T gastank in a very nice condition but it has some debree and rust inside. Before I can use it I would like to clean it and maybe seal it. I realize it is an old subject and discussed in great detail before but I was absent from the discussion that day. All information greatly appreciated. Frank

A quick and simple way to clean it is to get some pea gravel, put the gas cap back in and get a pipe plug to seal the bottom.
Then shake, rattle and roll the tank. Take your time and go back and do that a few more times. That should get a majority of any scale and etc broken loose.
Dump out the gravel and get an air hose to blow out any dust and dirt. Wash it out and seal it with a sealer from the dealers if you want.
It sounds like it’s just dry internally so the above method will work fine for that.

Depends on your wife!
I have seen them with an innertube blown up aroung them inside the dryer to roll gravel or screws around to loosen debris.

I have seen them strapped to a tractor tire or a cement mixer.

Beats shaking it by hand.

Locate a shop near you that does it right.

I used the pea gravel method with water in a homemade rig. Did this for about half an hour changing which side was uphill periodically so the gravel would work back and forth in the tank. After I finished I flushed with water and made sure all the gravel was out. After it dried for about a week I used one of the tank re-lineing kits to coat and seal the insides. I can't remember who the seller was but it was one of those 2 part coatings made to handle today's ethanol.

Jim, you should have built a fire under it and stuck a few chickens inside !!
Sorry, I haven't had my dinner yet...

Or you can use some small lockwashers and carburetor cleaner.

I have used phosphoric acid to clean out the rust on several gas tanks over the years. I works great and leaves a coating that resists future rust. I have also subsequently coated the gas tanks with Aircraft gas tank sealer. Phosphoric acid gets in to the small areas that gravel can not get in contact with.

Metal etch that is used to prepair bare metal surfaces prior to painting usually contains Phosphoric acid. Use a safety sheild and rubber gloves when working with any acid. After cleaning, use water to wash out any remaining acid. I normally wait for a warm day to allow the tank to dry out. I have a gallion plastic container of the acid, reclame it after each use......have used the same acid for over 10 yrs. Depending on the amount of rust, I have soaked the inside of several gas tanks for 8 hrs. before removing the acid. Every hour, rotate the tank to insure all internal areas are in contact with the acid.

Les

Mine was rusty to the point of deplorable, and after doing the BB and Marble and gravel routine, and still having rust issues (Fortunately I was running one of those glass fuel filters with a replaceable element, just so I could see...), I took it to a local radiator shop that said they did gas tanks... they dipped it, and viola, all the rust was gone, ne'er to return... They offered to coat it, but I declined, realizing some of those coatings sound good, but over time aren't compatible with whatever the next generation of gasoline is...

Exactly the same reason I had mine "boiled out"... nothing beats clean clean, except mine was an original, so I wanted to save it if at all possible... if it wasn't, I was ready to bite the bank and get a new one, but (IMO) there's something special about running original over repop, and if at all possible I avoid it.

As long as you keep them in use (or at least not empty and condensing moisture internally) they will last a good long time.

Susanne wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:49 pm

. . . (IMO) there's something special about running original over repop, and if at all possible I avoid it . . .

Susanne, you have the makings of a purist !

I'll blame that on a couple people I know on this board (some I've known since I was a kid) and my Dad, who taught me if you can't do it right, don't do it. (And as long as it's a "Purist", not a "Puritan" ) Although I'm not sure if "purist" is accurate... maybe more like "period correct". Nothing wrong with correct accessories, like, um, Ruckstells, Rajo's, and Winfields… --evil grins- But if they didn't do it that way back then, then why do it some other way now?

(Yeah, I got it bad.)

Plus, I love the challenge of bringing things back to life - for me, it's, well, magical.

My understanding of late is that it's pretty difficult to obtain a new round or oval tank. Seems that the manufacturer (there's only one that I'm aware of) hasn't been able to fill orders to the vendors of late. Correct me if I'm wrong. Been away from the hobby for nearly a decade and am just getting back into it and I'm amazed at the amount of stuff that is disappearing that we used to get just a few years ago. But I'm still playing catch-up.

Jim in GA, is that the tank I sent you ?
Looks like it cleaned up nice.