How do you clean a gas tank?

[weasle]

I have a new blazer tank for my truck and I had the filler moved to the center of the tank. During this process, the inside of the tank has gotten some trash in it. It looks like it may be some metal shavings. My question is what is the best way to clean out the tank? Can it be flushed with water or will that cause rust problems? The tank is not installed on the truck yet.

[myoldchevytruck]

I have cleaned out 2 of them. The 1st, was with just a little bit of dawn dish soap and water. I sloshed it around for a few minutes and rinsed the tank out a few times and let the tank dry in the sun for a couple of days. The other smelled of varnish real bad. This one, was taken to the local radiator shop and pressure cleaned then coated with a coating to prevent it from rusting. I was happy with both.

[cdowns]

flush it out with water then either put an air hose from compressor or hose from wet/dry vaccume in it to move lots of air to dry it out rust worries are minimal

[Longhorn Man]

if you have access to a steam cleaner, that is the best bet, the high temperature of the water evaporates quickly once you dump it.
Otherwise, I would try just blowing it out with an air chuck.