Old metal gas cans

[Tinman]

Hi everyone! Been a member for about a year now and I have a question. What is the best way to clean and store a metal gas can for winter. Have several beautiful tanks and don’t want to see them rust. Thanks!!

[outbdnut2]

I leave my tanks 3/4 full or more, and I do not use gas with ethanol in it. I never use stabilizers – the key to keeping the gas good is to not have a small amount of gas and a big amount of air. The oil/gas mix will protect the metal as long as no water got in to go to the bottom.
Dave

[Tinman]

Thanks! The only bad part is I don’t have access to ethinol free gas. I didn’t know if emptying the tank was the right thing to do. Appreciate the help!

[Mumbles]

Some guys drain their tank and then pour in a measured amount of the oil they use. This gets swished around to coat the tank but a tag noting how much oil was used must be attached to the tank so the correct fuel ratio can be obtained when filling the tank next spring.

[lyks2tinkr]

What Mumbles said works for me.

[Tinman]

Thanks for all the help. I will try these ideas. A friend got me hooked on these older outboards and I am having a blast working on and running them. 😀

[outbdnut2]

quote Bharri10:

Thanks! The only bad part is I don’t have access to ethinol free gas. I didn’t know if emptying the tank was the right thing to do. Appreciate the help!

Yeah, with ethanol in the gas, I’d empty the tank. Keeping vents shut goes a long way to prevent surface rust from humidity getting in. I like Mumbles’ method.
Dave

[lyks2tinkr]

Be careful Bahari10 this hobby is contagious and there is no cure.
Max outboards in collection = N+1
N is the current number of motors you have.
Have fun.

[Tinman]

Very contagious!! Just picked up two more today. My barn is filling up! Just when I tell myself STOP you have enough, I go and buy another one….or two!!! Thanks again everyone for the insight and knowledge.

[pm-t2]

Cylinder index (C.I.) is safe method of determining if the amount of outboards in your collection is excessive.

Cylinder Index = number of internal combustion engine cylinders you own. FWIW your car, lawn mower, weed whacker all count toward the total.

The formula for determining an acceptable Initial cylinder index level is if your current CI is less than your age, its permissible to add more.

Once that number is reached, the acceptable CI number now automatically increases either by 25%, or to an amount equal twice your age, depending on which option you decide to invoke.

If that upsized CI number is reached, the formula increases automatically kick in again. And so on……

Thus, your C.I. is always indexed to account for collection inflation. That’s a better deal than most of us get on our pensions and so forth.

Hope this helps.

Best,
PM T2

[Author]

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