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POR15 Tank Treatment

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tom400f:
I recently used the POR15 kit to treat my 400F tank. Here's how it went.

My bike has been laid up for a while so I looked into the tank with some trepidation. In fact, it didn't look too bad, spine OK and just a bit of rust on a patch at the bottom and in the seam. What to do?

Consulted the interweb and chose the "cola" idea. Put in 2l of "every little helps" and left it for a couple of hours. Rinsed out with warm water and allowed to dry. Result - more rust than before, including some now on the spine.

Tried filling right up with vinegar. Costco this time. Gets all the rust off but once you have rinsed and dried its back pretty quickly. The pictures here show how I seem to have managed to turn a reasonable tank into a filthy one. Hmmm. I wonder if the "tide mark" is where the cola came up to.

tom400f:
Had to do something so I decided the POR15 kit of clean/prepare/paint might be a better approach. I protected the tank with a layer of vaseline and then cling film. The bung is this one: http://www.bpfittings.co.uk/pc/49-42mm-Winter-Expansion-Plug-Black-10825p4936.htm
For the petcock I used cling film folded a few times and threaded the petrol tap nut over it.

Before using the Marine Clean I dissolved a dishwasher tablet in hot water and shoshed this around for 15 minutes or so then rinsed out. Not sure if this did much good but you only have 1l of Marine Clean so I figured it might be helpful, especially as I had put a little oil in after the vinegar idea.

In with the Marine Clean 1:1 with hot water according to the instructions. I left this in for 30 mins, agitating pretty much throughout. You can see the deposits in the bucket and MC is a clear solution when it goes in.

tom400f:
Rinse out thoroughly then in with the preparation solution. This is what is supposed to remove the rust and prime the surface for the paint.

I agitated for 20 minutes, left it on each of right-way-up, either side and upside-down for 20 minutes then another 20 minutes of sloshing to give the maximum recommended time of 2hrs. These pictures show what the result is after that. This is before drying and although some flash rust does come back its not as bad as post vinegar/cola.

The instructions emphasise the importance of drying the tank completely. Here's my arrangement. Minimum heat and maximum flow seemed to result in the hair dryer not cutting out.

I reckon it took about 90 minutes. I gave it 10 more minutes after I could no longer see any water in there.

tom400f:
Crunch time and in with the paint. During all the rinsing I decided the excess paint would be coming out of the filler cap. The petcock opening sticks up about 5mm inside the tank and it seemed difficult enough to get all the water out that way, never mind gloopy paint.

Not using the bung (obvious I guess) instead taping over the filler opening. Poured it all in and had a good oscillate. Took the tape off covering the filler for a quick look inside - coverage looked good so I reckoned I could pour out the excess. I did this on to newspaper. You can't keep the paint and anyway I estimate less than 75ml came out.

Once I couldn't get any more out I left the tank to dry. The instructions say you don't want puddles of the stuff anywhere so every 20 mins or so I had a look to see whether any excess was collecting in the seams. There will always be some running down the sides I guess so I swilled it around a bit to "lose" it. This seemed to work fine.

Here's a couple of pictures after the paint is dry. Looks like it has taken well and overall I am very impressed.

Not sure what happened with the cola/vinegar really but couldn't leave it like that. The paint is pretty evil so you must clean off anything that gets where you don't want it.

Good luck if you try it and hope this helps.

Lynx:
Did you use the Rust Preventive Paint or the Fuel Tank Sealer? How is it now?

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