Cleaning out petrol tank

[Tartan Terror]

Currently helping a mate restore an 1988 GPZ900r that has been sitting for roughly 12 years. Tank was 3/4 full and once we drained the dark brown treacle we are left with a tank interior coated in rusty stickly stuff!! (best desctiption I could think of!)

Now I am looking for tips on how to clean it out. Are there any tried and tested chemicals/methods to help?

cheers
TT

 

[Ogmios]

whatever about chemical methods, if someone suggests the 'stick some nuts and bolts in it and shake' method - ignore them.
does a grand job of removing the crap / but you go insane trying to get out the last nut or bolt that will rattle around forever but refuse to come out!

use a length of chain - an old bicycle chain is ideal.

good luck and er... have fun.

 

[Neil W]

check out www.frost.uk they do a kit to coat the tank which includes a pre cleaner,a metal prep solution and a tank sealer.
I used it on a s/hand Adventure tank I got last year and had to repair, it stripped off all the old internal loose paint and then I recoated it .
10 months later it is still fine, with the older Kawasaki tanks its worth sealing them anyway because they do pinhole quite easily

 

[roddy]

there was something in one of the Classic Bike mag recently and what they did was

clean out tank with swirl of petrol
stuck in some pebbles (or bike chain) and stuck the lot into a cement mixer packing it out in a way the tank sat in the middle of the turning axis

and kept doing the above till tank was totally clean inside