Frank, I've done this a coupe years ago.  I left the tank on the van.
 My tank was in pretty good shape, with lots of the factory
rustproofing still in tact on the upper portion of the tank.

I cleaned the tank, and brackets with varsol to remove all dirt, and
excess rustproofing.  I then got some emory cloth and went over the
tank.  I removed the lower skid plate, and black plastic regulator
housing.

Once the tank was cleaned, I masked the spit valve, regulator,
propane lines, valves, etc, and brush painted on some "recreational
white" paint from Tremclad... a rust paint.  Once dry, I painted on
by brush some gravel guard on the leading edge of the tank, and then
painted over again.  The same for the skid plate.  I used stainless
steel nuts/bolts/washers in place of the aluminum rivots for the
regulator shield.  Looks great, easy to clean, and no rust after two
years :)

Hope this helps
Harry.

> I want to clean the rust off of my propane tank and repaint it.  Has
> anyone had any experiences with this project they want to share ?  I'm in
> the process of having my '87 Westy repainted and I asked the paint shop to
> sandblast and repaint the tank but he said he would not do it (safety
> concerns).  He suggested I take a wire brush to it then paint it with rust
> paint.  The wire brushing looks to be a tough job due to the location of
> the tank.  Any suggestions ?
>
> Cheers
>
> Frank
-----------------------------------------------------
Harry Yates, Langley, British Columbia Canada
'90 Syncro Westfalia   WWW - http://syncro.cr.bcit.bc.ca/hyates
'87 Golf Diesel        email:  hyates@bcit.bc.ca
'91 Miata (Millie)