In the process of trying to clean up the fuel tank, I made very little headway with the traditional parts cleaner + nuts and bolts + shaking to remove the rust and sediment that was in the tank. So I thought I would try something different, sandblasting.
Since my intentions are to sandblast the paint off anyway, I was not concerned about a little over spray. So I gave it a whirl and I was very impressed with the results.
In fact, from what I can see, the tank looks brand new inside of it. Granted, I can only see half of the tank, as the filler opening is located on the right hand side, but I was not expecting such good results.
So I kept on going, and now the tank is clear and free of paint. I did learn that in the process of rinsing all the sand out, that the unprotected metal starts to rust fast. Just look at the pictures below to see what I mean. The brownish yellow is the rust process beginning moments after rinsed and dried.
After the tank was dry and I took the above pictures, I then coated the inside and outside with WD-40 to prevent the tank from rusting any further. My plan is to re-sandblast or wet-sand prior to beginning the painting process, but that is months away.
