Modern Vespa

Hey guys, before I send the body off for painting, I want to clean the gunk out of the 50 year old gas tank. I've called the radiator shops locally who won't touch it. Any home remedies I could use?
-David

I've used naval jelly and screws, shaken, not stirred. But the most interesting way I've seen is GRSCUM's method here:My '64 Vespa 90 FRONT HUB ALMOST DONE!

I'd take it to a media blaster ( make sure you've removed the tap ) and have them shoot just the inside.

If you do decide to media blast the gas tank you have to be really, really careful about cleaning it out afterwards. Clean it really well, then clean it some more because the media is extremely difficult to get out. Any little remaining bits will be washed down through the fuel system.

I've seen tons of carbs clogged with media because the owner had the tank blasted, thought they cleaned it out enough, but hadn't.

Personally, it would be the last method of tank cleaning I would ever use.

Did the local radiator shops tell you why they won't touch it? We get all our tanks done through a local radiator shop and the only time they won't do it is if the tank isn't worth saving because of pin holes or a really, really messed up inside.

Andrea

I live in a little North Carolina town, where there are not many shops to choose from. They just said they only do radiators. Maybe I'll try the cleaner with nuts and bolts & some BB's then shake, shake, shake.
-David

I have not tried it yet but a guy I sold a bike to that does restorations suggested buying a gallon of milk stone remover.It's supposed to be used to clean out dairy lines. You get it at a tractor supply store. He said it worked just as good as the cleaners you buy.I know N.C. has tractor places.

I've used this twice, Kreem once, nuts and bolts several times. This is by far the best and easiest. Save the left over Metal Ready stuff and you can derust more stuff as well.

http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=CTRK&dept=11

When I did mine I used a pressure washer to get out the scaley rust then I used Zap from Home Depot to get out the surface rust. Worked great.