So I finally got the courage to tackle this job, I decided it was time and I had everything ready to do the job. So I placed the tank on the wheelbarrow and brought it out into the open, then I put on my protective gear (protective face mask, latex gloves and latex/rubber clothing, and old jogging shoes).
And then I started very gently to pour the Muriatic acid in the tank, taking care not to spill any.
Nerve wrecking I can tell you…
I kept at it and emptied both one liter bottles eager to see if there was any leak, there was a little leak from one of the fuel lines, and small drips of acid went down on the inside of the wheelbarrow, and straight away you could see the power of that stuff.
That clear line is where the acid had dripped down, it was previously as rusty as the rest of the inside of the wheelbarrow and this took only minutes to look like this.
I decided that approx 1 and 1/2 hours per side of the inside of the tank should be hopefully enough, before flipping over and then emptying it.
After the time was elapsed I put on the protective gear again and carefully poured the acid back into the bottles, that was not a pleasant job. The acid came out of the bottles as water colored, but when I poured it back in, it was black !
Once done, I rinsed off the bottles with a water hose to remove any splashes of acid drops and put it away safely. I then filled the fuel tank up to the top with a mixture of water and Baking Soda, I’ll rinse the tank out tomorrow with more water/baking soda before letting it dry.
Hopefully then, it’ll be ready to reattach to the car so that I can finally replace the high pressure fuel pump and actually try starting the engine.
until next time,
cheers
niall.