Fuel tank electrolysis

The MC28 fuel tank had a tiny bit of rust inside, which I made worse by trying something out I saw mentioned on the net.  Putting vinegar in the tank to gently acid burn the inside.  This didn't work well for me and introduced rust that wasn't there before.
Then I tried a using Jenolite which has Phosphoric acid to get rid of the rust, and it kind of worked but I really wasn't removing the rust from inside the tank.  Jenolite is actually really good for rusty small parts.   Things like the rear brake clevis pin that was really rusty came up like new after a few hours sitting in neat Jenolite.

So, I thought I'd try the electrolysis method I saw on youtube and I wasn't really convinced, but it worked really well!

You need a battery charger, a battery, jump cables and a piece of mild steel as the anode.

fuel tank electrolysis

bubbling electrolysis

I scratched the paint off on the bracket at the rear of the tank so the negative crocodile clip can get a good connection.

The battery charger is hooked up to the battery to stop the battery going flat.

The fuel tank is filled with water and a packet of SODIUM CARBONATE was mixed in because it is conductive apparently.

The mild steel anode must not touch the tank but sit in the water. So as you can see in the picture I wrapped insulation tape around the pipe that may accidentally come in contact with the tank.

When I turned on the power the water bubbled immediately.    I left the doors open as I think the gas released in Hydrogen.

I left it working for about 24 hours, and every few hours I turned it off.  Took the mild steel anode out and scraped off the rust and scum.

I then drained the tank of all the water.   I don't have an air compressor to dry off the inside of the tank but I have an old vacuum cleaner and thought that's airflow, just in the opposite direction, so I put the pipe in tank, took the fuel tap off the bottom of the tank to get some proper airflow and let the vacuum cleaner go for a few hours.

When it looked dry inside, I sprayed a load of WD40 inside the tank because it's supposed to displace water by getting underneath it.  Left it overnight, then swilled about a litre of acetone in the tank for a while.  When I let it pour out of the tap hole it came out brown.  Acetone evapourates quickly and soon the tank was rust free and dry.

I then fitted a brand new fuel tap,  filled the tank with petrol and refitted the fuel filler cap to keep it sealed.

MC28 Fuel tap

When I refitted the tank I turned the tap on and fuel leaked on the floor.   I turned the tap off thinking I must've not fitted a pipe correctly but I now think, that with the carbs and fuel pipes being empty, the fuel rushed down in the float bowls, rose up over the overflow and sort of syphoned itself.  It didn't do it after that, so panic over.

Fuel tank electrolysis really works.   I don't recommend people using vinegar, or acid.

Thanks for reading my post.  I'll try and do another update soon and show off some of the cool titanium products developed specifically for the MC28

http://titanclassics.com/