Hello all… need some advice please… I have been working on my 1984 VF1000r for over a year now and I’m nearly there on completing it… the last thing I need to do is sort out a rusty fuel tank which I thought wouldn’t be an issue.. so I thought! I have spoken to a tank restoration guy tonight and he said it is near on impossible to apply a liner to the inside of the tank after it’s been acid cleaned because of the valve inside the tank will get blocked during the lining process… has anyone got involved in tank cleaning on this bike and know about this issue… the guy talked about cutting the bottom out of the tank, re-piping and blocking of the main on/off fuel tap and putting an external fuel stop cock on which I’m not the keen on doing.. any suggestions would be mostly appreciated. Thank you Sean
Sean,the valve isn’t inside the tank it bolts on externally.
There are plenty vf tanks out there that have liners in them
Regards Bif
I’m working on the first of my R tanks now. The one I picked I thought was the easiest to fix. A couple of things have complicated the fix. Firstly, a few blemishes in the paint along the bottom seams turned out to be bigger rust holes. Secondly, the tank had been lined.
Before i could go further I had to make the tank hold liquid. I sealed it with JB weld and cut and welded a drain bung in the bottom to aid draining.
Used 5 litres of acetone agitated with nuts and bolts ti strip the liner. Washed the acetone out with petrol, and dried out.
Next will try the electrolysis method of rust removal before relining with Auzzie Red White and Blue tank liner.
As Bif has pointed out, the fuel tap is external, however the main and reserve fuel pickups have filter screens on them which complicate the lining process.
Next tank I’ll strip right back and reweld a sound FF tank bottom in before resealing
A few years ago, I had my R-Tank derusted and sealed by an expert (mainly for motorcycles from the 1940s and 1950s). I haven’t had any problems to date.
Some people I know who also work with old motorcycles are strictly opposed to sealing. They believe that the gasoline dissolves the sealant, which then clogs the carburetors. They swear by simply removing the rust from the tank and then making sure that the rust doesn’t come back.
I would say that it also depends on the condition of the rust on the tank.
Personally i like to nickel plate the inside of the tanks rather than using a liner, the acid pre-treatment for nickel dissolves all the rust & then the nickel prevents it from returning, I’ve done the tanks of a number of bikes I’ve restored & none of them have ever gone rusty again.
If i had a tank with rusty holes I’d repair it & then nickel plate it
Pictures below are the VF tank after I’d had it plated, the plating only sticks to bare metal & total cost was £70 :
Norman, i like the sound of nickel plating the inside of the tank, where did you get it done if you dont mind me asking..
I’ve lined a number of vf tanks over the years with no issues, my R tank was done 7 years ago, also did John’s ff/ fe and martins boldor probably 10 years ago, as far as I know they are still good, the hardest part is getting all the rust out, then drying it out before it starts to surface rust again.. I use Por15.
Hi thanks for the reply’s everyone
The reserve fuel pickups have filter screens on them how do you stop the liner blocking them up? as far that I’m aware you poor the liner in seal the tank and rotate it.. sorry I’m struggling to get my head around it 
.
Sorry biff I meant to say the filter screens inside the tank, the guy who restores tanks says it will get all blocked up with the liner so I’m a bit confused
Maybe the plating is the way to go 
There’s only 280ml of liner in a por15 tin, thats just enough to coat a vf1000 tank, pour it in with the tank tipping slight forward and to the right, manoeuvre the tank onto its right side, backwards and forwards, then onto its top, then the base, you need to use as much of the liquid up befor doing the left side where the reserve gauze filter is..
Hi Pete thanks for the info 
There’s a complete cleaning kit thats available to buy from degreaser to acid etch then the sealer but it’s only 236ml enough for 17litres the tank is 25l should I buy 2x tin to make up the 280ml ? Regards Sean
Pete, I’m in Daventry, Northants & i used a local company Daventry Metal Finishers Ltd, i had to leave it with them for a while so they could use a batch of the cleaning acid nearing the end of its life as the rust makes the fluid useless or something but apart from that i don’t think it was particularly difficult
Hello Norman I’m in Northampton so I’ll give these guys a visit
This is the inside of my tank.. I can see the plumbing and the mesh and can see why you have to be careful when applying a liner
Ok cool thanks I’m gonna give it a go thanks 
Hallo,
ich hatte auch dieses Problem. Wie bereits erwähnt, sind die Siebe ein Problem, aber ich habe es gelöst, indem ich nur so viel Dichtungsmittel in den Tank gegossen habe, dass die Siebe nicht verstopft wurden. Und ich habe das Material erst ganz zum Schluss an diese Stelle fließen lassen. Es ist ratsam, den Tank mit einer Inspektionskamera zu überprüfen. Anschließend habe ich die Siebe noch mit Luft durchgeblasen, um sicherzugehen, dass sie durchlässig sind.
Tschüss Petr
Thanks Peter,
Very helpful!
G
You’re welcome, glad to help
Look at thread “Rusty fuel tank”.
Great information, as I have just spent a few weeks cleaning the rust out of my 1985 VF100F tank, starting with vinegar and then using some 12V leads, followed by vinegar again. Once the rust was gone, I had to fill some pinholes. I nickel-plated the inside as best I could, but it still started to rust again, so I’m about to use some POR15 on it. I too was worried about the lines getting blocked, but I will blow some air backwards before it dries to make sure they are clear.
Good Luck Sean
Hi Rod can I ask about the 12v leads? did you fill the tank with distilled vinegar and how long did you leave it? Thanks Sean