Jump to content
HybridZ

Muric Acid Proceedure


Recommended Posts

I have looked in search and could not find anything, so here goes. Tank is rusty, how do you use Muric Acid to clean the crude out. Do I have to use a sealer, or should I just use the good old gasoline swish around and dump, until the gas is clear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest technomancer

Hello,

 

I just finished cleaning, sealing, and repaintin the tank off my 75Z. It was full of BLACK crud, and some minor surface rust. Mind you there were NO leaks, and the rust was very minor on the inside of the tank.

 

I tried acetone, and yeah it works, but it was NOT sufficient to cut the thick crud I had in my tank. I picked up 2 gallons of muriatic acid from the homey depot ($7). First let me warn you... this stuff is STRONG. The fumes, the disposal, and your attention must all be prepared BEFORE you start. Get a 5 gallon plastic bucket for the stuff that comes out of the tank, and a place to hold it until disposed of. I cannot stress this enough, this stuff gives off chlorine gas when it reacts. DO it OUTSIDE. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, and have ready access to lots of water.

 

Anyway, just duct tape off all the filler holes tubes, but one. I found that the sensor hole was best left un-taped. It would allow easy and most effective dumping out of the crud. I had an expendable cast iron outdoor table to rest the tank on BTW. Then I dumped in about 1 QT of acid. Stuffed a plastic garbage bag into the sensor hole, and turned the tank end over end for a few minutes. Remove the bag plugging the hole, dumped it into the bucket. WOW what an IMMEDIATE difference. The acid is a super crud cutter that will dissolve anything, including the tank if left in there too long. Repeat this procedure until sparkling clean. Then IMMED. flush the tank with gallons of water. Then if you have OSPHO or some other phosphoric acid stuff put that in the tank and toss it around a bit, this will keep it from rusting quickly. Then hopefully you will already have some tank sealing epoxy on hand... The tank needs to be totally dry, and the metal totally clean before the epoxy sealer goes in. So wash out the tank again to get any extra OSPHO out, and dry it with a hair dryer till it's completely dry.

 

I stuck a hair dryer into the now uplugged and totally cleaned out tank to dry it thoroughly. Then I let the tank cool, and taped up all the openings again. Except for the main filler which was easiest to pour in the epoxy. Then taped that off and tossed, rotated for about 1/2 an hour. Then I placed it on my stand, and opened the drain plug. This let the excess epoxy drip out. I then let it sit overnight. BTW the rotating of the tank for so long, was to make sure the epxoy got everything coated properly. Then unseal all the filler holes because the epoxy needs air to cure. 24 hours it's dry. You are done. Well not exactly, you still need to paint the outside of the tank, just to make it pretty.

 

A hint here: Do the "base coat" of the tank RED, then the finish coats Black, that way you can tell how deep any future injuries to the tank are.... That's what I did.

 

Here in FL it costs $350 to have a shop do it. It cost me $7 for the acid, $15 OSPHO, $25 per quart of epoxy (plenty to do the Z tank), and $8 for the exterior gloss black rustoleum.

 

good luck

 

technomancer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my metal work, I use a few acids for cleaning, etching etc, keep lots of water and baking soda near by. I keep one water bottle easily accessible for emergency eye wash. Respirator! Corrosive lung burns suck! Take the crud to your toxic waste disposal. Even our podunk town has a place to bring paint, solvent, acid, batteries, mystery goo, etc. At the very least neutralize the acid with baking soda. John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used Rust Remover, metal prep and tank sealer from here: http://www.hirschauto.com/

 

I restored a very rusty tank in my 260Z. This stuff was highly recommended in several articles I read. It worked great. I've had no issues with the stuff coming loose and clogging fuel filters/lines.

 

If you don't seal your tank after removing the rust, you'll just end up with a rusty tank again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...