This week I've mostly been trying to recondition the fuel tank. It has not gone entirely to plan. I settled on the POR15 kit, a degreaser, etch solution and a liner paint.
The degrease process started with an initial clean using a pint of degreaser mixed with a pint of hot water, tank shaken for a while (good workout) and was then allowed to sit for an hour on each side, seven in total as the bottom has a sloped edge. Contents dumped into a bucket were negligible, I assume the two pint mixture got absorbed into the goop in the bottom of the tank. The flushed out material was horrible. Repeat the process and not nearly as much got absorbed and the flush was a lot cleaner but an internal inspection revealed that there was still evidence of crap in the tank. So today I went to Frosts in Warrington and bought another 2 pints. Came home, put it in the garage with the tank and came inside for a coffee before getting changed (this stuff is corrosive to skin) and put two pints of water in the garage kettle and emptied the contents of the bottle into the kettle and then into the tank, shook it around again, noticed a rattle that hadn't been there before and left it to sit for an hour before the next rotation. It was at that point I noticed the full bottle of degreaser in the garage and realised I'd mixed the etch solution with water and poured it in. Well, you're not supposed to do that. I think the etch solution shouldn't be mixed with water but hey ho, it got poured out and the correct degreaser solution put back in for another seven hours of treatment. What came out was much much cleaner so I'm happy to take the next step and fill it with the etch solution and then paint. But now I've got to go back to Frosts to buy another £25 bottle and have lost another day. Hey ho.
And the rattle? That was one of the two fill pipes going into the swirl pot in the bottom of the tank where the pick up pipe filter is. That's going to take some thought as to how to drop it back in place and secure through a 2 inch hole.... I think I might need a really long pair of needle nose pliers. And a beer or two after it's done this weekend.
I wish they put the solutions into different coloured containers but no, they're all white with different coloured labels.
Guy