Cleaning inside of rusty fuel tank

[Stanley]

This Nova of mine has been sat for years and thus the tank full of fuel has gone stale and consequently coated the inside of the tank with rust.

Ive removed the tank but wondering whats best to clean it out?

[paul james]

Shot blasting the inside would be my first thought, but you'd have to be ultra careful about making sure you cleaned it all out afterwards (and if you did go that route I'd stick an extra inline filter on afterwards to be safe). A better bet would probably be a liquid rust treatment, you can get stuff specifically designed for cleaning rust out of fuel tanks. You can get a pour in sealant too to prevent rust reforming after you've cleaned it out.

Is it that bad inside? I was surprised when I took the old one off mine as it was rusty on the outside, but despite being sat a long time unused when I had a good look with a torch it was still mint inside.
Perhaps a new one would be worth considering, if postage to you isn't going to make it silly expensive.

[slimtater]

http://www.rust.co.uk/0004-tank-re-new-kit/p413137

[Stanley]

Is it that bad inside? I was surprised when I took the old one off mine as it was rusty on the outside, but despite being sat a long time unused when I had a good look with a torch it was still mint inside.
Perhaps a new one would be worth considering, if postage to you isn't going to make it silly expensive.

Yeah its horrible inside haha. Like, really bad. The outside is mint, but it must have sat for literally 5 or more years at a guess. With the 40 odd degree summers here it really makes petrol go nuts and is quite common to coat the inside with a layer of surface rust.

I can get a kit here for $130 (About 70 pounds) but will do some more googling and see what else i can use.

[paul james]

Probably worth trying to save it then if its not rusty on the outside too. You could go the budget route of filling it with vinegar or big bottles of cheap cola. The acid in it will remove rust quite well if you leave it in a day or so. You'll have to clean it out again with something like panel wipe (not water) to remove the residue, then use one of the tank sealants to coat the inside so it doesn't flash rust again.

The full tank repair kits are around the price of a new aftermarket tank, if you were in Europe getting a new one would be the way to go.