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F'd by a petcock!?
- apbling
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When winterizing the bike, I noticed a carb weeping some. I already knew the needle in that carb was at end of life. So, the past few days I spent swaping in some new needles and seats and getting the level dialed in. For shitz and grinz I decided to throw the battery in and fire the bike up. She popped right off and I let it idle for a while in the garage. It was a little rough, but hey, its WI and its cold in the garage.
As it was idling, I noticed the little clear fuel filter looked to not be flowing. It looked halfish full. I threw the petcock to PRI and a GUSH of fuel came down for a good 5-10 sec and I could tell the idle of the bike picked up some and level out a bit....Now, this doesn't make sense to me. In the ON position, the fuel comes through the little straw higher in the tank and through the valve, which should provide almost as much fuel as the PRI position, right?
Anyway, I think I was starving my bike of fuel some - Either the petcock needs rebuilding, theres crap in the vacuum line or maybe something plugging the ON circuit in the valve.... Kinda lines up with my lean issues last summer - maybe it was passing some fuel, but not enough to keep up and it was a slow leaning of the mixture.
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- SWest
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- 10 22 2014
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Time to rebuild it before spring sets in.
Steve
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- redhawk4
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1978 KZ1000A2 Wiseco 1075 kit
1977 KZ650B1
1973 Triumph Tiger TR7V
1968 BSA Victor Special 441
2015 Triumph Thunderbird LT
1980 Suzuki SP400
Old enough to know better, still too young to care
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- SWest
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- 10 22 2014
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Steve
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- jdvorchak
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After this it should work OK. If not then you can pursue a replacement.
Don't fix it until it's broken.
John
83 KZ550M1
83 KZ1100LTD
Also own:
2010 Harley Ultra Classic Limited, 2008 Harley low rider 71 CB350/sidecar
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- jdvorchak
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Don't fix it until it's broken.
John
83 KZ550M1
83 KZ1100LTD
Also own:
2010 Harley Ultra Classic Limited, 2008 Harley low rider 71 CB350/sidecar
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- SWest
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- 10 22 2014
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- redhawk4
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swest wrote: They're a good idea but another thing to go wrong.
Steve
While sort of a good idea, I always feel they were a feature for the less informed who couldn't be relied on to turn a petcock off an on, which had been the norm for the previous 50 years or so of motorcycling. Like any additional complication to a basic idea they were very convenient when everything was new. I remember liking the idea at the time. However 30 plus years later with old parts etc. I'm not so keen on the idea as they are far less likely to be reliable and my biggest concern would be creating a situation with inadequate fuel flow that could lead to internal motor damage as things get too hot with partial fuel starvation when riding hard.
1978 KZ1000A2 Wiseco 1075 kit
1977 KZ650B1
1973 Triumph Tiger TR7V
1968 BSA Victor Special 441
2015 Triumph Thunderbird LT
1980 Suzuki SP400
Old enough to know better, still too young to care
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- apbling
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- zukdave
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and flow's a lot more than the stock KZ650 petcock.
1980 KZ650 F1
ZX750A1 motor.
Wiseco 810cc kit.
Zukiworks racing ported head.
VM 29 smooth bore's.
Dyna 2000 Ign. w/Dyna mini coil's
APE cylinder stud's and nut's.
APE valve spring's.
APE Track King clutch.
V/H KZ1000 sidewinder.
3.5x18 laced to a KZ1000 disk hub.
150/60/18 Shinko 006 Podium.
63" wheel base.
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- redhawk4
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apbling wrote: Agreed on them being another thing to go wrong. Usually I replaced the damn thing almost yearly as it would fail open (like permanent PRI) or it would piss out all over my leg as I rode... Never failed this way.
To me it would be tempting to get something like a Pingel petcock and put the original on the shelf in case I ever needed it for the sake of originality while in the mean time enjoying some sort of reliability and peace of mind. It didn't seem a problem back in the day, but now when I'm not riding everyday etc. and perhaps with modern fuels, I seem to experience more frequent float issues with my various rides and don't want to fill my crankcase with gasoline, or smell gasoline in my garage if it can be avoided, so I'm becoming more of an "off means off" kind of guy.
1978 KZ1000A2 Wiseco 1075 kit
1977 KZ650B1
1973 Triumph Tiger TR7V
1968 BSA Victor Special 441
2015 Triumph Thunderbird LT
1980 Suzuki SP400
Old enough to know better, still too young to care
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- apbling
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Wouldn't require welding or any mods to the tank.
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