- Joined
- Dec 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,796
- Reaction score
- 58
- Location
- On a mountain in the Ozarks
- My Bike Models
- 1982 Standard
Cut & Pasted from another web site. Hope I'm not violating any rules.
A friend of mine purchased a motorcycle recently, that had
been sitting a few years, and spent a lot of money at a
local bike shop getting it ready for the road. Despite
having the carburetors reconditioned, the shops failure to
properly clean the tank soon resulted in a bike that
wouldn't run above idle. I found the jet needles of both
Hitachi carbs stuck in the needle jets, and both had
detached from the diaphragm assemblies. There was a fair bit
of loose rust in both float bowls, and I was surprised by
the varnish that was still evident throughout the carbs.
Despite this, I was confident the shop had done what my
friend had paid for, and didn't criticize their work. His
budget was blown, and his wife is getting antsy about this
money pit he's bought, so...
After repairing the carbs, I removed the petcock and sending
units from the tank and taped over the holes with duct tape.
I filled the gas tank with a large coffee can full of
aquarium gravel, and wrapped the tank in a heavy blanket. I
considered using my barbeque rotisserie, but would have had
to rig a frame to do this, as it was too large to fit in the
barbeque. Even had it fit, my barbeque is sacred ground
My wife's dryer is not. Had she found me doing this however,
I would not be alive to tell you about the results.
Instead I placed the tank in my cement mixer, and wedged
everything in placed with enough packing that the tank
wouldn't tumble, but would only rotate. I let it run for
about 90 minutes and had a look. All of the loose rust was
gone, and in some spots, the tank looked like new inside. I
vacuumed out all of the gravel and rinsed the tank with
water, then gasoline. Put it all back together, test rode it
tonight, and it runs like a top.
His wife is happy, my wife won't have to kill me, and
they'll both miss us this weekend.
Dave Haughey
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
A friend of mine purchased a motorcycle recently, that had
been sitting a few years, and spent a lot of money at a
local bike shop getting it ready for the road. Despite
having the carburetors reconditioned, the shops failure to
properly clean the tank soon resulted in a bike that
wouldn't run above idle. I found the jet needles of both
Hitachi carbs stuck in the needle jets, and both had
detached from the diaphragm assemblies. There was a fair bit
of loose rust in both float bowls, and I was surprised by
the varnish that was still evident throughout the carbs.
Despite this, I was confident the shop had done what my
friend had paid for, and didn't criticize their work. His
budget was blown, and his wife is getting antsy about this
money pit he's bought, so...
After repairing the carbs, I removed the petcock and sending
units from the tank and taped over the holes with duct tape.
I filled the gas tank with a large coffee can full of
aquarium gravel, and wrapped the tank in a heavy blanket. I
considered using my barbeque rotisserie, but would have had
to rig a frame to do this, as it was too large to fit in the
barbeque. Even had it fit, my barbeque is sacred ground
My wife's dryer is not. Had she found me doing this however,
I would not be alive to tell you about the results.
Instead I placed the tank in my cement mixer, and wedged
everything in placed with enough packing that the tank
wouldn't tumble, but would only rotate. I let it run for
about 90 minutes and had a look. All of the loose rust was
gone, and in some spots, the tank looked like new inside. I
vacuumed out all of the gravel and rinsed the tank with
water, then gasoline. Put it all back together, test rode it
tonight, and it runs like a top.
His wife is happy, my wife won't have to kill me, and
they'll both miss us this weekend.
Dave Haughey
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
