Tales of the Dark Side of Fuel Tank Restoration

[Guest 49 Packard]

I am really disappointed in the results of my use of the Kanter "Fuel Tank Restoration Kit".

I'm not blaming Kanter, because I'm sure (well, not sure) the product has worked well for others, but my experience has been very poor.

About this time last year I used the kit, which consists of some POR-15 products (and includes Metal-Ready, Marine-Clean, Fuel Tank Sealer and Fuel Stabilizer). I followed the directions carefully, really carefully.

When I was done I was pretty proud of the job I'd done. I guess that should have been my first warning :-)

All this season I've been having fuel problems. I suspected the tank least, because of the job I had done on it last year. However, today I finally pulled the tank off the car and looked inside. There are flakes and 3" scabs of the sealer everywhere inside. It is a total mess. The fuel outlet is plugged with silver sealer. I "Did it Once, Did It Right" and have a mess on my hands to show for it.

Thinking that my use of this kit had been a success I had recommended its use to others, on this forum and on another. STOP. HALT. Forget the recommendation. I'm afraid I'm now into a genuinely expensive fuel tank restoration with no other options.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Jay, sorry to hear of your problems. I'm guessing that most of the failures from "do it yourself" tank jobs result from the inability to get the inside of the tank adequately clean. I've had several gas tanks done for myself as have many of my hobby friends and we've never used one of the "kits" or the expensive gas tank restoration services; we just drop the tank and take it to a good radiator shop and for $150 more or less we've always gotten good work that has been free of subsequent problems. Any decent radiator shop worth its salt does lots of gas tanks, and going that route would be my suggestion to you.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

It all depends on how bad the tankis before restoration is started. If they are not real bad then just about any chemical process will work. Sealers are a crap shoot. Some variations if REGIONAL gas formulations will dissolve different sealers.

One must first determine how rusty the tank is inside. This can be difficult in some cases. If it is suspect that the tank is very bad then JUDICOUSLY cut a large section out of the top of the tank for better accessa and inspection.

I have a 56 packard tank that on the outside looks like NOS. On the inside it looks like it was submerged in salt water for the last 50 years. NO WAY would i try to seal or restore the tank. I went to the local jucnk yard and found a tank that was a close match and it fit very well EXCEPT for the filler neck. It is the filler neck that one mite have to remove from the old tank and have it welded into the donar tank. In my case, the filler neck was close enuf to cobble up to fit by using a neoprene hose and cutting the donar tank neck to allow fit adjustment.

Sealers and other tank "remedies" are more or less just make shift fixxes. I've fought them for years on m/c tanks that in some cases were fairly good tanks but leaked at solder seams. OR were very rusty and were later swapped out for some other donor tank or re-pops.

OR, to put it another way: u can't make a sows ear from a silk purse.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

From 55-56 Xref:

from the Virtual Indian Motorcycle Journal.

And i quote:

"I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, and waited to follow up on it after I

saw the product, but a local kid has me in complete utter awe at what he can

hand hammer form over a hard maple buck. This kid is amazing, also as a

welder. He just recreated a speedway tank for 2 of my racers and they are spot

on

perfect. And the cost will amaze you, you might even want to give him more.

Anyway

Alex Barrett

401 E. Fairgrounds

Jerseyville, Illinois 62052

618-498-3767

He has actually restored some of my faith that young people want to learn how

to do some of these special talents. I know I am going overboard but you all

shoulda been here when that new tank slid right in my speedway bike, had to

fit between the upper and bottom tubes, and line up with the 4 bottom bolts, it ALL FIT.

[RO]

Man, can I relate to this! Did three cars with a popular gas tank sealer kit and only one has lasted through the years and it did have flakes on a couple occassions, but the two Packards I did per instructions after about six months on both the stuff flaked off and plugged the pickup tubes. I had to get both tanks Gas Tank Renued and that ran about $300 10 years ago. Since that time I have the tank boiled out at a local radiator shop and then do not put any kind of sealer in; I install a transparent filter just outside the tank and then carefully monitor it for residue buildup. Might have to change the filter out every few hundred miles for awhile, but so far this has been successful on my tanks.

