Magnesium fuel tank sealer or sloshing compound?

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farmhard

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Hi all, it's been a long time since I sealed a tank and they were steel. I have a Stihl TS360 with peeling powder coat and some pitting. I used to buy sloshing compound for the steel tanks, is this viable (blocking off the fuel vent of course) or is there something better?
I heard POR 15 is good and I'm going to check if it's compatible on magnesium. I do have a powder coat system but don't want to get into that as I'm not sure if ALL powdercoat is compatible with ethanol. I used a wire brush in a Dremel to clean it so far, my blast cabinet is blocked in with projects so not likely able to blast until spring.
I have had sheet metal sprayed with "metal prep" which is high in phosphoric acid and am not sure I want to use on alloy.

Thanks in advance!
 
I especially like sloshing at this time of year.
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I bought the POR15 and used it on a TS360 which I had split for a bearing job. The corrosion in the tank didn't bother me so much as the peeling paint but after cleaning the crud out there was some deep pitting. Having not purchased the metal prep or the cleaner I used self etch primer and applied 3 coats with a brush. I liked the silver finish over the milky color of some other products. So far the only drawback I can see is that it may peel at the seams and I wanted to do another coat and slosh it as they recommend not leaving edges where the product may start to peel. I had scraped the gasket areas and checked the 2 vent holes. I guess I will wait and see. I will likely wait a week to put fuel in it.
Regarding the mishap I mentioned earlier, it was a MK10 Jag in the late 1990's that had 2 saddle tanks in the trunk....or boot area. They were coated and I had the senders out for a reseal which were about 10" in dia. I could see the inner liners peeling. Did what I could to clean them and one day we came in to see the whole shop floor covered in gas. The tanks were high enough that the SU's siphoned out and the trunk of the car was pointed towards the furnace room where we heated with oil. It wasn't an entertaining morning.
 
I've also used Red Kote on boat fuel tanks (galv steel with lots of pinholes), and it worked well. I would advise following the instructions to the letter for a good job.
 
I wanted to use Red Kote but they are having a problem sourcing 1 component and I read it is currently out of production. What I was able to source I could not afford $115 to to ship and buy gallons for a chainsaw tank. Had it been a bare tank I would have used self etch alone but I had the paint issues. Thanks for your reply!
 
Buy a quart of Red Kote at your local O'Reilly's. One quart will do 8-12 saw tanks.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/search?q=red-kote
As noted, make sure the tank is thoroughly cleaned and allow the Red Kote to fully cure. In the summer months I leave them in the attic of the garage for a week (140F+ during the days) and in the winter months on a shelf above the wood stove for a week (at moments that is approaching 140 as wel...).

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Mark
 

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