Topic: best way to store a tank?

[mazingerzeca]

Hello all.
I bought a tank for my bike on e-bay, and it is in a very good condition inside. I'm not going to install it on the bike yet, so I would like to know the way to preserve the inside from rust until use it. Any ideas?

[matt365]

fill it full of gas

Someone has to say it.

[azuredesign]

If its already dry and clean inside, keep it a dry, heated ( in the north, at least when its above freezing) environment. Leaving the cap off probably helps as well.

[Jay B]

Coat the inside with 2 stroke oil.

[754]

High and dry. I leave the cap on (smear of grease on the gasket or topedge may be wise).....no sense in making your premises uninsurable by storing gas inside!!

Unless bare metal rusts in your storage are tank should be fine.






That and I pulled an old tank off the rack a while ago to look at something, assumed it was dry and imagine my surprise when a 1/2 quart of green foul smelling stuff was still in there, now that I opened it I had to drain in, and air it out.. what a stench..

[mazingerzeca]

Thanks for the replays. I will coat it with 2-stroke oil... cheaper thank gas 

[mgmuellner]

If it's got a nice outer finish, throw some bubble wrap around it too.

[SOICHIROSFOUR]

I had a 35 year old NOS tank for an Italian bike that I kept it in the spare bedroom in my house. Cap on and no petcock and dry, covered with a baby blanket, after years never a speck of rust.

[754]

OOOhhhh is it a tank for a MACH 1 with the carb cutout by Chance?

 Did I win?? Did I win??

[SOICHIROSFOUR]

Nope it was for a Montgomery Ward Riverside Mojave.

[Terry in Australia]

Is that a motorcycle or an Indian? 

[Geeto67]

I store my nice originals and NOS tanks in the house (on display actually).

[Bodi]

Two stroke oil is a good idea, but... any water that condenses inside the tank will sink under the oil at the bottom (oil floats on water) and cause rusting there. Filled with gas and a little bottle of gas line antifreeze (to dissolve any water that condenses) is best for a bike you will ride the next season. I kept a few tanks in an unheated shed for years, a friend suggested putting a handful of mothballs in an old sock, tying a bit of string to it, then stuffing it in the filler with the string out... then closing the cap on the string (so it could be pulled out later). I did this. The tank on a CB77 I had parked in there with no gas but otherwise untreated rusted badly. The ones with the mothballs stayed shiny inside.

[mgmuellner]

Two stroke oil is a good idea, but... any water that condenses inside the tank will sink under the oil at the bottom (oil floats on water) and cause rusting there.

That's true for standing water - but most often you wont see much (if any) water.  It's mostly humidity.  Would humidity have the same result as standing water?  If so, what happens to the coating on the top of the tank?  If the inside is coated with 2 smoke oil & is somehow opened/vented so humidity doensnt condensate, then he should be fine I'd imagine.  Right?

[dkruitz]

On my bike? 

[Terry in Australia]

That "Moth balls" thing is interesting, there are two types apparently, naphthalene, and paradichlorobenzene.

Once you finish storing that tank, just drop the naphthalene mothballs in the tank and fill it with gas, and it'll increase the octane rating of the fuel! Don't use paradichlorobenzene though, or it'll turn into Hydrochloric acid (HCl) and eat your engines internals! 

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00485.htm