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Tank Job with Por-15

RAColeman

AKBob
This job isn't going in the right order but I didn't have a choice. The tank got all purdy, (dents pulled with a stud gun, welded up, a little plastic, primed and painted) before the por-15 got here.

The Por-Strip job started Saturday with Por-Strip.

Good hint Coleman Stove or Lantern fuel tank caps work perfectly on the petcock holes, and No I am not related, or have stock in the company.
The air temp was 52 so I put 72 nuts in the tank, added the Qt of strip, shoved a rubber stopper in the top of the tank and proceded to Agitate the Heck out of it for the next 50 Min.

Things learned:
1. 50 minutes is a Long time.
2. This stuff builds up pressure in the tank.
3. Pull the top stopper with a rag around it like your playing with a HOT radiator, stay on it and let the pressure out slowly. OR

4. You will have messed up like me, Pressure in the form of air above a nasty liquid being expelled out the petcock hole, spraying everywhere and making a MESS. To say the least I got lucky, no damage or injury resulted.

I did folow the rest of the directions, hose and lots of water and soft cloth was on hand so no damage was done.

The Red colored liner in the 84' R100's tank did not come totaly out.

Called Por-15 The stuff isn't designed to work over other liners...

What do you guy know that I don't? Please Help.
 

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I had read that the bmw liner did not like to give up its grip where it was still good, I did the stripper in thirds and gave lots of time for it to work, also had a box of star washers strung on a small chain scraping around inside.. I think just about any hardware store nasty stripper product will give the same results,, just as long its all cleaned out for the next step... (also used a small wire brush(the kind you use in a drill) mounted on a rod to get the seams and weld areas very clean before the metal prep step...
 
I think just about any hardware store nasty stripper product will give the same results...

Dad's Easy Spray is a killer paint stripper that contains methylene chloride. MC is the ingredient that most strippers contain (including POR). It is thickened so that it hangs on vertical surfaces, which make it perfect for the interior of fuel tanks (especially the center hump). It's not too expensive (cheaper than POR) so you can have more liquid in the tank (than POR supplies) which helps the process. The only other trick I know of is that you just have to be patient, and persistent. There are more fun things to do.. . . changing out the flush valve on a toilet comes to mind.. . . Discard the sprayer bottle, or use it to entertain the cat.

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I did my toaster tank "in reverse order" as well, but ended up re-shooting the paint. At least I hadn't had it pin striped... . . .
 
Here's what I did, and the results have held up well:

1. Purchase POR-15 kit, which comes with a jug of their cleaner, etcher
and sealer. At the hardware store, purchase corks and duct tape to plug
the petcock and fuel filler holes (or fabricate your own plugs with inner
tube and zip ties as I did), a pound box of roofing nails and a gallon of
paint stripper.

2. Drain fuel from tank.

3. Remove petcocks.

4. Remove tank.

5. Wash fuel residues out of tank with Simple Green or other detergent.

6. Plug bottom holes.

7. Dump in roofing nails and a half gallon of stripper. Seal top filler
opening. Over a period of TWO DAYS, shake and rotate the tank with the
stripper and nails, dumping once and renewing the stripper with the other
half gallon once.

8. Dump stripper and rinse, leaving nails in. For this phase, I had the
help of a friend with a 2400 psi pressure washer.

9. Add 1 quart jug of the POR-15 cleaner and shake and rotate over a 20 minute
period. Drain and rinse with water.

10. Remove roofing nails using a magnet-on-a-stick.

11. Add 1 quart jug of the POR-15 etcher (phosphoric acid), seal opening and rotate tank
over a two hour period. Rinse with water, at least four rinses.

12. DRY INTERIOR. THIS IS CRITICAL. USE HAIR DRYER OVER PERIOD OF THREE
HOURS. INTERIOR MUST BE BONE DRY. HAVE I EMPHASIZED THIS ENOUGH?

13. Pour in the 8 oz can of sealant. Seal off top and slowly rotate the
tank in all directions over a period of about 45 minutes. Open the tank
top and examine with flashlight to see what you've missed. Keep going if
necesary.

14. Place tank on a chair in a level position (normal riding) and open
petcock plugs to drain the excess. Believe it or not, 8 oz. is more than
enough to seal a 6 gallon tank.

15. Carefully clean the threads and bottom of the petcock openings as it
drains. You don't want sealant on the threads or sealing surface for the
petcocks.

16. The sealed tank has to "cure" for four days before filling with fuel.

Suggestion: Use the little paint brush that comes with the kit to paint
the fuel filler neck before adding the rest of the sealant to the tank.
The filler neck, like a toilet paper tube, extends into the tank and won't
be neatly coated during the "rolling" phase.
 
One more thing: You're absolutely right that POR-15 is not designed to seal over other liners. I botched the job the first time by not completely removing the old Kreem liner that a PO had put in the tank. The POR-15 started to peel off within two months. I then followed the process above, with emphasis on the gallon of paint stripper and plenty of time. Stripped the tank to bare metal and the POR-15 liner is showing no signs of peeling off (so far, it's only been about a year).
 
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