Subject: [alfa] defuming gas tanks?

[RonHorowitz <RonHorowitz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>anyone have a sure fire method of doing this?

Sure to cause a fire? Yes....

>I need
>to burn out peeling gas tank liner, so I need to get
>any trace of gas out of the tank first.

Good God, man! What the hell kind of an unobtainium gas tank _is_ this?!

>Someone told me that an alcohol wash, followed by a
>high pressure water rinse works pretty reliably.

Well, that's a pretty good way to rust the crap out of it, but I thought
that was why you were messing around with it in the first place.

>just want to make sure I don't blow my self up.

No warranty of merchantability on this one, but....

You can _generally_ use a number of solvents to get rid of the majority of
the gas and resultant fumes from a _bare_ steel tank (I do this when
repairing steel m/c tanks, one of my _least_ favorite jobs!) I don't know
if any of this is applicable to your gooped up tank, though. I've used
acetone (fumes are explosive, and it will soften or lift some paints, but
it dries quickly) alcohol, etc. followed by a mineral spirit wash. I
wouldn't fill the tank with water, but then, I wouldn't try to burn out the
old lining, either. If this thing is really unobtainium and you either
can't or don't want to fabricate a new tank, I'd try to find a solvent to
dissolve the old goop. Then, I'd fill it with "cat food" abrasive and
tumble it. YMMV.

Now, if you want my "real" advice, throw it away, get a good one, and
forget about it.

FWIW, I've never known anyone who had long term success with "sealing" a
rusty gas tank "the easy way." IMHO, you have to remove the rust. BTW, what
was the product used on your tank?

RON
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