oil tank cleaning

[broughnut]

I bought a lovely painted oil tank for my a10 recently. It seems when they painted it they never flushed it properly as its full of old shot and old oil. What's the best way to clean it without damaging the paint?

[mark2]

you need to have the tank chemicaly stripped sorry or better still find another one , blasting any oil tank is a disaster

[R]

Flushing it out with degreaser or kero or even petrol has to be worth a try first.
If you can seal up all the exits, it can be shaken quite vigorously.
Watch that this is somewhat flammable though, no smoking...

If this doesn't do it, it could be steam cleaned - and the paint preserved.
This may promote rust inside though, so it would need to be oiled pronto.

Or, it could be flushed with a solution of drain cleaner = caustic soda.
This absolutely eats oil and gunge.
It also eats paintwork, so you have to be very careful to keep it all inside.
Wear gloves, a really strong solution and flesh don't mix.
take care, hopethishelps.

[john.k]

Cleaning is simple,put a few ounces of square 1/4 nuts in the tank,add kerosine and shake it up vigorously for a few minutes.The sharp edges of the nuts will scour the tank thoroughly.Pour out the kero,and repeat with clean kero.This is also the way to clean out rusty and dirty fuel tanks.Its very easy to remove all the nuts.If it has actually been blasted with split shot[called grit in the industry]be very careful to remove every particle.Steel grit is the most destructive material imaginable on precision machinery.One single particle of grit destroyed an orbitroll steering unit from a crane,costing $2000 replacement.Regards John.

[broughnut]

Thanks for that chaps. Will try flushing it and see what happens. A job for tonight.

[mark2]

don't risk it , more so with the a10 bush main .

[chaterlea25]

Hi,
Owning and having rebuild quite a few pre unit BSA's their oil tanks are awkward to say the least to clean out
The way the two halves are welded together makes a narror V shape inside the tank
This provides a home for any nasty gritty bits  that are difficult to remove 
A sharpened stainless steel tig welding rod, 2.4 or 3.2mm can be shaped to scrape out the V most but not all the way round the joint
A strong magnet placed in the bottom of the tank will attract any loose steel particles
I have fitted a non magnetic boss to the tank bottom of my own A10, this is tapped to fit a stainless drain plug drilled on the inner end and a magnet glued in,
This has made draining a lot less messy than removing the mesh filter plug on the tanks side

HTH
John

[mini-me]

Much of the shot used will have stuck in the really hard muck found in all old tanks and be damn near impossible to shift.
Frankly I'd look for another tank as the possiblities for major disaster are legion.
Even more frankly I'd never buy a bike thats had its tank shot blasted, as likely enough the fool who had it done had no idea at all how to go about things, seen too many bikes wrecked like it.

These idiots give parts to the blaster that are not degeased, never masked up, I've seen complete wheels bearings and all go to the blaster.

One idiot I knew went to a place that shot blasted and stove enamelled parts,then came back moaning that the guys has not stripped the swinging arm off the frame and it was locked up.
When  I asked the idiot why he did'nt strip it before hand, he replied 'he didnt have the special tool needed' ..................as if the bloody shot blaster would have.

The trouble with old bikes is that there are too many  ignorant idiots messing with them.
Just another reason I'll never buy a "restored" bike unless I know the sellers capabilities.

[mark2]

if they look like new and need Minor finishing , walk away as you are about to get stung , ebays full of them , I will say this one more time don't use the tank or chemicaly strip , and even then I would worry

[R]

Just another reason I'll never buy a "restored" bike unless I know the sellers capabilities.

A lot of professionally restored bikes have parts inside them that have been bead-blasted, and then not 100% thoroughly cleaned either.
Analysis of rapid ring and piston and bore wear often shows beads are involved....

[mark2]

I have had the same experience and now think some blast may be getting imbedded in the alloy , soda is ok , one way to get this stuff moving in to put it one the bike and run it , the combination of movement , vibration and temp does the trick in about 15 miles and the push home keeps you fit 

[iansoady]

Some years ago I (expensively) wrecked a Triumph Stag engine. I'd foolishly had the cam covers bead blasted and powder coated. What I hadn't realised was that there was a wire mesh oil separator inside one of them. This collected beads to later distribute them through the engine. The state of the oil pump had to be seen to be believed. It's amazing how much damage glass can cause.

Since then I would think several times before having any internal parts blasted.

[john.k]

The oil companies used to send in bulk grease bins from the mines to be shotblasted and painted.One was done with the access hatch left open,the the open hatch was spotted and closed and nothing mentioned.Said to have caused $20 million in damage to ball and rod  mill bearings,and downtime.In the blasters workshop,the parts washer was circulating a soup of fine steel grit dust,which contaminated all the parts washed in it.In the main shed steel grit used to rain down continuously,as the blasters pointed nozzles upward.Very destructive stuff,steel grit.Regards John.

[broughnut]

Thanks for your help. Got home looked inside and thought no way. Had another tank which was a bit tatty but original and started preparing that one instead. Have it hanging on the garage wall as a memento to check properly before buying next time.

[mark2]

have it Chemically  stripped and put it on ebay , it will help pay for the restoration of your new tank