How To Remove Rust with Cleaning Vinegar
How To Remove Rust with Cleaning Vinegar

The How To page is for people who want to get their hands dirty, or are thinking about getting them all greased up.

Just watch, learn and ask. Before you know it, you are building your own beauty’s.
These posts will be a combination of collected information from the web and produced by our own.

In this post we help you, Cafe Racers, with how to remove rust from your fuel tank for about 5 Dollar.

We all hate a rusty fuel tank. However, this is a very common issue when it comes to older bikes (mostly the basis for a Cafe Racer)

If you ignore it, you can end up with a clogged carburetor (or more), which is irritating. Next to this, all this small particles cannot be good for your engine as well!

So, let’s invest in very expensive equipment to solve this….. NOT! Let’s buy the following in your local grocery shop. (We take a 11 liter / 2.9 gallon tank as an example)

Cleaning Vinegar Fuel Tank 34

NOTE: Vinegar is an acid (duh…), and Aluminium doesn’t like acid. We know aluminum doesn’t rust, however do not try to use this How To, for cleaning your aluminum tank anyways!

1 Liter = 0.264 Gallon

Step 1:
What you need:
-8 liters of cleaning vinegar  (for a 11 liter tank). The brand doesn’t matter.
-3 liters of clean water
– Fuel hose + 6 of 8mm bolts (to close the hose)
– A rusty ol’ fuel tank

Cleaning Vinegar Fuel Tank

Step 2:
The most fuel tanks drip from their exits, like the gasoline overflow or the place where your fuel hose went. Seal  them of with the fuel hose + bolts you’ve just bought.

Poor the 8 liters of cleaning vinegar into the tank and add the 3 liters if water right up to the maximum of the tank (leave no room)

Cleaning Vinegar Fuel Tank

Close the tank and make sure it isn’t dripping fluid.

Mark when you started this process and you could shake the tank once in a while.

Now, wait.

Step 3:
After approximately 4 weeks it is time to empty your tank. (Some do this after a few days and some after a few weeks… There isn’t a standard Im afraid).
Rinse your tank with clean water afterwards. Do this for about 3 – 10 times (make sure it is a clean as possible). We use hot water for the last time, to make sure the tank will dry up a bit quicker.
You could also take you tank into the house and give it some rest on the heater 🙂 (Not too hot, beware of the paint)

Cleaning Vinegar Fuel Tank

If you are doing it right, something like this would come out of your tank!!

Cleaning Vinegar Fuel Tank
Wow, this is the final result. All this rust and misery was in your tank!!

Step 4:
Afterwards you can cure your tank with a sealer or just fill her up with gasoline or oil asap. You would not give the rust another chance. Don’t you?!

Step 5:

Be proud on what you have accomplished.

 

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