How to easily add an "off" to your standard's petcocks

[psycoreefer]

Ok, I was in the garage and I came up with something new, I think. I searched and didn't find it so here is my "so easy a caveman can do it" petcock mod. This will add a "off" position to the petcocks on standards without effecting the vacuum operation of the other positions. If you wanted to you could still remove the vacuum diaphragm and have totally manual petcocks, or just have a handy off position.

First take out the two screws that hold on the front "label" plate to the petcock.

Now remove the cover, careful not to loose the little round spring washer.

You'll have this

See that little nub directly below the "Fuel" marking. This keeps the lever from being able to spin all the way around.

Now take your dremel with a grinding stone


and remove that nub, like this


Now put the cover back on your petcock. You now have the ability to turn the lever to a new position "up". With the lever up, opposite the "on" position your fuel is off. Vacuum or no vacuum the fuel can't flow in the new off position. All other positions work just as they always have.

[GARTHXS]

good one phsych

No more pools of gas when your float valves get funky!!!!

[motoman]

Good idea in a pinch...otherwise FIX the dern diaphrams on the standard tank. Easy fix, and takes way less time to do and no cost!......hint..hint Garth if your gonna have a problem with that standard tank. Takes a small phillips to take them apart and has nothing to do with the float needle and seats.

[randy]

I've owned this bike for 6 years and if i had a nickel for every time i 'fixed' those dern things...well, ok, once each winter, point is they're a PIA.

They just suck. I've been very careful with the needles and seats and use good inline filters, so I haven't had any gas/oil disasters, but it's time to do a mod. This one is a good one, but I'd rather have the positive stop, if only for the reserve switch which is most often done 'on the move'. So I'm going with soldering the curved recess in the lever. That will give me an 'off' where the 'prime' was.

[GARTHXS]

mine

Good idea in a pinch...otherwise FIX the dern diaphrams on the standard tank. Easy fix, and takes way less time to do and no cost!......hint..hint Garth if your gonna have a problem with that standard tank. Takes a small phillips to take them apart and has nothing to do with the float needle and seats.

my fj carbs have never leaked in 2 years, and I do have inline filters, what fix are you talking about , is it the one where you stretch the springs on the diaphragm.

[Ken Talbot]

what fix are you talking about

Maybe he's talking about the petcock spooge hole fix. This one also applies to the octopus on a Special.

[GARTHXS]

the dreaded spooge

AH yes I see what you are talking about, is this what he was talking about or is there something else

[mro]

I don't know ... the regular rebuild kits have been working just fine for me for both the standard petcocks and the octopus. Are you guys cleaning/polishing the inside of the petcock when you've rebuilt em? I have found a couple that were just to corroded to repair tho.

mro

[psycoreefer]

I'm going to rebuild my petcocks as soon as the kits come in, the gas was leaking out around the lever so this won't fix my problems but....
I look at it as a piece of mind thing, when I part for the winter I can turn "off" and know that gas won't run. And when I pull the tank I can switch the petcock to "off" and let it run for few minutes to drain the gas from the lines so no mess. I just like the idea of having a positive off, instead of having to trust the vacuum deal, and wondering if gas is going to poor out when I pull the lines off the tank.

[WMarshy]

my fj carbs have never leaked in 2 years, and I do have inline filters, what fix are you talking about , is it the one where you stretch the springs on the diaphragm.

I think the fix he's just talkin about is rebuilding the std petcock, maybe PNM rebuild kit? I thought the piston in those diaphrams were short and dont work...

Either way, I like the idea psycoreefer have come up with. My diaphrams leak but thats it. I'd rather do this mod than spend the $70 for universal petcocks from PNM. I will be doing this mod and if it works good I will be sending the universal petcocks back! THANKS MAN!

[papanovember]

Mike's XS On/Off fuel Petcocks

I own a 79 XS11 Standard and when I added my aux tank, I bought On/Off(maybe res, have to check) petcocks from Mike's XS and got rid of the whole vacuum thing. There were such a P.I.T.A anyway. I just got to remember to shut the gas off. I don't have the part numbers but I think I got the idea from someone's post on this site. They work and fit great.

[GARTHXS]

any way

nice job phsyco, I was wondering what fix they were talking about , the rebuild kits just dont work as advertised, it think the oring is a little big or something , or its the spring whichever, I just ended up stretching the spring a little and they seal up fine.

[thewiz]

Nice job, Psychoreef ..

I have fiddled with standard petcocks until I'm blue in the face a few times. P&M kits .... the whole route ... read every thread on this subject. I have found it impossible to get them to stay perfect and last. Always a tiny drip comes back ..

This is a teriffic mod and a wonderful discovery ... I'll be gettin out my Dremmel ... thanks for bein' a brain

[psycoreefer]

Hey, I just got around to putting my petcocks back on the tank, and re-installing it and wanted to point out a flaw in my fix. When you remove the tab "UP" becomes off, however with the petcocks on the tank it is not possible to achieve a full "UP" position. The petcock lever hits the underside of the tank. On my tank the closest I can get is about a 12:15 position, but its still close enough to "UP" to shut off the fuel. I see three options, live with it, trim the lever down about 1/8", put some sort of spacer between the petcock and the tank. Personally I'm just going to live with it, if it becomes a problem I'll investigate other solutions.

I guess my point is, if you do the mod, be careful you don't ding your paint when you put the petcocks back on. Or if you didn't remove the petcocks be careful the first time you go to "OFF".

[thewiz]

Thank you for the update, brother