How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner


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NobleHops
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How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by NobleHops »

Sorry, no great detailed write-up, I was gloved and trying to contain nasty solutions and all that jazz while I did this. First off, for those of you that can do a neat job of this without fouling your nice paint or your hands or anything else, I SALUTE YOU.

The patient:

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This is a 4 or so step process:

Rinse your tank as best you can, remove any heavy rust by swirling around a handful of sheetrock screws or whatever else you feel confident you can fish back out of there with a magnet. FLUSH FLUSH FLUSH it to get all the debris out of it.

Remove anything and everything, the petcock and screen, the gas cap and latch and cover, and get a rubber stopper from the hardware store for the petcock outlet. Mask the petcock threads. If you're doing this and not repainting, mask everything else.

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Clean it with a strong solution of their Marine Clean. It really is a magically delicious cleaner, just as Dave says. Then rinse it really well.

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Etch it following this with the Metal Prep (phosphoric acid solution I think). That should eat up most or all of the rust and etch the metal so the coating will stick. Roll it all around in various positions and leave it in each position for 20 min or more, so each surface has a good while to be wet with the solution. Rinse it really well again. A 5-gallon bucket for a gonna-be-repainted tank worked pretty well to do this.

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DRY IT. Dry it with a heatgun or hair dryer in the neck and the petcock stopper removed to flow maximum air. The tank will get HOT. Pick it up now and then and roll it around so any residual water gets onto the hot metal and evaporates and dries.

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Coat it as soon as you are certain it's dry. But first STIR IT REALLY WELL. Like, use a metal ruler and dig up all that good gooey stuff that is stubbornly stuck to the bottom and then STIR STIR STIR till its a uniform color. Plug it back up with your stopper, pour the can of liner in and SLOWLY roll the tank in all orientations to be certain that the coating has had a chance to hit every surface. After 20 min of obsessively rolling and rotating the tank, tilt it way over so all the excess coating will pool in the front left of the tank, remove the stopper, then upright it with the petcock well low and let the excess coating drain out (roughly 1/4 of the can). They say you do NOT want a pool of it left in there to dry. Get the excess out, and leave it propped in that position so it continues to drain out the petcock bung, you will be surprised how long it continues to run out after the first big amount.

They include a teeny foam brush, I used that to coat the filler neck and the lip of the inlet too.

Give it three or so days to dry, then send it to Blake Conway to paint it :-). I'll post an 'after' picture later. The coating looks great, silvery and smooth and feels as hard as a stone. So far impressed with it, but it's a multi-hour process you don't really want to stop once you've started, beware.

FIN
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

Nice write-up, Nils.
How did you dispose of the Marine Clean and Metal Prep?

barryadam
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Re: How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by barryadam »

Nice nils. You'll like Blake's work. CGR?

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NobleHops
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Re: How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by NobleHops »

steve murdoch icoa #5322 wrote:Nice write-up, Nils.
How did you dispose of the Marine Clean and Metal Prep?
The Marine Clean is alkaline and water-based. I thought about putting it into my septic, but instead I diluted it with more water and whipped it over the edge of the driveway into the woods with an environmentally-sound flourish - I might have even said "Ole!".

I actually drained and saved the metal prep. I can use it for plating etc I think.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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NobleHops
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Re: How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by NobleHops »

As I think about that disposal question now, the best thing to do would probably have been to add some water to the Marine clean, then add the metal prep, then put it down the septic. Theory being that the acid would neutralize the base, etc.

Smart guys weigh on in that please, now I'm curious.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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NobleHops
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Re: How-to with pics: Coat your gas tank with POR-15 liner

Post by NobleHops »

barryadam wrote:Nice nils. You'll like Blake's work. CGR?
Yup. I confess I have always coveted a red one. Might keep this one and sell the black one. We'll see how it comes out.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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