Hezzelwood

I swapped tanks and at some point I know I turned the valve off and now I can't remember which way is on. I can't see any marks.

(missplaced my manual. I know, I know....)

And by the way, Hello all, I'm new here today. Here's the Hooligan bike I'm working on. Still in progress. Some detail shots:

http://www.xmission.com/~delwood/the...heWarthog.html

I found an old headlight off of a '30's ford truck. Amazing what you can accomplish with a hacksaw, a nearby ACE harware store, and a bottle of Shiraz....

The bike ran perfectly three weeks ago, before I took it apart, but when I try to fire it up now it just sputters and backfires a bit. I've tried cranking the bike with the petcock in both positions, (that's why I can't remember which way is on) but it still acts like it's not getting fuel. Vacuum is hooked up.

Has anyone had problems priming the fuel lines after removing the tank?

Thanks for the help, and let me know what you think of my 'monster'.

Darren

EngineNoO9

on my old bike all the petcock turned all the way up at the 12 o'clock position was on. all the way down was reserve. And in the middle was off...

SNGPerformance

Hezzelwood,
Where did you get your handle bar risers?

Jeff

superbling

There's no need to turn it off. It's vacuum controlled as you may know so unless the engine is running, the petcock is always off. If it leaks with the vacuum hose pulled, you know it needs a rebuild/replaced.

Note: some gas always spills out of the large lines going to the carbs when you pull those from the petcock.

You're not running a 1930's headlight bulb are you? LOL. That look reminds me of the new yamaha star bike they highlighted on two wheel tuesday this last week. It's styled after the art-deco trains of the 30's.

Hezzelwood

Yes, after I took the tank off, I realized there was no need to turn it off. (after I found out I had to suck on the vacuum tube to drain the tank)

Now I just need to know if clockwise is on or is it counter-clockwise? And is there any trick to priming the lines after they have been drained?

Anyway, the handlebar risers are off of a CB350 -$10 from the boneyard - and modified to fit on the sloped top clamp of the 929 with 'quicksteel' putty type epoxy.

I first drilled the holes for the riser mounting studs - they have one large stud rather than two small ones - and then attached them to the handlebars and then clamped the whole assembly in place while I packed the underside of the top clamp with quicksteel, surrounding the (greased-for-release) riser stud.

The result is that the top clamp is now like a solid billet type clamp, rather than the original thin casting, which would definitely not be strong enough to hold the risers. After the material hardened, I then scored the aluminum risers enough to make the quicksteel bond well, and then packed more quicksteel around and under the base of the riser itself, basically forming a new base to mate to the top clamp.

Before I packed the quicksteel onto the riser, I sprayed a bit of WD40 to the top of the top clamp for release. It took a few tubes of the quicksteel, but I wanted to build it up nice and thick at the base for strength. After it hardened fully (couple of days) I filed it to shape, sanded it, and gave it a good coat of Rustoleum textured black. When I mounted it finally, I used a bit of double sided foam tape as a gasket. It's totally tight and there is no sign of any cracking or whatnot.

I'll draw up a quick diagram so you can see what I've been talking about.

When I saw the outrageous price they were asking for the superbike bar conversion ($400-$500) I had to find my own solution. (Risers = $10, quicksteel and paint = $15) Like I said, nothing like a good hardware store : )

I had repaired a busted clutch lever years ago with this quicksteel, and it always surprised me how well it held up. Besides, the flat top clamp included in the conversion kit basically drops your front end another 3/4", and as 'quick' as the 929 front felt when I first road tested it (with the stock bars), I didn't want to drop it any lower. (more confidence at slower, in town speeds)

The hardest part of this whole thing is probably just making sure you have the handlebar/riser assembly squared up when you clamp it all in place before you start packing in the putty. (make sure the riser studs are perfectly parallel) Oh, and making sure you get the (greased) fender washer installed underneath in time to smash the putty into shape before it hardens (see the diagram)

Pretty low tech, but it was fun...

Hezzelwood

Ok, for all you dying to know which direction is on....

Counterclockwise!

I just went down to the local Honda shop and peeked under a tank. So I've been cranking it with the valve on, I still can't get it to run....the dealer just said keep cranking it because it takes a while to prime the lines. Seems like I'm going to wear out my starter....

D

kai ju

All you have to do is clamp off the vacuum hose while you're cranking.
As long as there is vacuum on the line, fuel will flow.
Make sure that the vacuum hose is attached to the spigot that points to the left because the one that points straight down is actually a telltale that lets you know if the diaphragm is leaking.
I've run my bike competely out of gas and it took only a couple of seconds to prime the carbs, I suspect you might be on the wrong spigot.
Kai Ju

superbling

Or you could have the wrong line hooked up to it. There is an identical sized line that hooks to the tank's venting tube. I've don... uhh heard, yeah I've heard, of someone else doing that.

jonbuoy

Hey thanks so much guys, just had a simillar problem after re-doing my cam cover gaskets - theres another story.......

Couldn't get the bike to fire up, then eventually it did but ran rough and backfired, bogged under load. I had the vacum going to the lower socket on the fuel **** - Dammit!!! Didn't even realise there was another one - didn't have a hose connected to it. Just started up - running like a dream.

Was almost at the point of taking it to a garage - how embarrasing would that have been................

AbeFM

Yes, that's there to allow the diaphram to come back out. Mine leaks fuel, so I pulled my valve all apart and took out nearly everything in it. Now the bike always runs and I don't need vacuum at all.

CCW opens the vavlve. If you have a mighty vac, that's what I used to prime it - I could keep vacuum on there forever, just give it a pump once every few minutes. :-)
________
Buy hot box

Loco

Counter-clockwise. Sorry it took 5 months.

The spring man

I have been guity of all the above hahaha in the end took tap off and sucked down the vac pipe whilst my son turned the tap this method is foolproof, it a fool that gets in the position in the first place and count me in on that one LOL

Happt days

Dave

brownrxmd

3 weeks ago was running low on fuel, bike sputtering and kicking, like riding a red bull. days later after filling up I'm going through the same thing, except I have gas this time, a whole tank of gas. I decide in my infinite wisdom to take the carbs off and clean 'em. during reassembly I crushed the TPS and busted the choke cable to the front carb, they are brittle boogers. So i call the shop and they come fetch it. I get the bike back yesturday, jetted, valve adjustment, (they say) plugs, and a new back tire. melted the pirelli riding from Tennessee to beautiful Phoenix az. today I pull the tank off, because something just doesn't feel right on decel, well tps is even hooked up and that vacuum tube is plugged into the port that points to the left at the back of the petcock, so I "knew" that was wrong plugged in the tps, move the tube back to the port which points down and the same sputtering backfiring bull ride. I disco the tps 6 miles from home, the ride didn't get better. I'm looking on here to see where to turn the fuel petcock and read about the vacuum line, I plug it back into the right port and whammo, back to a good wheelie machine. So lesson learned, and I want to thank everybody who posts to this. Though I feel burnt about the repair last week it was my fault and so I'll move on