Military-Vehicles: RE: [MV] Gas tank cleaning with glass - plus sealer information.

RE: [MV] Gas tank cleaning with glass - plus sealer information.

Alan Bowes (alan_bowes@phast.com)
Tue, 2 Sep 1997 17:23:17 -0600

On Tuesday, September 02, 1997 4:54 PM, A. Mehlhorn
[SMTP:a.mehlhorn@t-online.de] wrote:
> I just tried a new method to clean rusty and dirty gas tanks:
> 1. Take your concrete mixer or go to your friend (as I did) and take his.
> 2. Fit the tank to the drum of the concrete mixer.
> 3. Take a piece of toughened safety glass (not laminated!) and
> crack it. Use a cheap or free car screen, not one from a
> Mercedes Gullwing or so.
> 4. Fill the shatters of the toughened glass into the gas tank and
> let the tank turn round and round for some hours on the concrete mixer.
> 5. Clean the tank with a vacuum cleaner (take your workshop vac,
> not your wife's household vac!)
> 6. Rinse the tank.
> 7. Use it as it is or seal it with a good tank sealer.
> The glas cleans the inner surface of the tank to the pure metal.
> You don't need any dangerous liquids and an old sheet of toughened
> glass is cheap or free.
> Try it! I've cleaned the two tanks of my Kettenkrad in this way.
> Regards from Germany
> Andreas

The glass and cement mixer combination sounds like a great idea.

I suppose that if you don't have access to a cement mixer, you could strap the
rusty tank to a 4x4 vehicle, dump some water and abrasive into the tank (the
rusty one), and go off-roading for the weekend (or drive on the city streets
in Salt Lake City...they're just as bumpy). Depending on where most of the
rust is, keep that side down most of the time. A load of sharp, pea-sized slag
would also work very well. A cleaning solution to help loosen the rust would
also help.

By the way, if anyone is looking for a gas tank cleaner and sealer mix, the
Sears Auto Shop catalog sells Eastwood Gas Tank Sealer, as follows:

Repair kit (1616Z) $39.99 US Dollars, with:
- 16 oz of Prep A (cleaner)
- 8 oz of Preb B (rinse)
- Two 16 oz bottles of sealer
- A length of chain (for chainless people)
- Disposable gloves (for gloveless people)

OR

If you are already the proud owner of a piece of chain (or broken glass or
slag or nuts or bolts, etc.), you can save $7.00 by ordering the prep and
sealer separately (1602Z and 1601Z) for $15.99 each.

I don't know what the formulation is, but it's apparently an elastomeric
coating of some sort. It is advertised to resist all types of fuel additives,
including alcohol. I'm not endorsing it, since I haven't tried it, but there
it is if you want to give it a shot.

Their order telephone number is 800-557-3277, or FAX 610-644-0560.

Alan
(Salt Lake City, Utah)

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