Fuel Tank Restoration ?

Wyn

Club Member
Anyone recommend any uk firms that restore car fuel tanks
1st hand experience ? Good bad ?
Needs a Nissan Silvia S12 tank looking at (Unless you happen to have one spare lol)
Looks solid outside but being sat 12yr the insides are orrid n rusty :ack::ack:
 

Makesy

Club Member
I used Hartlepool radiators for mine. They cut it open, stripped it and applied a rubberised coating inside and out, so it's unlikely to rust again. Can't complain really.

You can see where they chopped the patches out for access, but the tank will never be visible so it doesn't bother me.

Was about £300 from memory, though it was a few years ago
 
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Faster Behr

Club Member
Have you thought about buying a complete POR-15 tank restoration kit - acid, pour in liner etc? Frosts sell it as a pack. Demon Tweeks also sell all the various elements separately. I recall it cost me about £90 for the lot. Funnily enough I’ll be doing it this week.

Mine looked dreadful to start with. I used a hot water pressure washer to get the worst of the black tar-like sludge and rust out first, but a good wash out with sodium hydroxide and/or a caustic cleaner would do the job too. Just don’t do it whilst you’re barbecuing.

From memory, the POR-15 pre-cleaner is muratic acid which strips the rust and leaves a protective coating prior to drying and adding the liner.
 

TimFZ

Club Member
I just used evaporust. The tank was pretty rusty inside but not leaking. Took about 3 to 4 days laying in different positions but it's clean now no more chunks coming through! About £35
 

Jimbo

1978 260z in yellow
Club Member
i had mine done by readyrads in brum
he pressurized the tank to check for leaks then cut the tank open to weld in new metal then repeat the process
wasn't too expensive either £140 rings a bell i know i did post on here about it years ago
 
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johnymd

Club Member
I have several old zed tanks that all need cleaning and rust removal. None are usable as they are so I'm also looking for a company to refurb then. I really dont like the idea of using a liner as I've had 2 tanks that are now scrap as the liner starts to peel.
 

Wyn

Club Member
Well I've gone the diy route as I didn't like the £350/£400 + vat quote + the month plus wait to have it cut n shut
So far so good for not a lot of money .... £45ish
Just need to find what to use on the clean.. ish metal to stop it rusting straight away.
I see muratic acid mentioned but not sure ?
 

TimFZ

Club Member
Well I've gone the diy route as I didn't like the £350/£400 + vat quote + the month plus wait to have it cut n shut
So far so good for not a lot of money .... £45ish
Just need to find what to use on the clean.. ish metal to stop it rusting straight away.
I see muratic acid mentioned but not sure ?
Once you have evaporusted, flush well with water and dry as best you can. Then put some diesel in the tank and slosh about. It stops the rust until you fill up. (obviously drain out the diesel before putting in petrol but some traces won't do any harm.)
 
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Wyn

Club Member
I did think about oil but adding diesel afterwards sounds much better
Cheers for the idea
 

TimFZ

Club Member
Diesel is a great upper cylinder lubricant (good if it has not run for a while) and smokes less than oil.
 

Faster Behr

Club Member
if you’re planning on lining with POR-15 Tank Sealer then the POR-15 Cleaner Degreaser is recommended for initial prep. It’s a relatively strong alkali and should shift most of the gunk. It contains (amongst other things) potassium hydroxide (2-5%). If you’ve already done an initial clean then you could skip this step. I used Autosmart G101 which is a similar alkali

The second step is POR-15 Metal Prep which you really have to use. That consists of a solution of phosphoric acid and zinc phosphate which makes for a strong acid that etches and leaves a protective zinc coating.

Then you just dry very thoroughly (hot air gun/hair dryer) and add the POR-15 Tank Sealer, slosh about and drain the excess. It then needs 96 hours before use. Don’t forget to blow and clear the line connections and breathers when you eventually have removed all the excess.
 
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Wyn

Club Member
I may have this wrong but is muriatic acid / brick acid one and the same ?
That was was my next thought to rinse the tank out with (brick acid) as is cheap to buy as that ?
20ltr = £23 ?
Adding straight water to rinse will just add rust stains again ??
 

TimFZ

Club Member
You could rinse with E10 and some water. The water will absorb and dilute the acid. The ethanol will bond to the water when you drain leaving the fuel. Then add a rinse of diesel to finish.
 

Wyn

Club Member
So far so good. Few pics
 

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Wyn

Club Member
Tank some time later lol
 

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Wyn

Club Member
Cleaned the fuel pump up also which was jammed but now works which could be a result if it lasts
Just hope it doesn't go all rusty next week lol
 

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