[Guest BJM]

I have never used the kits but the problem is see is that you can't see. You can eyeball it through the float/gauge hole but that leaves a lot to be desired. So to pour something in there, slosh it around, and feel you have accomplished something, would always leave me wondering.

Thanks for posting this information. It's probably not Kanters - but the process - so getting this information out may save a lot of folks money and time, now and later.

[Ron Green]

I and many others have had great success with the company on the link below. They are showing 2 dealers in your state.

http://www.gastankrenu.com/

[Twitch]

Tanks and radiators are examples of 2 things that my expert AC-radiator shop does and guarantees. I can't imagine attempting reconditioning myself. I've pulled tanks and rads on other cars before and taken them to my pros. When you get a nationwide warranty on gas tank Renu there is no reason including economics to fool with that stuff yourself.

And that goes for exhaust too. My muffler shop owner is a vintage car owner and replaced everything from the exhaust manifold to the bumper including muffler for $108. Why would I lay around under neath after ordering pipe pieces getting rust all over me?

There are just some things you should let the pros do.

[Guest 49 Packard]

It may be interesting to some to see the response I got from the vendor that sold me the "Fuel Tank Restoration Kit" that has so thoroughly messed up my fuel tank. Suffice to say I followed the directions for using it implicitly, and if anything I *overdid* every step just to be sure I got it right.

The helpful answer from the vendor is:

"I reviewed your order and situation with The tech department @ POR (the manufacturers of the fuel tank repair kit). They advised the only time their is a an issue of the sealer not bonding is when the tank is not throughly cleaned/prepared or it is not throughly dried befor the sealer is applied.

Please call the POR Tech line directly at 1 800 457 6715 they will answer any question in detail"

[Guest imported_49packard]

Duh!! It is always the user's problem. The surface is never prepared properly.

[Guest BJM]

Yea, I just don't see how a user can make 100% sure the INSIDE of sealed container is thoroughly dry and prepped. You only have a small hole to look through. Caveat Emptor if I ever heard of it.

The automotive restoration hobby has and will continue to offer products for those of us who can not come up with easy answers for certain repairs.

But there is only one way to "do it once and do it right" - that's to have the tank opened up, sandblasted, resealed, etc by professional shops.

[Tom M]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BJM</div><div class="ubbcode-body">But there is only one way to "do it once and do it right" - that's to have the tank opened up, sandblasted, resealed, etc by professional shops. </div></div>That is what was done to mine 10+ years ago and up to two years ago I had no problems. Will see if I will have problems once I get it reinstalled Old Bessie has been down since I am doing a full restore.

[fred deagostino]

'Gents,I've been following this topic with interest since we've been using the POR kit for motorcycle gas tanks where I work for the past 4 yrs. We've had no problems with the product at all, and since it's a custom paint shop we seal a lot of tanks. One note though is that most tanks we do are either new repops, or factory Harley tanks which are very good tanks (not the repops, the Harleys). At any rate, based on my own experience (I do all the tank sealing) the two things that the POR product cannot handle are sever flaking which is nearly impossible to get out and will leave a void should the flake let go at a later date, and secondly, even one drop of water/dampness in a seam or elsewhere, will actually cause a reaction with the sealer causing it to swell, bubble, churn, get hot. Either one will allow gas to get under the sealer and that's the kiss of death for the whole job.

Bike tanks are, I think, better suited to sealing since they're easier to inspect for rust and more importantly, have no baffles to complicate coating evenly inside. Nevertheless I've just done a '33 plymouth tank for my own car which was a good candidate so we'll just have to see how that works out over time. I know it was done to the best of my ability so if it fails over time I will most certainly let you know. Stay tuned.............

[Guest 49 Packard]

That will be interesting. Mine did not fail for an entire year, but when it failed, it failed big time.

