Seal/paint fuel tank interior

Have my fuel tank out at the moment and noticed minor surface rust on inside surfaces. Anyone used one of those POR15 type treatments for the inside of their fuel tank?

yes, POR15 is the go.
no correspondence entered into
too easy 👍

get rid of the rust with some Hydrochloric acid or any other acid removing product b4 deciding on the POR15.

Even if the tank has a few leaks at present it is still a better idea to remove the rust b4 trying to seal it.

Another way is to braze a tin plate over the area with holes in it 🙂

h wrote:yes, POR15 is the go.
no correspondence entered into
too easy 👍

x2

great stuff has the wash and all the stuff needed, and it seals it up good ,used it on my 73 bays tank which came with a cup of rust when i bought it 🤪
before treatment


what it looks like after treatment

Where is a good place to purchase this stuff?

i got mine through Vintage Veedub Supplies ,just thought i,d beat Dave to it😁

pod wrote:

h wrote:yes, POR15 is the go.
no correspondence entered into
too easy 👍

x2

great stuff has the wash and all the stuff needed, and it seals it up good ,used it on my 73 bays tank which came with a cup of rust when i bought it 🤪
before treatment


what it looks like after treatment

Wow that came up a treat 🙅 Is it fairly straight forward to do this? My only concern would be if there was some kind of reaction/paint didnt hold it would be a bugger to sort out...

pretty straight forward ,as long as you follow the instructions ,you should have no problems

These guys are the main importer for POR products

Permenant Paint Coatings

pod wrote:

h wrote:yes, POR15 is the go.
no correspondence entered into
too easy 👍

x2

great stuff has the wash and all the stuff needed, and it seals it up good ,used it on my 73 bays tank which came with a cup of rust when i bought it 🤪
before treatment


what it looks like after treatment

looking good 👍

Aussie wrote:

pod wrote:

h wrote:yes, POR15 is the go.
no correspondence entered into
too easy 👍

x2

great stuff has the wash and all the stuff needed, and it seals it up good ,used it on my 73 bays tank which came with a cup of rust when i bought it 🤪
before treatment


what it looks like after treatment

Wow that came up a treat 🙅 Is it fairly straight forward to do this? My only concern would be if there was some kind of reaction/paint didnt hold it would be a bugger to sort out...

yes that part freaks me out from using it.

I am contemplating carefully slicing a tank into 2 at the factory weld, have the 2 halves stripped and then Tin plated just like dunydore tanks which are virtual rust and trouble free well past the 25 year mark. Then have the halves tig welded back together, coat of paint on the outside, call it done!

I don't think anyone has done this before but would love to try it.

well my idea comes from specialist fuel tank reconditioners in the UK.

The hydro removes the internal rust and then brazing the patch on makes it liquid tight again. If you wish to stop further internal rust then use the POR15 on top of this.

It you're going to split the tank halves then you'll have to drill the spot welds out and then use a blowtorch to melt the solder and slowly prize the hlaves apart as the solder becomes liquid again 😉

The two halves are 'seam welded' - a continuous resistance weld, and not spot welded. It would be almost impossible to separate the flanges.

Do not let any welding torch [gas or electric] anywhere near a petrol tank, without taking the appropriate safety precautions.

Unless there are big holes, or serious rust in the tank, POR 15 should work.

HappyDaze wrote:The two halves are 'seam welded' - a continuous resistance weld, and not spot welded. It would be almost impossible to separate the flanges.

Do not let any welding torch [gas or electric] anywhere near a petrol tank, without taking the appropriate safety precautions.

Unless there are big holes, or serious rust in the tank, POR 15 should work.

yeah its one continuous weld. you can separate them, very fine cutting wheel, a straight edge jig of sort would help, you cut off set to the factory weld , offset to the inside and super careful to not to cut both halves, only one.

Tried it before on one with bad rust, its fiddly but can be cut clean. welding I have not tried yet.

alternatively have 2 tanks and grind off one half preserving one good, then do the same but opposite half on the other tank, end result it 2 halves with flange intact.

but resistance welding it back together yeah 🤪

HappyDaze wrote:The two halves are 'seam welded' - a continuous resistance weld, and not spot welded. It would be almost impossible to separate the flanges.

Do not let any welding torch [gas or electric] anywhere near a petrol tank, without taking the appropriate safety precautions.

Unless there are big holes, or serious rust in the tank, POR 15 should work.

Maybe later ones are made like that. From looking at my 59 tank it appears to be spot welded and soldered. Could be wrong tho 🙂

Well, I have done the treatment so thought I would share my experience.

Kit was more expensive than I thought at $140 but it did include everything. A fair bit of cash to spend on a tank but these things arent that easy to find a decent replacement anymore. Worth looking after if you have a good one.

The overall process takes a bit of time and labour but not really that difficult. Overall finish inside now looks good so hopefully time will tell and this stuff lasts. 🙅

Pics below.... before, during + after.

Bloody hell Aussie, you must have a really small camera. 🤪

reminds me of what the KBS process looks like which POR15 is the same just the paint is different formula.

I shoulda pointed you at these guys to save you some cash, including postage.
POR15 Tank Kit from Frost UK

Exchange rate is well in our favour at the moment and postage is generally cheaper than from the USA 🙂

Oh, I also found this made by RustBuster
RustBuster Tank Sealer

donn wrote:Bloody hell Aussie, you must have a really small camera. 🤪

Hey man, it is not the size of the camera that counts ........😂