Getting antsy here..

[Duaner]

I had one that sat for 10 years. It was going to be borken for spares anyway (rough), so I thought I'd at least try to start the engine up without any expense whatsoever. I put fuel in and used a car battery to turn the engine. I sprayed Easy Start (ether) into the airbox and it fired up.... badly..... then, horrifyingly, the airbox caught fire! I really thought I'd have a serious problem on my hands but managed to put the fire by smothering it with a blanket. The cause? An inlet valve had rusted in the open position and was stuck solid. The spark plug had sparked, fired up the Easy Start and blown back through the carb, igniting the fuel in it. I was surprised at how quickly the fire spread. Fortunately, I'd just hung out some washing to dry (it's what we do here) and grabbed a convenient damp blanket.

I would check that all valves open and close properly and that you have reasonable compression on all cylinders! Like I should have done......

Funny, I put some fuel in it today and it came pouring out the bottom of my airbox, needless to say I decided against firing it up and had to clean up the nice mess of premium on my garage floor. Guess I will be taking the carbs and box off in the coming days. Thanks

[natemoen]

Funny, I put some fuel in it today and it came pouring out the bottom of my airbox, needless to say I decided against firing it up and had to clean up the nice mess of premium on my garage floor. Guess I will be taking the carbs and box off in the coming days. Thanks

You need to be careful when that happens. Quite often the gas also runs forward and gets into the oil and then you might end up taking out a bearing or two....

When in doubt, change it out! But don't run that thing if you have even the slightest doubt that there might be gas in that oil.

[Duaner]

for sure, once I noticed that happen I shut down all plans on starting the bike, gonna pull carbs, redo fuel lines and maybe install new air filters, been getting some new ideas.

[crazy steve]

[QUOTE=Duaner;362087] ...re-do fuel lines... [QUOTE]

Pay very close attention to how those are routed and their length if you're planning on keeping the octy (vacuum fuel valve). It's tight squeeze for all that 'stuff' and getting any of it wrong can drive you nuts with pinched lines....

[Duaner]

Pay very close attention to how those are routed and their length if you're planning on keeping the octy (vacuum fuel valve). It's tight squeeze for all that 'stuff' and getting any of it wrong can drive you nuts with pinched lines....[/QUOTE]

Steve, what would I do without you! I haven't decided whether I am going to keep the vac fuel valve, might reroute things entirely. Been seeing some good looking ideas on here. Thanks for the heads up though bud

[Duaner]

decided to scrap the octy, install pod filters and simplify the fuel lines. Going to pull the carbs off this week and give them a good cleaning.

[Lonerider62]

Now you have a good idea of the things you need to check out before you try to run her. It is quite easy to make a very good runner out of these old beasts as long as you do your prep work thoroughly. When these things are propperly re-furbed and shined up, the'll put a lot of newer bikes to shame when they are lined up neck to neck and you'll also be able to say, "My ride is 30+ years old". I've had many rides who dont know their older bikes very well think I'm pulling their legs. Gives me a good feeling.. Just had a guy over to check out some lawn work for me and he saw my "08" FZ1 and my "80" XS11 and thought they were much closer in age. He was a rider too.