Gas tank sealent???

I just bought a 1982 xj550 seca this past weekend and the bike had been sitting for about 4 years. Well through my restoration process I figured out last night that the fuel tank is....well not in good shape. The inside is pretty rusted and corroded so I'm going to try and make it usable. A friend of mine told me to put ball bearing in it and shake it till my arms feel like thier going to fall off and then some more and then get some tank sealant and put it in it. So I'm wondering if anyone has and suggestions on a brand they may have used that worked well? OR [/b]any other suggestions on how to restore the tank back to usable shape???

 

i just cleaned the tank on one of my 550 tonight got some Muratic acid from fleet farm ate all the rust right out of it watch out that stuff strong make sture not to use too much and have plenty of baking soda and water on hand to nutralize it.. rinsed with gasoline a few times then put some 2-cycle oil in there and coated it with that.
I'm very skeptical about sealers i haven't heard of any working 100% of the time so i'll probably not seal it and just keep my tank full when im not riding it.

 

I bought a kit from my cycle shop and have been happy with it. The sealant is messy stuff but I inspect it often and have not noticed any issues. The kit came with acid and some stuff to remove the water before sealing. I did not get the water remover crap in fast enough and the tank flash rusted in minutes. Had to acid clean it again but was fine after that.

 

If you have the resources this is also a viable solution and (from what I've read) better.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Electro ... aka-Magic/

Basically magic with science, though a bit less intuitive and "out of the box" easy. But don't quote me, I didn't really read the article. I have an 83 xj550 seca and the PO put a different tank on it. It's in decent enough condition. I just put an inline fuel filter in, and keep a spare under my seat just in case.

 

Hey,

I am trying the electolysis method right now. I will look at it at lunch time tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

What I used was from this site:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5958066_clean-g ... lysis.html

I am going to use the POR-15 Motorcycle Gas Tank Repair Kit to recoat the tank. I got it from here: http://www.canada-por15.com/merchant.mv ... ankSealers . It is suppose to be better than the Creame product but I won't know until I try it.

 

if i'am looking to buy a used bike, about #3 on the list it make sure the tank hasn't been sealed
if it leaks thats what the sealer is for but to just seal it because it's rusty is just asking for trouble
it may last forever, i hope it does but if it starts coming of your in a world of hurt
clean it good get a filter and forget it

 

My tank was bad because of PO abuse. I used the electolysis process to get rid of the rust, then followed up with the Caswell Tank Sealer which is probably the best product out there. Thee's a thread on this same topic in the XJ Chat Forum. I also added an external fuel filter and have had zero problems...the external fuel filter is a must regardless what you do.

 

Thanks, to all of you for your comments, I apprectiate the input, it was all helpful.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

Just to quell you sceptics.. I've just sealed my tank with POR-15 (Did it last week) http://www.por15.com/CYCLE-TANK-REPAIR- ... info/CTRK/ and it worked perfectly.. The tank had a leak in it before I got to it and a fair amount of rust, now it doesn't! Not even a dribble. The sealent is rust preventative, so it bonds with the rusty bits..

It's a 3 part system that removes the rust, prepares the inside of the tank, and then seals it with a liner.. Take it slowly and make sure you follow the instructions and you should be fine.

I've no interest in advertising a brand, but this seems to have done the trick. If you've largish leaks, apparently you can mix the POR15 with fibreglass to act as a sealant.

Only things to watch out for.. When you take off the petcock tap, make sure that the petrol filter comes out of the tank with it, or when you flush the tank through in the initial stages, you might end up flushing the bloody thing down the drain and need to spend 2 hours fishing it out!! Oh, and by the way, Duck tape is really rubbish at sealing the holes while you're swishing the various chemicals around.. Wear old clothes, and wash the chemicals off if they touch your skin, they're corrosive and give you acid burn.. Believe me!

 

KBS-COATINGS IS A GOOD ONE.