Fuel Tank Rust Removal

[swbradley1]

I got this from an e-mail I received about cleaning firearms. It almost looks too good to be true if it works.

It would be handy to put into a fuel tank and tumble it to remove all the rust.

Evapo-Rust Rust Remover - Orison Commercial

 

[Chow717]

I agree... it looks almost too good to be true. Has it been tried by anyone here?

 

[papercu]

tumble it to remove all the rust.

If you can tumble it, sand, gravei or most anything like that should do the job. Wayne

 

[YankeeDuece]

I used about 10 lbs of sandblasting grit in my tanks and 2 gals of deisel. Sealed them up and put them in the back of my pick-up for a week. Drove around, drained, stained, repeat, threw-out grit and debris, drove on the deisel. The tanks from the filler hole were as shiny as could be, filters have no signs of contamination..

 

[swbradley1]

I agree... it looks almost too good to be true. Has it been tried by anyone here?

I haven't yet but the reason I posted was because the e-mail had included a review of the product and it just plain worked.

It was being used to remove rust on bolts and the included pictures showed a world of difference. It was for firearms but you have to remember that it also removes bluing from the gun as well.


I do like the idea of putting sand and diesel in the tank and driving around.

 

[Dave M38A1]

Saw the Evapo rust demo at the car show in Raleigh. Pretty impressive. if it works like I saw it should be great, but things don't always work as well for me when I get home. Next year I may try some to soak bolts in. The problem is the need for so much to soak large parts in. Since the water is the only thing that evaporates, mark the level on the container and as the water evoprates, replace the water. I took my tank to the radiator shop, they cleaned it repaired, samdblasted, and lined it. Has a lifetime warranty for about $125, I think. The brochure fo Evapo-Rust says you can soak a paper towel and lay it on rusty metal cover with plastic and leave overnight. Time will tell if it works.

Dave

 

[modified]

No doubt, this stuff works amazingly well!!! I had used them on some pretty heavily rusted backing plates salvaged from a yard and the bolts were frozen in the wheel cylinder. Did some light mechanical (steal cup brush grinder) cleaning of loose rust material and soaked it for a couple nights in trash bag lined tray. As soon as I rinsed the backing plate, I saw silver and black oxide in the deepest pit recesses. took a mild nylon scrub brush to help clean any residual and WALLA!!! Behold, bare metal!!! I took a wrench to remove the wheel cylinders, the product worked its way through the threads to free the bolts with no effort. Comparably cheaper to blast media and power used to run a compressor, no mess, no dust, no noise, virtually no labor, no fumes and pretty much reusable for a couple batches depending on rust saturation!!!!! I think if I ran out of suger, I probably could add to my coffee, not A Geat product.

Unfortunately, it wont kill rodents and roachess... non toxic

 

[swbradley1]

One of the selling points is that when you are done with it you can flush it down the drain. I don't think I would use it as a replacement for sugar though.....

 

[modified]

me thinks this product is the evolution of Cola as a rust killer. sticky and sweet when it evaporates dry.

 

[vj]

rust busters

well i bought a 32 ounce bottled of that stuff for 9 dollars, about a years or so ago, i put some rusty bolts and spring in it, but it did not work. i still got about half a bottle left. i,ll give it another try. i hate throw money away on stuff that don,t work. vj

 

[AndyUSMC]

I bought 2 1/2 gal. of Evaporust through the mail. It ended up costing me $64.00.
It worked on light rust very well. I recently discovered that distilled white vinegar works even better. At a cost of 3.00 per gal. it is a great deal. I had a knife that head been through a salt water flood during one of the hurricanes and it cleaned it down to the bare metal. Light rust takes a few minute and heavy rust can take a few days. It is cheap and non toxic. Give it a try.

 

[cranetruck]

Mentioned earlier (I think), consider the inside coating, zinc, when using an acid.

Google hit:
Vinegar is a solution of acetic acid, HC2H3O2. Acetic acid is a weak acid, which means that it is only about 1% dissociated. But it will still react with zinc metal to produce hydrogen ions.

Zn(s) + 2HC2H3O2(aq) --> Zn(C2H3O2)2(aq) + H2(g)

 

[shepsjeep]

Harbor Freight has a 32oz bottle for about $8. It works amazingly well. I use it for bolts, nuts and washers to keep from buying new ones. They add up when doing a complete restore on a truck!! You need to leave it in the solution overnight for best results.

 

[rumplecat]

I have found filling the tank with water and adding muric acid (Lowe's) works great, just remove any brass or aluminum fixtures first, all the rust and acid is great for tomatoes.
James G.

 

[zout]

EvapoRust works AWESOME - I got a gallon of the stuff beginning of the summer for a 1942 weapon that a very old gentleman from the war had in a weathered box - that he kept in his attic - it now has very small pits remaining on some of the parts - but the remainder is absolutely looking like brand new metal.

 

[GoHot229]

I bought 2 1/2 gal. of Evaporust through the mail. It ended up costing me $64.00.
It worked on light rust very well. I recently discovered that distilled white vinegar works even better. At a cost of 3.00 per gal. it is a great deal. I had a knife that head been through a salt water flood during one of the hurricanes and it cleaned it down to the bare metal. Light rust takes a few minute and heavy rust can take a few days. It is cheap and non toxic. Give it a try.

I have been using vinigar for many years for cleaning up electrical terminals and copper things, though not on steel, but it is cheap and works great on the copper/gold colored metals

 

[JOHNPFD1]

I have used this stuff and it worked pretty well, BUT one thing I did notice was you should not leave the items soaking more than 24 hrs. I left some tools for 2 days and it took all the plating off and turned everything black, plus make sure you rinse your items. I have been told that this stuff was invented for the U.S. Navy since there is nothing harmful to the environment in it.

 

[Ray70]

One thing I've done several times was to use metal etching ( metal Prep ) acid (diluted per the instructions) and a whole bunch of screws, nuts bolts and other metal pieces. Throw it all into the tank about 1/4 full of liquid and shake it around vigorously. Dump it out and rinse or power wash, then fill with acid to the top and let sit over night, then dump and power wash again. Then thouroughly dry it. In 2 cases I've used this method on MEP-002A generators I found pinholes around the drain valve ( a common problem on these ) then I used Caswell plating's tank sealer to coat the tanks... Worked perfectly!