You should pull the tank off the van if you want to derust and repaint it.
That way you can access the top of the tank, which is probably the rustiest
part. Not difficult, takes only about 10 or 15 minutes. First remove the two
flare nuts on the propane connections and then remove the four nuts holding
the tank to the underside of the van. You should put something under the
tank to support it while you're removing the nuts. Mask everything that you
don't want to paint (valves, etc). Wirebrush the rust and use a product that
neutralizes the rust like naval jelly or something similar. Then paint with
a rust-inhibitint paint. Depending on how old everything is, you might want
to consider replacing your regulator and rebuilding your auto-stop valve
while you've got the tank off the van.

-Mark McCulley

At 05:25 AM 4/27/98 -0400, Frank Condelli wrote:
>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
>
>
>--
>              *  Frank Condelli  *  Almonte, Ontario, Canada  *
>                      *  ad793@Freenet.carleton.ca  *
>                   '87 VW Westy, '69 MGB & Lionel Trains
>                http://members.aol.com/RAlanen/index.html
>