Fresh Oil, No Power Now, WHY?

[anarchy18]

Hi Derrick,
octopus is the central vacuum operated fuel control valve.
They are only fitted to Specials. The valve is bolted atop the carbs and you can't miss them because they've got (you guessed it!) Eight fuel and vacuum lines going to them. Bikes that have (or originally had) them have gas taps with two gas spigots each; one flows on Prime and t'other flows on On & Res.
Standards have 2 vacuum operated gas taps and if they don't have vacuum lines hooked up they will only run on Prime.

Thanks partner ya i dont think I have it on my european Midnight Special or it was removed? Built in 81 but the papers on it say its a 82. I dont even know what parts to order anymore.

[cywelchjr]

Gotcha Thanks man but without seeing one in person how its setup ill probly just leave mine how it is. dont wanna mess with it if its working the way it is Im just wondering how i fixed my probelm today about my bike having no power and dying at idle right after i changed to a thicker oil? 2nd gear fix is next and figuring out why my front break calipers arent opening back up!!!

The issue is that running on prime you have no reserve function. When you run out, your out, pushing a 600 LB bike It's a pretty simple hookup, just two fittings on the petcocks, one is already hooked to the carbs and carries the fuel, the other clearly has nothing connected, that's the vacuum fitting and connects to the vacuum port on the carb boot, and doesn't really matter which one, just it's normally 2 and 3.

It's really pretty easy to hook them up.

[cywelchjr]

Thanks partner ya i dont think I have it on my european Midnight Special or it was removed? Built in 81 but the papers on it say its a 82. I dont even know what parts to order anymore.

European specials aren't like North American specials. They have the same tank as the standards, just have some different cosmetics.

[oldnortonrider]

Gotcha Thanks man but without seeing one in person how its setup ill probly just leave mine how it is. dont wanna mess with it if its working the way it is Im just wondering how i fixed my probelm today about my bike having no power and dying at idle right after i changed to a thicker oil? 2nd gear fix is next and figuring out why my front break calipers arent opening back up!!!

Dunno if you've finally got your front brakes unstuck/freed up yet;(?) if you haven't the "spooge-hole-cleanup", is probably your cure ~~> http://www.xs11.com/xs11-info/tech-t...oge-holes.html

Sometimes difficult to find the right size small wire and stiffness; one of the members while back said to use a wire strand from a stiff wire brush; a few weeks back, the wire brush strand worked for me when previous wire type sizes that I'd used before, wouldn't get the job done. I think it was "Ken Talbot" that told about the wire brush strand. I've steered folks onto the spooge hole fix, over the years, local, ~~ for them to be able to get their non-releasing-brake problem fixed. I also might mention, RE front brake~~I did not remove the reservoir~~I was able to twist it 90 degrees to be able to get at the spooge hole.

[petejw]

European specials aren't like North American specials. They have the same tank as the standards, just have some different cosmetics.

hi cy,
the 5n5 and the 5k7 sports models use the same as the special tanks.

hi anarchy,
the model bikes that we have are similar to the us specials but there
are quite a few differences, mechanically and cosmetically.


it sounds like the po has ditched the occy and attached the fuel lines
to the front nipples of the tank which will only run on prime, if u swap
the fuel line to the rear nipple and block off the front nipple, youll regain
the on and reserve function back.