pulser
06-01-2009, 05:42 PM
I bought a 1978 Yamaha XS 750 Triple, a beautiful bike which has not been ridden in 20 years. The problem was, it was parked with a small amount of gas in the tank, which turned into the stinkiest varnish and rust mixture you can imagine. The inside of the tank was totally rust coated, the petcocks clogged with rusty/varnish, and the carbs all clogged up as well.
The petcocks and carbs were disassembled and cleaned up nicely with Berryman Chem Dip after a 30 minute soak and water rinse.
The tank was first cleaned with Simple Green and water, and then de-rusted with a phosphoric acid solution. This is the acid used in Naval Jelly, and it works great. I used about 6 ounces of 50% phosphoric acid in about one gallon of water and about 2 cups of small gravel as a tumbling media. I shook this vigorously several times over a few hour period, then drained, rinsed with water, dried with the shop vac on blow, and coated the clean shiny interior with Sea Foam until it's ready to fill with gas.
The petcocks and carbs were disassembled and cleaned up nicely with Berryman Chem Dip after a 30 minute soak and water rinse.
The tank was first cleaned with Simple Green and water, and then de-rusted with a phosphoric acid solution. This is the acid used in Naval Jelly, and it works great. I used about 6 ounces of 50% phosphoric acid in about one gallon of water and about 2 cups of small gravel as a tumbling media. I shook this vigorously several times over a few hour period, then drained, rinsed with water, dried with the shop vac on blow, and coated the clean shiny interior with Sea Foam until it's ready to fill with gas.