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This may be a stupid question but what's the best way to flush out a fuel tank? I've started to strip my scooter down to prepare it for a rebuild and the tank needs flushing as it's full of sludge, I guess I could use petrol but the scooter is in my kitchen at the moment and I'm also trying to get rid of the smell of petrol. Any advice would be appreciated

stainless nuts and petrol in tank and stand outside and give it one hell of a shake

Washed and dried sharp gravel works too. Shake until blue in the face and then a lot more. Wash out the muck with your favourite cleaner and dry out with compressed air.

Paul

I'm assuming that you are just storing the scoot in the kitchen and don't want to remove the tank? If so, just drain the fuel and empty the float bowl too. The petrol smell will go after a day or so. I keen 3 scooters and a car in my house and don't have any lingering fuel odours

Thanks for the replies. Coaster the scoot is actually partly dismantled and I have removed the fuel tank, the reason it's in my kitchen is I don't have a garage or a shed to store it in. I'm stripping it down so it can be soda blasted, so all the parts will remain in the house.

I was advised to use paraffin.plenty nuts ,bolts,anything small enough you can find.start with maybe a litre of paraffin.shake until your arms are numb,drain off and note the dark colour.repeat 4 or 5 times until your happy that the paraffin is coming out same colour as it went in.a few quid for paraffin,20 mins shaking,sore arms but worth it.if you think there may be any rust left stick a filter on.

Best way to remove rust is to use '80%' phosphoric acid diluted at 10-1 with boiling water.Plug the fuel tap thread and fill to the brim, let it fizz away for a good half hour then rinse out. To stop flash rusting, do the same again with a more dilute solution for a couple of minutes and just empty out and let it air dry on its own accord without rinsing.
This way the acid etches the surface and prevents further corrosion.

Andy.