After electrolysis?

I just used electrolysis to remove some minor rust (actually there was more in there than I thought) with great results.

the procedure as many people know is 1 Tablespoon of washing soda per gallon of water, a sacraficial anode, and a batter charger (positive hooked up to the anode, negative grounded to the tank). The process worked beautifully.

However as I am nearing the end of the process I can not find a definative "after electrolysis" treatment. My plan was going to be to just rinse it very well with water, chase with rubbing alcohol, and end with Fitz' seafoam, 2 stroke oil, and a little gas concoction. It's this treatment immediately after electrolysis treatment that I am not sure about.

should I be swishing around a little phosphoric acid, or Acetone, or something else? The concern is the light coating of black oxide which may exist and flash rusting. I definitely don't want to "line" the tank just want a good after electrolysis "wash formula". I read somewhere Diet Pepsi is a good treatment after electrolysis ???........not sure about that one.

 

I have that black oxide crap covering one of my carbs. I had my girlfriend bring one of the float bowls to a plating shop and they dunked it for free and got it off, wasn't a DIY-er chemical though. I'm curious of an at home way of doing it.

 

after Electrolysis you should have silky smooth skin.

 

There is one more trick I know of that you might want to try, with all of the holes sealed up except the fill opening, pour in a few hundred BBs and then seal it up and shake vigorously for several hours to several days, just kidding about the days part, when you are very tired of shaking it, open her up and pour out the BBs then if you have compressed air, blow out the dust. There shouldn't be any BBs left inside, but if you do find one or two stuck in there, don't worry about it/them they are too big to clog anything, or you can use a strong magnet to get any errant BBs out.

 

After you get all the loose crap out you need to line it or it'll rust again.

While Kreem is pretty, I prefer the epoxy based products. The one I use is sold by Caswell.

 

If you're not going to line it, give it a good phosphoric acid flush and then use my "apre flush" technique; followed by filling it up with gas immediately.

 

Anyone else here feel that lining a tank in pretty good shape is NOT a good idea. I have heard and read good things about POR 15 and such, but still, so much can go wrong. What's wrong with just a clean tank the way it was when you bought it??

 

I don't see a reason to line a tank that is in good shape.

If you did electrolysis to remove rust it's not in good shape. It'll rust more slowly if you keep it full, but rust it will.

 

Welll...

How about it came rusted from the dealer?

Rust in the fuel tanks of these bikes was an ongoing problem that Yamaha had in 1980~1983 or so, due to a large quantity of motorcycles sitting unsold for an extended period of time. Yamaha issued a series of tech tips and even had their own Phosphoric acid-based "witches brew" for flushing them out. Quite a lot of these bikes went out the door with rusted tanks, brand new.

That being said, some of them were fine; it's the luck of the draw. But if the tank was rusted enough to require electrolysis, chances are it will continue to rust in the badly affected areas. A tank that was only lightly rusted can be left unlined after cleaning without issue; again it's a case-by-case thing.

 

I would say it was very "lightly rusted". It looked very clean inside to start with but I like the science behind electrolysis and wanted to try it. I also think it's the most "gentle" approach so I went with it. No harsh chemicals to risk getting on your paint, just some some soap and water, mild electricity, and a couple of days time. Sure you have to make sure the anode doesn't touch the side of the tank but other than that it's a very easy and low risk procedure with excellent results - so I guess I disagree with the premise "if you do electrolysis it's not in good shape". I can see in the tank and I'm saying it is squeeky clean inside - all nice clean metal. Yes I did pick up some rust on the anode with the procedure but I think you could do electrolysis on almost any non-lined tank and pick up some rust because electrolysis is that effective.

Anyway, back to what do I do now - My thought was that a little flash rusting won't hurt a thing - but hey that's why I was asking. I would consider lining the tank, I'm just not convinced and wanted to hear some strong believers on both sides. So far, from what I am hearing, most everyone here would continue on with lining the tank. Is that right?

 

Sorry MiCarl - I was focusing on your second line but after re-read I do see that you were saying no need to line a tank in good shape.

 

This was all I did to the tank on my '83 and it's been fine so far; and it's also all that was necessary for the tank on my 650 project bike. The phosphric acid will take care of any flash-rusting and you're good to go.

 

Yeah thanks Fitz, I realize I just need to be very careful with the acid but what if you do spill some on your tank - do you have time to wipe it off with no harm?

 

RINSE it off immediately. This is something you're going to want to do outside anyway, have the garden hose standing by.

This is the stuff I used; if you're working in your driveway you get nice clean cement as a bonus:

 

The Phosphoric acid won't hurt a factory paint job, and maybe not a rattle can job either. I use it to remove rust and it often gets on paint.

It will flash rust very quickly from phosphoric acid, although for some reason one tank I treated did not. Fitz's bath might prevent it, but I always just rinse and dry because I'm going on to epoxy.