tank restoration

[Anonymous]

Hi Folks,
Not having luck searching for a thread on cleaning/restoring old pressure tanks–help please? I’m sure there is one, but maybe I’m not using the right terms. I have a mid-60’s Johnson 3 gallon tank I’d like to refurbish.

thanks
Mike

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

It is my understanding that there were only 2 sizes, 4 and 6 gallon. There was a “tall boy” tank as well but I think that is 4 gallons as well.
As for restorations, they are steel tanks so restore them as you would anything steel. As for the mechanisms, all the gaskets are available. I know that Marine Engine.com has those gaskets and parts, and maybe some other locations have them as well. The tank fitting can be rebuilt as there are a number of methods, one of which is a tool that is sold that includes new o-rings. Very slick tool.

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[labrador-guy]

Forden, a true pressure tank has eight screws on the top that takes the entire pumping mechanism out in one chunk. I use my shop vaccume with a 3/4″ pipe ducked taped to the suction end of the hose. Once the tanked is opened up you can get inside pretty well to clean it out. Rust is the big problem. Some guys have good luck with evaporust. There are other products out there to try including electrolysis. Utube will give you some ways to clean rust also. If you have a sixty’s tank it is not a pressure tank. They are much harder to get inside to clean them. I would look for another tank. Hope this helps.

dale

[kerry]

Mid 60’s 3 gallon tank is not a pressure tank. Does it have only one hose running to the motor? If so, not a pressure tank, easy to refurb. Cleaning depends on if the inside bottom is rusty or not. Need more description.

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for replies. I don’t have the tank in front of me, but will be picking it up from a family member (with Johnson MQ-10, I think) within a week or so. Will examine more closely and post pics if I can.
cheers
mike

[garry-in-michigan]

disapearing post

[garry-in-michigan]

[olcah]

If tank is rusty, here are the directions that I used to clean several tanks that were rusty inside. I used my 6 amp battery charger and it worked well. You need to get the tank as clean as you can to start, especially try to clean out oily residue. Then it took me a couple of days per tank cleaning rust off the anode every few hours to keep the process going.

Electrolysis_Rust_Removal

[olcah]

Search on pressure tank rebuild in this forum to see more info. There was a great thread on Oct 8, 2014 titled “Johnson duel line pressure tank parts” that gave excellent info but I can not find it now. This whole thing is not that hard. It does cost some $ for the tank rebuild kit but to me well worth it. Good chance to clean and paint the tank exterior too. Auto parts suppliers have good red spray paint that makes it easy.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by olcah.

[eviltwin]

There was a thread about electrolysis that sounded interesting.

https://aomci.org/forums/topic/tall-boy-gas-tank-clean-up/

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by eviltwin.

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