Recently I had the misfortune of commissioning a motorcycle that had sat for about 10 years and although the mechanicals were fine the fuel system was a mess, the old saying “If you can’t fix it with a hammer, then you have an electrical fault” was not an issue in this case. I had fitted new carby’s so that was one headache passed but the fuel tank had a pinhole in it which would be repaired when Ray Drever repainted it, Ray told me beside the horrible stink the tank was full of gunge his treatment of it with apple cider vinegar removed a small plastic bag of sediment, unfortunately when I received it back it was horrendous inside and very rusty for the fuel had eaten into it in the past, such is the state of the evil witches brew they call petrol today. At this point your asking yourself why not treat the tank with a tank sealer, well that’s the end of the road for fuel tanks as after that if it has a problem start looking for a new tank “it’s buggered” tank manufacturer John Bennett in Kinglake tells me he sees people with tears in their eyes after they bring a tank previously treated in such a way for him to repair, so the reason some people treat their tanks at random is beyond me! Meanwhile my tank was in a state that needed de-rusting and without damaging the paintwork, so I did it electronically with an old non automatic battery charger, some washing soda and two clothes pegs, a 10″ piece of mild steel 1/2″ tube and a chair leg rubber pushed onto one end the rest was only 24 hours. Now Woolworth’s sell the Lectric brand washing soda ( Sodium Carbonate, not baking soda) at $3.55 a bag and the mixture was a tablespoon to 3 litres of water so I put in 5 tablespoons mixing it in a bucket of water then after plugging the fuel tap holes with a couple of steel plugs, the inserting the sacrificial anode (mild steel tube) centrally in the filler hole and centralising it with the clothes pegs so it doesn’t touch the metal of the tank after your solution has been poured in the tank brim full, the 12V charger was connected positive terminal to the anode and negative to the fuel tank plug, do not reverse the polarity! Immediately it starts “fizzing”and after an hour remove the anode after switching off the charger and its covered in shite dissolved rust, wipe it off and repeat the process over the 24 hours, you will know when the anode is contaminated as the battery charger gauge drops back towards zero,after the wiping process it’s around 5 amps as the tank gets cleaner and the rust dissolves it sits around 2 amps. The next day after rinsing your tank it will be shiny bright steel and a rinse of kero will have it ready to place on the motorcycle. Fuel stabilizer is about $15 for a 850 ml bottle so guess who just bought some?
