petcock filters

[ccogswel]

I had checked the Tech Tips for this with no luck so I'm here to ask you all. I just got thru cleaning the rust out of my tank using the electrolsis method that was in another thread. Which worked great. But now the filters for the petcocks look clean put the fuel flow is really slow. Just a real little stream. If I take off the filter it flows great.

My question is what can I use to clean them.
I've tried carb cleaner, gas, and soap and water.

I was thinking about maybe putting them in some boiling water but before I did I wanted to get some ideas from you all. Any ideas would be great. I have inline filters on there but would like to keep the intank filters as well.

[prometheus578]

I dont' know if cleaning would do anything. I guess that you left the filters(and petcocks) on the tank during the process. I suppose that the 'salts' or whatever was in the solution has bonded to, or otherwise plugged up the screen's mesh. (Or, if the solution was caustic enough,, semi melted, or otherwise swelled up the screening. I've read the post concerning this process, and have dabbled with various forms a little. Just what solution did you use when you did it?

[ccogswel]

I had taken everything off the tank. Made up plates for the fuel sending unit and petcocks.

I hadn't noticed anything before but this is my thought. The bike is stock. Was rode around on for years up until six years ago. Parked the bike and just let it sit. So now my older brother ask (who is the owner) me to get it running again.

I rebuilt the carbs and put on the individual air filters with stock jets. Bike ran great. Had not rode the bike yet as it had tranny problems. (This is the reason it was parked) Also has 4 into 2 special stock exhaust. This was last year.

This year I fixed third gear and done the washer swap and the black and decker fix. After this I got to test ride the bike. Noticed under throttle it would pop and back fire. So I tore the carbs back apart and seen all the trash so I drained the tank for the second time. Not knowing all the rust inside. I put on inline see thru fuel filters and cleaned the carbs and test drive the bike again.

So know it revs up to 6 grand and stops no more. Thought maybe I had to go up in a jet size. So I happen to look down and I see more trash in the filters so now I come back here to look for a way to clean the tank. This is where the electrolsis comes in.

Now I'm wondering if part of the reason this bike revs to 6 grand and no more is a result of not enough fuel flow because of the petcock filters. When I put the tank back together after the cleaning and turned on the petcocks the gas came out in a little stream. But without the filters the fuel flows out great. I would leave them off but there is still a small amount of fine trash I can't get to come out. Even after three washings.

Could it be where all the trash and rust dried on the filters making them like this. Here is another thing too. When the filters are dry you can blow thru them but when you get them wet you can hardly blow thru. I know this is more information then needed but I figure every little bit can help.

[HobbyMan]

I beleve that It should be ok. Just how small of a stream is cooming out? If it is sreaming at all above a dribble, it should be enough gas I think. When you pull the carb drains off and put the petcock on prime, you should have a stream cooming out of the drain too. The reason that you can blow through them when they are dry is because air is less dense than gas. If you spray them down with something like gas or carb cleaner, the surface tension prevents a lot of air passing if you blow through it. I think it may be a carburation problem . I seem to recall that when using pod filters, you must rejet the carbs. Someone check me on this.

[jimboreeno]

If you are running inline filters also you could try the following. Taks a straight pin and pass it through the filters in several places. This will open up small enough holes that most crap will stay in the tank and the small stuff will be caught by your inlines.

[prometheus578]

"Help me, Dr., my petcock dribbles."

Interesting...
With the fuel hose off and the petcock on prime, it shouldn't just dribble, but FLOW. I mean a whole, diameter of the hose, flow.
Hhmm... beter flow with the petcock filters off... that's odd. Never encountered that before, with clean looking filters.Don't know what to tell you other than to get new screens. I wouldn't run with them off. Sure, the in line filters will stop the crap from getting to the carbs, but without the screens, the crap will get into the petcock, where it will either honk up the innerds, or lodge(if it's a Standard) between the vacuum diaphram's O-ring and prevent it from sealing when off.
As for the revving problem.... could be several things. I need a better understanding of what's going on.
Quick questions: won't rev above 6,000rpm. When you hit 6,000, do you still have more throttle to twist? Meaning, at 6,000 you can still give it more gas... but the engine doesn't respond and go faster?
Does it hold steady at 6,000 or is the engine poppin' and fartin'?
Can you BRIEFLY rev the engine over 6,000 while in neutral, (but can't get over 6,000 with a load on the engine)?

[mro]

Can use a fine wire brush (most hardware stores have em) about size of large tooth brush. Carb cleaner should be able to spray right through filter almost unimpeded.


mro

[ccogswel]

I guess first off this bike belongs to my brother and it's a 81 Special XS11. Well I was able to get the filters clean. I had to take nail polish remover and a sewing needle. Rub it back and forth at a angle on the outside and on the inside. When I would hold the filter up to the light you could see where it was stopped up at. I had to be carefull with the needle not to poke a hole but it worked. I now have a flow the size of the fuel line. Before it was just a stream. Before I'd say it was just a little faster then a constant dripping faucet. If that gives you all any idea.

As for the revving goes. Yeah it does rev to red line when it's in neutral. And sometimes you can get it to do it when your riding it. But other times when you get down on it, it want's to go over 6 grand but it acts like it's fighting it's self. Doesn't really pop or fart just kind of acted like it was running out of gas but without the stalling or cutting out that you would experence when you really run out of gas. I'd been there before and I don't care to go there anytime soon either. I never thought about the fuel delivery being a problem. The bike idles really good. It will idle as low as 600rpm if I set it. I mean I know I may very well have to go up on the jets. If the filters were part of the problem of the revving I still have to see how long it will run wide open throttle so I know if it will need bigger jets or not.

When I get the bike back together I'll find out it it still wants to act like it did before. Spent yesterday messing with the filters and getting the rest of the trash out of the tank. Finally got that clean. Took about 8 washing total to get all that little trash out.

All in all the bike runs great. I'll keep you all posted on the out come on the revving. I may have to reclean the carbs again. Or check to make sure no trash made it thru the filters before I started to clean the tank. Better safe then sorry. It's really nice to mess around with these bikes. It helps with stress mangement as you can run the hell out of it when your done.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Chris,

This line caught my eye:

I rebuilt the carbs and put on the individual air filters with stock jets. Bike ran great. Had not rode the bike yet as it had tranny problems. (This is the reason it was parked) Also has 4 into 2 special stock exhaust. This was last year.

What type of Indy filters, where did you get them? If the bike still doesn't get past 6K, take them off and do a test run, IF it then goes to redline, then you've probably got the el-cheapo filters that have the prominent mounting lip on the inside, that can partially obstruct the air flow into the intake bell and the assorted ports, causing an overly rich condition. What do your plugs look like??
T.C.

[ccogswel]

Hey TopCat,

I bought those indy filters from partsnmore. The lip didn't look like it was that big. I was going to check but they are glued pretty good. I'll just have to take them off and test drive it. I did get a chance to ride it today. I had noticed if I hammer it real hard, it pops and farts a little after 6 grand. But if I rolled the throttle on slow I could get it to 7500rpm before it pops and farts. I'll take the filters off and ride it again. But I think I'll have to go a size bigger on the jets. I also plan to resync the carbs just to make sure. I may even put the air box back on just to check that as well. I had put new diaphram slides in so I should be able to rule them out. I guess I'll find out.