FWIW, I <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">know</span></span> my tank interior was dry.

[fred deagostino]

Jay, I don't doubt you for a minute. I believe I was as scrupulous as you in the application, so indeed, we'll have to wait and see over time. I did have an advantage though in that mine was a relatively small tank, and, I used two cans of sealer which does make the coating part of the process a bit easier. I believe the kits are inherently too small for car gas tanks, at least as regards the amount of sealer.

[Guest BJM]

Fred,

Another good point. Motorcycles tanks I can hold between my hands and shake vigorously. Slosh it around for total coverage.

I have three tanks in my old cars, all undergoing full body off's. The 63 Pontiac is the worst. Long, not too tall and pretty wide. If you just miss one little spot...

[Guest 51Patty400]

When I had my tank done, they filled it with a weak acid to help loosen off all the junk inside.

Do these kits have something similar?

- Mark

[Owen_Dyneto]

I did the tank on my 34 Packard about 11 or 12 years ago, never a problem since. These are hard tanks to do because they have internal baffles to prevent sloshing, with small screens to let the gas move from one internal compartment to another, thus the issue is to keep the sealant from closing off the screen mesh. I suspect that most of the success stories coating your own tank were with tanks in relatively good condition, and the horror stories were on tanks that were very poor and probably should have been replaced or repaired by professionals.

[fred deagostino]

51Patty400, yes, the kits have an acid step. First step is the Marine clean which is a very strong detergent. This can be mixed up to 1 to 10 with water for cleaning varnish etc.

I mix it 1 to 1 which makes it so damn strong it will cut the surface rust too and leave a grey color where the rust is/was.

Then, three thorough rinses. No need to dry here. Go right on to the Metal Ready which is actually (as I recall) Phosphoric acid. Rinse three times again. How long depends on the condition of the inside of the tank, you just have to keep looking in there. The Metal ready (acid) really does not need to be left in there long, it's the strong Marine clean that's really cutting stuff, watch for the grey. In fact, if you've mixed it strong like I do it'll leave nothing but grey everywhere it gets on the outside of the tank. Then it's down to the drying thing. A few days in the hot sun, or one of my favorites if I'm trying to move things along, is the exhaust end of you shop vac. 'Lots of nice hot low pressure air.

Anyway, I don't sell the stuff or own stock in the company so I have no axe to grind. It's just that we've used it in the shop with good results.

As for car tanks, I'd really have to say that the kit is woefully shy on the amount of sealer needed to cover all that area, and stacks the deck against the user. Bear in mind that as the surfaces get covered, the 'puddle' you're moving around in there keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Oh, one last thing, you have to make sure to blow out any pickup tubes, outlets, vents, fittings etc. after the excess is drained off or you're tank is effectively done for.

So that's a not so brief 'how I dunnit'

[Guest BJM]

Very helpful. Since the goal is to do it once in the old cars lifetime, it may pay to purchase two kits to do one tank. That way you have more of the Metal ready and more of the sealer to slosh around.

[Guest 51Patty400]

BJM, Not a bad idea at all.

- Mark

[Ron Green]

Quote: "Since the goal is to do it once in the old cars lifetime"

http://www.gastankrenu.com

[Twitch]

If the fun and whimsy of doing your own tank can be over come folks just remember the 2 most important words regarding Gas Tank Renu- LIFETIME GUARANTEE!!!!!!!!!

[Guest 49 Packard]

I was trying to avoid the THIRD word:

$475.00

You do your best...

[TexRiv_63]

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used the Gas Tank Renu company. I have a tank that desperately needs cleaning but when I called their Houston dealer he said they drill a bunch of 2" holes in the tank during the cleanout process, then patch them up and coat the tank inside and out. What do all these holes look like on the outside after they are done? My tank looks OK now on the outside and I'm concerned the patches will be visible. Also would like to know if anyone has had problems and used their "lifetime warranty", how did that work?