Rusty gas cans

[billy]

using muriatic acid to remove rust from 3 old style jerry cans.
sure it is dangerous and ya gotta hold yer breath while doing it.
but in 10 minutes the inside of those cans are CLEAN! [ddd

 

[rust-a-must]

Rutsy gas can

Hey Billy, Thats what I should to my tank. Whats the procedure and are there pro and cons to doing this and whats the side affects to the metal?

 

[I-R-POPS]

You hill billys be careful with that stuff. It'll make your babies be born naked!!
Seriously make sure do don't inhale those fumes.

 

[smallfoot]

do it in the open. just the fumes from it working your target may affect the finish on close by materials. It's some bad stuff. It does work but may be easy to over do it. You can't leave a bunch of it for long in a container like a tank. It keeps eating till ya clean it off. Don't know about other areas but here in our humidity, rust will appear quickly after the acid bath. Be prepared to do whatever finish you want right away. You can get it at lowes or pool supply houses..etc. Caution, if you have a tank that is really rusty, putting acid to it may just find all the very weak areas and put holes there.

 

[billy]

I put a gallon of it in the can close it and lay it on each side for five minutes or so
Then shake it a little bit.
And wearing gloves and long sleeve shirt
Carefully open it
Pressure will be built up and you DON'T want that crap on you period!
stuffed a hose in it and ran water for a long time shaking it around to get it all out.
Then I put some acetone in there to chase the water out
Then put some diesel and coated the inside to protect the metal.
Done

 

[YBeNormal]

Thanks for the tip. I have to clean out an old tractor tank tomorrow afternoon.

 

[blacksheep]

If you have some scaled rust in there, you can use large 1" nuts or whatever you may have and shake them around to loosen it up.

 

[Neto]

Steel de-rusted with muriatic acid rusts VERY quickly after removing from the acid tank (or in this case, after removing the acid from the tank....). Like it will rust before your eyes. We used it in the plating shop where I worked years ago, and we rinsed parts first in water, then in a weak sulfuric acid bath, if I recall correctly (I'm not very sure of that part anymore, after more than 30 years). Then we immediately went to the cad plating tank. (If muraitic acid continues to act on bare steel fully submerged in it, it is a very slow process. At least nothing I ever saw in my years in the plating shop suggested that muriatic eats the steel itself.) Everything of my own stuff that I cleaned with muriatic acid I plated. Other things I cleaned with phosphoric acid. It is slower acting, but you can pull something out of phosphoric and not do anything at all to it, and it will not rust. You might be able to do the heavy de-rusting with muriatic, rinse it well, then do it over with phosphoric acid. (I'm not sure if you can safely mix the two acids, so it would need to be rinsed well. It will rust again before you can finish rinsing it, but that light rust would be taken off by the phosphoric.)

What sort of coating did gasoline tanks have in them to start with? I'm guessing it was either zinc or tin. I've heard of cold galvanizing, and wonder if that would be workable for the inside of a fuel tank.

Public Service Anouncement: Acids are dangerous substances, and should not be dumped on the ground.

 

[Neto]

If you have some scaled rust in there, you can use large 1" nuts or whatever you may have and shake them around to loosen it up.

But don't use gravel - muriatic eats that too....

 

[smallfoot]

Phosphoric acid is a good treatment after the muriatic acid. The reason it doesn't rust after the phosphoric acid is used is that it chemically reacts with iron oxide(rust) and turns it into iron phosphate, a dark gray or black looking material which is much harder than rust also.

 

[hankthebigdog]

after a good cleaning, I used Red Kote tank sealer in two of mine and I am sold on it. I have heard of others, but this stuff will fill small pin holes, not affected by fuel, and not really expensive compared to a new tank. It also covers and traps all minute debris left in the tank. Just my $.02

 

[blacksheep]

after a good cleaning, I used Red Kote tank sealer in two of mine and I am sold on it. I have heard of others, but this stuff will fill small pin holes, not affected by fuel, and not really expensive compared to a new tank. It also covers and traps all minute debris left in the tank. Just my $.02

Red Kote is what most of all the radiator she's have used for years. That is the best stuff I have ever used. I have cleaned and coated bike tanks before painting for many years. +1 on Red Kote.

 

[smallfoot]

I've also used a product named Kreem with really good results.

 

[Neto]

I don't think it would happen with the length of exposure time you're talking about, but years ago I soaked some fairly heavily rusted wheels in phosphoric acid. I had them in there quite a while before it got all of the rust. Later someone told me that soaking in acid can cause what they call hydrogen embrittlement. My wheels are old riveted ones, and I wonder if I should do something to them to try to disipate the hydrogen which they say is now trapped in the steel. Or would it disipate by itself over time? It has been around 30 years already. I read recently that baking the parts in an oven can do the trick. When I worked in the plating industry back then, we did always bake the aircraft engine parts after re-plating, and now I wonder if that's why.

 

[billy]

it looks like my 1971 USMC jerry can has a slow leak.
it was super rusty so it isnt a real big suprise
the other two are in great shape though.
and i have 2 flexible steel spouts/caps that we so rusted they were unusable
they look new.
i dipped them in the acid and promptly rinsed them off then soaked them with wd-40
that flash rust is amazing
it starts the second you remove the acid.
ya gotta work fast.

 

[maverickmk]

If you have some scaled rust in there, you can use large 1" nuts or whatever you may have and shake them around to loosen it up.

I've used a small length of chain.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

that chain is a great idea ,,,, ive hunted big stones and put some water in there and sloshed them around ,, but the chain deal is what i'll use from now on Thanks

 

[Willowbilly3]

I use muriatic acid to make rust. That's how I matched up the rusty patina on the rpu bed when I welded new tops on the sides. Also, Billy you forgot to mention eye protection in the list of safety gear.

 

[Oldboy]

How do you dispose of the acid after the cleaning process? Does it have to be nuetralized?

 

[billy]

how do you dispose of the acid after the cleaning process? Does it have to be nuetralized?

baking soda