Cleaning vintage fuel can?

[JSGOLD]

I just bought a nice old vintage 3 gallon Evinrude fuel tank for my 61 "Fisherman" 5.5 trolling motor, looks great but some old sludge in it. Not terribly hard, but gummed up a bit. Any thoughts on a simple way to flush this out?

 

[robert graham]

Re: Cleaning vintage fuel can?

Put some medium to fine gravel and some water in it and shake it around until all the rust and old crud are knocked lose, then wash it out good and you'll be ready to go! Then use Stabil Marine in your fuel all the time to help keep down new rust/corrosion.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Cleaning vintage fuel can?

Go to google, and look up electroysis. It's a simple matter of using soap and water, plus a small battery charger.

 

[Rick.]

Re: Cleaning vintage fuel can?

I have tried the elect. method and it did clean up a lot of the rust in mine. In the end I filled it 1/2 full of HOT soapy water and a calf pulling chain (which you probably don't have). Then I swished it back and forth many many times and the rust was gone. Very important to dry it out with compressed air and then get some fuel mix in it and swish it around before it starts to rust again. Now, for those with no calf pulling chain, you could use a large choker chain from a pet store. I don't recommend sand or gravel because of the effort required to get it out of the tank when your finished. I have no doubt it would do a fine job of cleaning. Best of luck. Rick.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Cleaning vintage fuel can?

Thanks guys....some of the stuff is a soft sludge yet, some is the classic "glaze" stuff, so will see what I can loosen via soap and water and maybe try some more aggresive method for the remainder....? I think adding gas would cut some of it out but would ruin the gas in the process.