subsitute for missing fuel petcock 82 GL 500 interstate

Thanks as always for the input.



I rode GL #1 today and worked on #2 this evening sipping a few beers while working and having a good thoughtful time of it. Compression test with charged but seemly weak battery that came with the bike reads about 70 psi each side, however the cranking speed was slow so I won’t count that as a good read. I will take my “known” good battey and redo the test so I have a good base line.



I also changed the oil and pulled the carbs and tried to bleed the front brakes.



The front brakes have nothing and it seems the issue is the right caliper is leaking.(Disk are in great shape)



After carb removal I pulled only the right side bowl and found all jets are plugged with crap so a carb clean will be in the works when I wake tomorrow – it’s going to rain here in Tampa so no riding #1.



Also, the plugs were so rusted it was tough to get a plug wrench on them but after some cleaning I got the plugs out. It appeared that water had sat in the holes so I disassembled the resister plug caps and cleaned them, to my surprise they looked pretty good considering the rusty plugs. On testing with new plugs the spark looks good.



I must confess that I did try to start the bike before pulling the carbs by running a 4 foot fuel line from GL #1 to #2 but no go – worth a shot but no luck – did not really expect it to run – but worth a shot as I had the line. (Right side carb also poured a lot of gas out of overflow tube)



Also, the tires are Brigestones and while I'm sure they are many years old they have good tread and are show no signs of dryrot and cracking.



The gas tank has a good bit of rust inside and out but looks to be salvagable. Thanks for the link to the fuel petcocks - Supertanker - that looks like a good solution.



I think it will be running before the weekend is out!





Cheers,

Mike

Well, did not get the bike running today as the carbs were much worse than anticipated. Every jet and hole was plugged with junk. It turns out that the bike has not been registered with a tag since before 1997 so I figure it has sat at least 13 years with two owners who never got it running, but tried thus plugging up the carbs even more with each new owner.



Biggest problem is with the idle screws - one broke and on the other carb the aluminum part spins on the brass looking needle so they are both stuck.



All other jets came free for cleaning. I have some ideas for drilling the idle screws out very carefully on a drill press. If anyone has run into this I’d like to know how you solved the problem.



I thought about taking the carbs from my running Interstate but I’m in no hurry and can wait till get this one running.







Thanks for any thoughts,



Mike

Thanks I will try slotting and much more PB blaster with heat.



The front brakes are good now - just a lot of bleeding to get them going. I had to clean the rust off the plugs to get a wrench on them.





See photos; (I think this link should work maybe copy and paste if needed)



http://photodoctor.smugmug.com/Moto...er-SilverWing/15056964_8aDJw#1124934714_StmDq





Mike

Bill,



If I can get the idle screws out and move forward with these carbs then I will polish the slide and see how it goes. The body also has the same type of wear on the air filter side of body. At this point I’ve only had my eyes on two pairs of carbs and this has been the only one of the four carbs with this type of wear on the slide. It seems a bit unusual to me. One of my buddies made the comment that it should not matter much. Do you have any thoughts regarding the wear on this slide?





I may not be as good as Blue Fox at getting these screws out, it’s like they are welded in. So far I’ve soaked, heated, PB blasted, held my face right and have managed to twist the head off the 2nd one and I thought I was being gentle. I have the dremal tool out and cut the slot in the first carb – but they can soak a few days now. If I can’t get these out I may be looking for new bodies – and am wondering if all the CX and GL bodies are the same. (This bike is the 1982 Interstate Model) I did read that the air cut-off valves are different in some of the models. Another set of bodies is just a backup plan. But it would be good to know what will work if it comes to it.



Thanks, Mike

Thanks for the input.



I put Larry’s book on my Christmas list and will let the carbs soak and may not get back to them until after the holidays. This bike #2 is missing the front seat and I bid on one about 40 miles from me for about $ 18.00 on ebay – the man also has a set of carbs with starting bid of $ 45.00 and no bids. If I win the seat for $ 18.00 I will look at the carbs while there picking up the seat. If they look good I will make an offer.



Until then I can polish parts on Interstate #2 and then swap them out on riding Interstate #1 so it can become a little better looking. These bikes are “addictive” – one could have worse addictions though!

Cheers,



Mike