emptying gas tank.

[[jh]]

well, my season has come to an end. Unfortunately I was un- able to go for one last ride as beautiful Vancouver wheather will  not permit. Now I begin to repair my vision. I have some tank repairs to do and am wondering how to completely drain the tank so that it's safe to work on. I tried to find old postings but did not find much. There is a leak I must fix and will most likely be repainting it. How do I clean it out?

[h2olawyer]

What I've done is to get a piece of fuel line about 3 feet long.  Attach it to the fuel outlet of the petcock.  Place other end in a suitable container like a gas can with sufficient capacity to hold all the fuel from the tank.  Set the petcock to PRI and remove the gas cap.  Let the tank drain as much as possible.  When the fuel level gets below the petcock, set the petcock to ON and remove the tank.

By tipping the tank toward the petcock side, the fuel from the opposite side will flow to the petcock side.  Set the tank on a workbench and keep it tilted toward the petcock side.  Make sure the fuel line is in the gas can and set the petcock back to PRI.  When the fuel level again goes below the petcock intake level, you will need to lift the tank and slowly rock it back & forth, while maintaining the tilt toward the petcock side.  That will get nearly all the fuel out.

Next, remove the petcock and do a few more back & forth rocking movements to get  the last of the fuel out.  This can get a little messy so have some towels on the floor below where you do this procedure.  A final step I do is to roll a paper shop towel small enough to stuff into the petcock outlet hole, put the petcock screws back in their holes and give the tank a last rocking.  The towel should absorb any remaining fuel.

There may be other methods, but this is what has worked for me.

H₂O

[67GTO]

Just to add a small point........Don't Smoke! ;)

[[jh]]

I read something about a hair dryer when doing a pour job, but i was thinking that once the dryer got so hot it might a little unsafe. There is a small hole I would like to repair, I might use jb weld, or maybe attempt a new pour job, but just need to know if I get all the gas out that any fumes left will go away.

what about getting crud out of the tank? any easy ways to do this? or will most of it come out when removing the gas? I don't know if there is any in there, but I imagine there must be something.

[vadasz1]

Once you got the gas out and have done your repair work, then you can use xylene or acetone or mineral spirits to remove any crap inside the tank including any Kreme or POR.  Then wash out the tank with soapy water and then use a heat source to evaporate the leftover water out of the tank.  I think a 500W work light should do the trick.  Once the inside has dried overnight then I would go ahead and re-POR the tank, or use Caswell as others have said it does wonders for the insides of your tank.

[67GTO]

Put about 4 feet of chain in the tank along with whatever chemical/cleaner you use.

[vadasz1]

ooopppssss...forgot to mention the scrubbers.  Also you can use wood screws if you don't have a chain.

[67GTO]

 My CB160 tank had Kream in it that was going bad. I used acetone with a length of chain.
it removed about 95% of the Kream. Then I used the POR kit following the directions VERY
closely.

[[jh]]

are the poor kits somewhat easy to use?

[Aelwulf]

Yeah, 'cause you never have to worry about taking out your wallet! :D

Sorry, couldn't resist. ;) From what I've read they're fairly easy yeah although some say the strip/clean stuff that comes with it doesn't work too well.  So long as you're careful and deliberate in coating with both POR-15 & Caswell it seems general consensus it's easy.

[67GTO]

The POR kit won't remove the Kream, acetone does. I let the acetone sit in the
tank overnight.

[Aelwulf]

If worried about leak issues overnight I found a large Rubbermaid bin at Target with a lid that the full tank will fit in perfect for $15 a couple of months ago.  I think Tiff used a similar method at some point for her terror tank. *g*

[[jh]]

Great, sounds good, thanks for your help. I will start my repair this weekend hopefully, so I  will let you know how it goes.

[Rick G]

Use the hair dryer on the "cold " setting , just let it blow air into the tank.