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Some guy gave me a 70's model suzuki gt550 2 stroke triple because he never had time to work on it. It looks like it's in pretty decent shape, but there is a lot of rust in the gas tank. Anyone have any good ideas how to clean it out without actually splitting the thing in two and re-welding it together?

It will have to be repainted if you do this as the process will get rid of the rust but will remove the paint also. Simply send the tank to a radiator shop and have them "cook it out" the same way they do car radiators and engine blocks. If you wish to do it up really right the Eastwood Co, makes a coating that you can put in it and it will never rust again. I have done several and have never used the coating. Just put in a inline filter between tank and carbs and run it. works for me, good luck.

fwiw, I used some stuff called POR-15 and it worked like a charm. It's a 3-step system, it etched out the rust and coated the inside of the tank with a hard shell. plugged a couple of small pinholes to boot.

a buddy of mine used the Kreem product a few years ago but I think it's flaking off and clogging his carbs now, you gotta really follow the directions exactly with those kits.

my .02

Kreem is terrible stuff. If you want to coat the tank, use por-15.

I just used a mix of Muratic acid and water to etch out my tank, then just rinsed it out well and used alcohol to dry it. Didn't coat it at all. If you keep it filled w/ gas you shouldn't have more rust problems.

Good advice on not using Kreme, it will separate and makes a mess. I am going through that now, getting everything out of my carb. As far as my tank now, I used POR 15 and it seems like it has worked very well. You will need to plan to spend a weekend getting everything ready and 4-5 days to cure. I found a great website that provided great directions. You will get a workout. http://www.willystech.com/faqs/Breakout/fuel.html there are several articles, however the one called FUEL TANK REPAIR - POR-15 REPORT, is the one I used and followed exactly. POR 15 can be bought on line, I actually ordered out of a distributor in Texas and got the next day. Good luck.

Just did the POR-15 thing myself, and they get my vote. It was a little costly ($40 shipped) but it seems to work fine. It is easy to do, but like stated earlier, it is also time consuming.

hey, i had a simular problem with my 96 yama. there are a few companies that make a stripper and coating for gas tanks, it about 40$ and takes over night to complete. but it beats splitting the tank. its fairly simple and quick, and gets the job done, just make sure you do exactly what the directions say as to avoid messing with the tank, and to ensure that the final coat sticks to the walls. its workd great for me... dealers should have it, i forget what its called. but im sure you get the jist of it.