The Chopper Compendium

I've been searching methods of Rust removal in my Gas Tank & didn't really want to use harsh Chemicals that are hard to get rid of.I found this on the Web.....so here's the steps...1)We need the rusty Tank 2)some Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 3)a Battery Charger

4)We need an Anode that goes in the Tank.This has to be Steel,but not Stainless. 5) Now mix a couple Table spoons of the Super Wash per Gal. of Water.Make sure to mix enough to fill the Tank. 6)Hook the Neg. Lead of Charger to the Tank & Pos. to the Anode,which goes into the Tank.Note the heavy Cardboard so there is no contact between the Anode & Tank(it will short out). 7) turn on the Chager & let the Magic work.

This is goning to take some time.I checked the Process after about 2 Hrs. run time & this is how the Anode looked.This is the inside of the Tank after the 1st run.May be hard to tell,but there is a marked improvment.Trhow out the Solution & make up new every run.I'll do this for a couple Days & see how it works.

RUSTBUSTING at jalopyjournal, a good read.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/show ... t=molasses

It seems to be a matter of choice. Both work well.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/journal ... alid=22311

Thanks for posting those.The Road I'm going seems to be working, but in the 2nd Thread it says this way works well if the Anode has a direct line with the Rust.My Tank has a Partition with just a few Holes to let Fuel to the other half.I'm mot sure that Side will get clean, so I may have to cut my loses & go another Route.I'm thinking just cutting it in half,blasting, & welding back together.

After talking to some more People, they say that the Anode having to be in site of the Rust is a little unfounded.The reason being this an effect of Electricity & the Charge is being sent through where ever the Water is.So....I'm going to continue untill the side of the Tank I can see is clean.I still intend to cut the Tank in half to have peace of Mind.This is what the Anode looked like after the second run at 5Hr.So it is pulling a good amount of Rust off the Walls.Unfortunatly I have to go back up North for the Week & won't get to do any more till next Weekend.

Jeff L wrote:Thanks for posting those.The Road I'm going seems to be working, but in the 2nd Thread it says this way works well if the Anode has a direct line with the Rust.My Tank has a Partition with just a few Holes to let Fuel to the other half.I'm mot sure that Side will get clean, so I may have to cut my loses & go another Route.I'm thinking just cutting it in half,blasting, & welding back together.

I sloshed a tank with one of the phosphoric acid based rust convertors then cut the tank and sandblasted the inside for a good clean. Welded it back up and did a double coat of red kote.
Has been about two year and is still holding up pretty good. Figure the coarse silica sand made for a good tooth for the red kote to grip.

As and aside.
Soda (pop) has phosphoric acid as one of its ingredients. Think coca cola and its ability to eat rust. What people don't think about is it does the same to ones bones if your a chronic imbiber.

If yer gonna cut it open anyway then whats the purpose of going thru all that rigamarole ?!!

gearhead1951 wrote:If yer gonna cut it open anyway then whats the purpose of going thru all that rigamarole ?!!

For me the phosphoric slosh cut down the blast time so I was less exposed to the silica dust even wearing a face filter.

gearhead1951 wrote:If yer gonna cut it open anyway then whats the purpose of going thru all that rigamarole ?!!

Cause I like Science.I know the Acid Baths work, but will also eat the good Metal.I'm not sure ,but I don't this way does.As said before,I wanted a method that was easy to dispose of,& if it works, it's a lot easier than cutting a Tank apart.My cutting is all part of the Experiment,& the Tank has a partition in it making seeing the entire inside impossible.There seems to be alot of Gunk in the Tank as well, so I may just cut it short & start cutting.

Did have success using water treatment chemicals, just mixed to a higher concentration, not sure about the safty of the liquid and haven't skipped it got it stored for future use. but it cleaned right through the mill scale on a test. and takes anodising right of, if of course you wanted to do that..lol..from memory it was the one that reduces acidity in a pool?

Well.....I got delayed going North so I was able to do a couple more runs.There is a lot of Shit that won't come off.I think it's old...very old 2 Stoke mix.I cut the Tank in half.The process was working, & I think it would have cleaned up pretty well.Even the other side of the Partition was cleaning up.You can see the dark areas in the Pic.

Now is a good time to do a style change.....fat tank/skinny tank;looks good and reuseable.

This Bike is goin back together Stock.

A comment about the blasting...

I took a class in June for paint inspection. Part of what I learned was how to check the condition of the surface after blasting.
The blasting roughens the surface, and it is measured in thousandths, or mils. The surface roughness is called "anchor profile".
The ideal profile is rough, BUT not too rough.It needs to have enough profile for adhesion, but if the profile is too rough,
the peaks of the surface will not have a very thick coating. The thin coating on the peaks will cause premature failure,
because it will be exposed much sooner than a surface with the ideal coating thickness.

One of the tools used to compare surfaces was a set of round discs that had different surface profiles.
Running a fingernail over them, you could feel the differences. I don't have any of the inspection tools here at home,
or I could post some pics.