Refurbishing Wedco gas cans

[jamm]

I have a couple of old Wedco 20L gas cans that I'd like to refurbish. Overall they are in pretty good condition but are showing signs of rust on the inside (no flaking just surface rust) as well as on the outside where the paint has been scrapped off from years of use. Does anyone have any information/recommendations about cleaning the rust out and any type of coating that can be applied.

I also have access to a powercoater and was wondering if anyone had refurbished the exterior of a used can in this manner. Should I be concerned about the existing fumes inside the can igniting while in the oven.

Additionally, can someone tell me where I can get the appropriate gaskets for these. (viton?)

Thanks

 

[SunTzuNephew]

You can put some steel shot in the tank and bang it around to clean the rust out.

There is a product sold for coating the interior of motorcycle tanks that works well. It's available from motorcycle shops, but is rather pricey, iirc.

The only issue in using it is keeping the air channel clear, I use paper stoppers attached to long pipe cleaners for that.



Put the sealant in, slosh it around, let dry, remove air channel plugs.

As for the exterior, no reason you cant powder coat them. Great idea, in fact....the folks at the powder coater will know to keep it out of the threads.

I'd do the outside first (since the powder coat has to bake on)...

 

[off-roader]

....the folks at the powder coater will know to keep it out of the threads...

Actually IIRC there are no threads whatsoever in a Wedco can.

 

[SunTzuNephew]

Actually IIRC there are no threads whatsoever in a Wedco can.

My mistake then....

 

[soonenough]

I've been wondering about the seals as well. I bought 4 Wedco gas cans back in January, and since I plan on having them a long time, I've wondered about what I'll do when it comes time to replace the seals. I don't know what material is recommended for sealing gas (Viton, HNBR, etc), but I'd imagine you could buy a sheet of that material in the appropriate thickness and durometer and cut a gasket out using the old one as a template.

The thickness of the current gasket would obviously be easy to measure, but as for measuring the durometer, that might get a little tricky. I'd probably just use something fairly soft, maybe 60 - 70? I don't have much experience with these types of seals.