Which way do they go??Fuel Cut offs!

[Duster]

I have a silly question.
I have two sx11 specials, a79 (running??) and an 81 I'm still hoping will run. I bought an 80 special tank that was in better shape than the 79 but the cut offs face different. The 79's point to the rear to turn off and when turned to "on"or down, fuel comes out the forward conection not the rear. (both fuel lines disconected). On the other 2 tanks "off" is forward and when turned "on", or down fuel comes out the rear conection.

I'm hoping the 79 has had the cut offs put on the wrong side thus the reason for over loading the carbs at low RPM because fuel is not being pulled by the vacume but gravity fed when conected like the thread on fuel lines show. I tried switching tanks but had a fuel leak in the better looking tank and took it to be sealed today. The carbs are different but shouldn't the cut offs work the same. I'm getting a lot of poping till it gets realy warmed up.

It is a real joy to ride after all the hours of work put in to bringing one back from the dead. I could not of done it without everyones help and tech tips. Duster in Texas

[Ken Talbot]

The petcocks on a Special should be installed so that OFF is forward and PRI is towards the rear. If they are swapped around, you could compensate just by making sure the correct hose is to the correct nipple. However, one of this will cause overloading of the carbs at low RPMs. The fuel is not pulled by vacuum, it is always gravity fed. The vacuum simply operates a diaphragm in the octopus which allows or shuts off fuel flow. It is the float and float valve in each carb that controls the amount of fuel in each float bowl. You've still got a bit of carb work ahead of you, but you will get there if you keep at it...

[Do Lee]

Since there is a left and right petcocks make sure that the left fuel petcock is on the left side of the tank and the right fuel petcock is on the right side of the tank.