A really dumb petcock question

Newbie alert!
Okay, this may be a really dumb question. My intuition says it is. I need to rebuild the petcock on my 79 650 D2, and I was told I do not need to drain the gas tank before I do this. My guess is that as soon as I open up the petcock, I will end up draining the tank all over myself and my garage floor.

So, do I in fact need to drain tank, and if so, what's the best way to go about this.

:blink:

giftofthegods77 wrote:

Newbie alert!
Okay, this may be a really dumb question. My intuition says it is. I need to rebuild the petcock on my 79 650 D2, and I was told I do not need to drain the gas tank before I do this. My guess is that as soon as I open up the petcock, I will end up draining the tank all over myself and my garage floor.

So, do I in fact need to drain tank, and if so, what's the best way to go about this.

No, this is not a dumb question. Just simply inane.
Did you ever wonder what the petcock on the tank is for? Could it possibly be to control the flow of fuel?

To drain. Turn off fuel(petcock). Remove the fuel hose from the petcock. Attach a long hose to the petcock turn the fuel valve to "prime" and drain fuel into a container.

Thanks for the reply Hwms.

Does anyone out there know if I can use a 1979 KZ650 B petcock on my 79 KZ650D2? I can buy the rebuild kit for about $20, or I can buy a used petcock off ebay for about $8.00. Clearly, I would rather spend less money and I know rebuild kits may not solve my problem.

I will guess that most of us have at least tried to rebuild a petcock. I think most of us would say "don't waste the money". For $30 or so, you can buy a manual petcock, and adapter plate from Z1 Enterprisses or Dennis Kirk, etc etc.

I did all three,,,, bought a rebuild kit, then bought a used ebay deal, and finally bought a $30 new one. Guess which one works?

You could always run tank fairly empty then lay on side and allow fuel to sit in other side of tank. Of course the tank must be off bike.