Gas tank rehab

Tank rehab day 1:

I’’d like to start off with saying that I am a complete novice when it comes to working on bikes so bear with me.

That being said, I removed all of the badging and hardware. I’ve shaken out all of the loose rust (there was quite a bit). 

I’m concerned with the amount of rust on the fuel sensor. Any opinion on whether I should try to clean it up? Or should I just replace it?

Tomorrow I’ll fill the tank up with vinegar and drop in a few ball bearings after I’ve sealed the openings. Any advice on what the seal them with? I have a few rubber plugs that I think might work but I’m not sure if they’ll be water tight. 

I’ve read that I should leave the vinegar in the tank for a week while intermittently shaking it to loosen up the rust. 

Im also trying to decide if I should seal the inside once it’s clean or just fill it back up with gas. Im going to need to fix the dent and repaint so I’m leaning towards sealing it. 

Any advice is welcomed and appreciated.

Cheers 

There are some questions you need to ask yourself and share the answers - so first up- there are a number of threads on the forum here of others that have asked the same question - do a search and see what you find. 
You say that you are a novice at working on bikes - so what skill set do you have that will get this tank repaired  - that is - can you do body work .? The dent in the tank is going to take some work.
The fuel level sender is an easy check to see if it works. On page 261 of the manual, it describes the process. The sender is available new if required.
The inside of the tank -there are lots of "how to's " on youtube and businesses like Carswell Inc. have info and product to seal the inside of the tank.
 

tackelhappy wrote:

There are some questions you need to ask yourself and share the answers - so first up- there are a number of threads on the forum here of others that have asked the same question - do a search and see what you find. 
You say that you are a novice at working on bikes - so what skill set do you have that will get this tank repaired  - that is - can you do body work .? The dent in the tank is going to take some work.
The fuel level sender is an easy check to see if it works. On page 261 of the manual, it describes the process. The sender is available new if required.
The inside of the tank -there are lots of "how to's " on youtube and businesses like Carswell Inc. have info and product to seal the inside of the tank.

 

I think you meant Caswell Inc     caswellplating.com/      ???

Thank you for the advice. I’ll definitely dive deeper into the forum. I’m pretty confident going into this part of the restoration. I’ve done a bit of work using bondo and fiberglass in marine applications. 

I was just wondering if anyone had any personal experience with this type of thing who might share some tips/tricks/struggles that they may have had throughout the process. Or things they might do differently if they had to do it again. 

I appreciate the feed back! Will update soon!

Cheers


 

Forget the vinegar and ball bearings.  Vinegar is great with french fries but sucks at removing rust, and the ball bearings will never get to the areas of the tank where you really need to get the rust out - the seams.  Get some liquid rust remover: Rustolium or EvapoRust (or many others), pour it in, let it sit, pour it out - no more rust.

Tank sealants seem to divide opinion regarding their efficacy.   Johnny of Johnny’s Vintage Motorcycles is not keen on them. He favours using Metal Rescue to remove the rust.