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Terranova · 07-16-2019, 10:23 AM

So here's a pic with the first few cuts made. I had to wrap the tank with a moving blanket because as it turns out using a jig saw on a big hollow, resonant metal container makes A LOT of noise.

All four. The moment of truth is at hand.

Not bad at all. No pitting inside. Only what I'd call surface rust.
There's even a spot of clear metal peaking through on the top that came out.

It was only after peeking inside did I remember the stupid thing has a drain plug. Turns out it's REALLY in there and the outside of the plug didn't respond as well to parts blaster penetrant and the cutoff wheel treatment. I even tried flattening the sides and using an adjustable wrench. Oh well. I'm willing to concede on the plug. NBD in the grand scheme.

Some views of the inside.

Started throwing penetrant at it to see what would dissolve.

And then stepped up to mineral spirits and a wire brush. Surprisingly about 80% of the stuff I went after came up easily.

Then I stepped up to a small wire wheel on a chorded drill.
Now we're groovin.

I knew there were going to be a couple baffles in the tank but I hadn't anticipated the "horizontal" one. As you can see, I couldn't really get into the narrow area with the drill. So I researched a couple ideas and after striking out at some vendors who happened to be at the GoodGuys car show here in town for the weekend, I stopped by HD to see if they had either a drill bit extension or a flexible shaft that I'd seen on their web site. Turns out they actually had it in the store. 12 bucks from ryobi. But, both the extensions and the flex shaft are set up for hexbits and the shaft on the wire wheel is not hex.

More than one way to skin a cat.

A small cotter pin should suffice. I felt like a roll pin would be overkill and I didn't have one anyway.

A couple test shots and when I get some time in the next few days I should be able to wrap this tank up.

I have a tank treatment kit from KBS I bought a year or more ago, that has a cleaning stage as well as internal coating component.

Has anyone else used something similar on one of their projects?

07-16-2019, 10:23 AM	#2
Terranova Senior Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Grove City, Oh Posts: 255	Re: Adventures in gas tank restoration. '36 So here's a pic with the first few cuts made. I had to wrap the tank with a moving blanket because as it turns out using a jig saw on a big hollow, resonant metal container makes A LOT of noise. All four. The moment of truth is at hand. Not bad at all. No pitting inside. Only what I'd call surface rust. There's even a spot of clear metal peaking through on the top that came out. It was only after peeking inside did I remember the stupid thing has a drain plug. Turns out it's REALLY in there and the outside of the plug didn't respond as well to parts blaster penetrant and the cutoff wheel treatment. I even tried flattening the sides and using an adjustable wrench. Oh well. I'm willing to concede on the plug. NBD in the grand scheme. Some views of the inside. Started throwing penetrant at it to see what would dissolve. And then stepped up to mineral spirits and a wire brush. Surprisingly about 80% of the stuff I went after came up easily. Then I stepped up to a small wire wheel on a chorded drill. Now we're groovin. I knew there were going to be a couple baffles in the tank but I hadn't anticipated the "horizontal" one. As you can see, I couldn't really get into the narrow area with the drill. So I researched a couple ideas and after striking out at some vendors who happened to be at the GoodGuys car show here in town for the weekend, I stopped by HD to see if they had either a drill bit extension or a flexible shaft that I'd seen on their web site. Turns out they actually had it in the store. 12 bucks from ryobi. But, both the extensions and the flex shaft are set up for hexbits and the shaft on the wire wheel is not hex. More than one way to skin a cat. A small cotter pin should suffice. I felt like a roll pin would be overkill and I didn't have one anyway. A couple test shots and when I get some time in the next few days I should be able to wrap this tank up. I have a tank treatment kit from KBS I bought a year or more ago, that has a cleaning stage as well as internal coating component. Has anyone else used something similar on one of their projects?