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rust in the tank and in-line fuel filter

4K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  91vulcan 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone:

Last summer I purchased a 91 Vulcan 750 with 24k miles after 15 years of not having a bike. I Love the bike. It had a hard time starting, would backfire once in a while. I sent the bike to a local shop. Here's what he found. Rust in the gas tank, and in the carbs. He cleaned the tank, full serviced the carbs, removed cleaned and replaced the petcock. The bike seems to run great. I had asked him to install an in-line fuel filter to try to keep some of the crap out fo the carbs. He said there was no room. Has enyone installed an in-line fuel filter? and if so, where did you install it so it fits in the bike? Do you think it's a good idea to try to get an in-line fuel filter installed? I also plan on removing the tank myself, and doing one of those inside tank coating kits. Has anyone had luck with those kits, and which one do you recomend?
Thanks in advance. I love this site.
 
#3 ·
91vulcan said:
Hello Everyone:

Last summer I purchased a 91 Vulcan 750 with 24k miles after 15 years of not having a bike. I Love the bike. It had a hard time starting, would backfire once in a while. I sent the bike to a local shop. Here's what he found. Rust in the gas tank, and in the carbs. He cleaned the tank, full serviced the carbs, removed cleaned and replaced the petcock. The bike seems to run great. I had asked him to install an in-line fuel filter to try to keep some of the crap out fo the carbs. He said there was no room. Has enyone installed an in-line fuel filter? and if so, where did you install it so it fits in the bike? Do you think it's a good idea to try to get an in-line fuel filter installed? I also plan on removing the tank myself, and doing one of those inside tank coating kits. Has anyone had luck with those kits, and which one do you recomend?
Thanks in advance. I love this site.

Try filtering the tank and draining the float bowls. I did this to my '86 and it helped quite a bit.
 
#5 ·
Howdy! I'm new to the forum and a future 750 owner, as soon as I find one, but I have some experience with the rusty tank issue. My KZ1000's tank was rusty, scaley and the gas would be orange coming from it. Of course, I had a filter, but the carb bowls were still caked with the sediment from the tank. I found a method on the kzrider forum that really works beautifully. It is messy and you have to be careful not to let it get on your paint, but it works. I did the cleaning and treatment in December, and the tank is just as silver and clean inside now as it was the day after I cleaned it.

You have to remove everything, petcock, fuel level sensor, gas cap etc. and tape up every opening with good quality duct tape. Use a handful, maybe 50 or so, small 1/4" nuts and dump them into the tank. Carefully, pour about 12 oz of muriatic acid (they sell it at pool supply stores, or Home Depot) into the tank and tape up the gas cap hole and shake the tank vigorously for about 10 minutes. Keep the garden hose handy and rinse off any leakage immediately. (wear old clothes, rubber boots, rubber gloves and eye protection, maybe a smock if you have one) The acid and nuts will eat the rust off the tank inside. You might have to vent the pressure off the tank by lifting the tape around the gas cap hole every once in a while. You'll know when it bulges the tape. Keep rinsing the outer surface immediately if any acid leaks out around the tape. It will be the color of mustard so it's not going to be hard to see. After 10 minutes or so, remove the tape and let the acid drain from the bottom of the tank, into a plastic bucket full of water that you have added about a cup of baking soda. The baking soda will neutralize the acid. The writeup said to pour the acid on a patch of old concrete that you don't mind staining to neutralize it, but I prefer the baking soda method. Then you can pour the mixture in a gravel or dirt area and it will be fine. This acid will etch the metal and your surface will be clean and rust free. Now rinse the tank very well, flushing it with the hose and shake it to make sure you get all the acid rinsed out. You can use a telescoping magnet pick up tool to get all the nuts out of the tank. (make sure the nuts are steel!) Then tape it back up and pour two small bottles of naval jelley into the tank. You need to do this immediately after you get the acid flushed out, as rust will start to form immediately on the untreated metal. Shake the tank for a minute or two and then let it set for 30 minutes, then shake it again. Do this for 2 hours. Then rinse the naval jelley out by flushing it with the hose. Once clean, dry off the outside and rig a blow drier at the warm, not hot, setting and let it dry the inside of the tank. The phosphoric acid in naval jelley will treat the metal and make it resistant to rust. My tank has been silver inside since I used this to clean it.

It's messy to do, but it works very well, and doesn't leave a film inside the tank that you might have problems with later. This method might seem a little radical, and some of you might prefer not to mess with the acid, but it works very well.
 
#8 ·
Thank you everyone for the responses and advice.
My mechanic cleaned the tank and carbs for me, put it all back together, balanced the carbs, etc... it runs great.
I'll run some Sea Foam thru it this summer on a regular basis and see what happens with any rust in the tank.
I appreciate all the help. This is a great forum!

91 Vulcan
Chelmsford, MA
 
#9 ·
Hey, where in Mass are you from? I live in Billerica, just north of Boston.

Stan
'04 vn750
 
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