Hello all,
This past Friday, I bought a 1980 Yamaha XS Eleven Special. I paid 600 for the bike, delivered. I bought it from the original owner, who was very proud of the bike, but had moved on from riding. It has 8000 miles on it. The bike has been in storage for 15 years.
Over the weekend I started work on the bike. I changed the oil and filter, and used "The Works" bathroom cleaner to clean the rusty tank. That's when the issues started! "The Works" ate through the upper part of the left petcock. I used JB Weld and fixed the small hole in the petcock, reinstalled it in the tank and filled with gas, only to find that the left petcock leaks when on the "off" position. I have already stripped it down and found that the rubber gasket on the inside was in rough condition. Anyway, I added fuel filters and hooked everything back up and started the bike. She started right up, but started pouring gas out from the air filters. It has K&N comes on it. I turned the bike off, took the tank back off and just let it sit. I didnt want to leave the tank on just incase the octy was bad, so I didn't get gas in the oil. I hooked it back up later on and found that this time it did not leak, so I rode it around the yard a bit and then put her in my shed until next weekend.
I have ordered a set of petcocks off of eBay, I only paid 30 bucks for the two, but they will probably need rebuilding, but at least one won't have the JB Weld patch.
I plan on removing the octy next weekend, just because I am a fan of simplifying stuff, but I need to make sure the petcocks are operational first.
I'm not new to wrenching, before my bike I have worked on Full Size Jeeps, in fact, I still do, I have a Cherokee Chief project, a '79 parts Wagoneer, and my daily driver is a 1982 Wagoneer. Before full size Jeeps I was into 1980s Nissan 300zx's. I still have an 89 Turbo, but I do not mess with them much anymore. So anyway, I'm excited to learn to work on this bike, and eventually ride it!
Now, pictures.
This past Friday, I bought a 1980 Yamaha XS Eleven Special. I paid 600 for the bike, delivered. I bought it from the original owner, who was very proud of the bike, but had moved on from riding. It has 8000 miles on it. The bike has been in storage for 15 years.
Over the weekend I started work on the bike. I changed the oil and filter, and used "The Works" bathroom cleaner to clean the rusty tank. That's when the issues started! "The Works" ate through the upper part of the left petcock. I used JB Weld and fixed the small hole in the petcock, reinstalled it in the tank and filled with gas, only to find that the left petcock leaks when on the "off" position. I have already stripped it down and found that the rubber gasket on the inside was in rough condition. Anyway, I added fuel filters and hooked everything back up and started the bike. She started right up, but started pouring gas out from the air filters. It has K&N comes on it. I turned the bike off, took the tank back off and just let it sit. I didnt want to leave the tank on just incase the octy was bad, so I didn't get gas in the oil. I hooked it back up later on and found that this time it did not leak, so I rode it around the yard a bit and then put her in my shed until next weekend.
I have ordered a set of petcocks off of eBay, I only paid 30 bucks for the two, but they will probably need rebuilding, but at least one won't have the JB Weld patch.
I plan on removing the octy next weekend, just because I am a fan of simplifying stuff, but I need to make sure the petcocks are operational first.
I'm not new to wrenching, before my bike I have worked on Full Size Jeeps, in fact, I still do, I have a Cherokee Chief project, a '79 parts Wagoneer, and my daily driver is a 1982 Wagoneer. Before full size Jeeps I was into 1980s Nissan 300zx's. I still have an 89 Turbo, but I do not mess with them much anymore. So anyway, I'm excited to learn to work on this bike, and eventually ride it!
Now, pictures.
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