Sealer removal

[DuoDave]

I've just bought a 1971 BSA Rocket 3. The gas tank has been treated with a brown sealer which is all wrinkled up and peeling. I've tried two types of paint thinner, Nitromors paint stripper, drain cleaner, caustic soda solution and a long soak in boiling soapy water. The only thing that has had any effect so far is Resto Motive Marine Clean which took a little of the sealer off. I will get some more Marine Clean and persevere with it, but if anybody has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.

[Sidecar]

Brake Fluid?

[caschnd1]

You might try Muratic Acid. It's easy to get in these parts at the grocery store where you find swimming pool chemicals. Make sure you protect yourself with good gloves and safety glasses. It is an acid and requires some special treatment. It will eat paint, etch concrete, burn skin, and wreak havoc with your eyes. I'll bet it will clean up the inside of that gas tank really well.

-Craig

[Guest]

If you are planning to repaint them anyway you can see if your local powder coater has a burn-off oven. I don't know if BSA tanks are welded or soldered though. Don't try this with soldered tanks or you will end up with a bunch of loose pieces of sheetmetal - but it will CLEAN sheetmetal ;D

[DuoDave]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I have abandoned chemistry for the moment and resorted to some simple physics instead. I spent the afternoon with a length of copper pipe flattened at the end to make a scraper. the copper is bendy enough to allow me to shape it to get into all the nooks and crannies. This is only a two and a half gallon tank, but you would not believe the surface area. I thought I would never end pulling that crap out of there. I will give it another flush with Marine Clean tomorrow and another rattle round with the scraper and that should do it. If I ever have to do this again, it would be nice to find something that would dissolve this stuff. Maybe some kind of acid would be the way to go.

[mbskeam]

try acetone, it will dissolve most sealers.this will take about 15-30 min.
if the paint is good on the tank then lacquer thinner works also but it takes a few days of sitting.

mbskeam

[kevsett]

Acetone works well but at our paint mfg plants we really like methylene chloride based strippers. Sometimes there will be MEK and Toluene in there but the MC does the trick the best.
There are also a number of hydrogen peroxide based strippers out on the market that I've heard good things about, just not as good as MC type strippers.
Let us know what works.

[Cotten]

If you are in the Midwest, try any ethanol-blend pump gas.
With a little patience, the extra additives will digest nearly anything organic.
Wear gloves.

...Cotten