Aftermath of rusting gas tank

[The Buddha]

K&L rubber is a bit suspect.
The metal parts are fine. You should get 2-4 years from even that K&L rubber.
Cool.
Buddha.

[yappahgo]

Ok, it sounds like the next thing I do should be to make sure that the needle valve is closing properly and holding back the gravity feed of fuel. I'm going to get some clear hose for the float drains, connect the carbs directly to the fuel tank, hold the tank above the carbs and open the tank-mounted valve. This will allow me to check that the carbs are closing properly.

Getting them to close properly with engine and road vibration may be a tougher challenge, but I'm not going to try to run gas into the engine until the carbs pass this basic test.

Still to do:
- extract and clean the emulsion tubes
- install the new pilot jets (the ones without holes in the sides - they arrived yesterday)

[1200]

I just came across this thread and though I didn't, study the progress I think I read that you decided NOT to pull, check, and clean the Idle Mixture Sets....?  If you didn't, I would certainly have done so especially if there was a lot of rust and corrosion from a bad tank.  If I'm not mistaken, there is a very small o-ring at the seat of the mixture screw spring just under a tiny washer; if that washer is bad, I believe it could cause the problem that you are describing with flooding.

I just finished a complete carb overhaul and that was one of the first issues I found to be suspect.  Not sure if you know this, but if you do decide to pull the mixture screws: either count the number of turns it takes to seat the mixture screws and write it down, OR count the number of turns it takes to completely remove the mixture screws - the former is way I like to do it, though you need to be a little more cautious because on the last turn out you need to pull up on the screw to record exactly when it releases, but this way you DO NOT have to worry about crushing the little o-ring from over seating it using the other method.

BTW, they caulked the openings of the mixture screw because they didn't have the proper plugs that are cleanly removable.

TANK RUST:
I pulled it, filled it with small fish tank pebbles (sharp edge type) really bubble wrapped it and put it in my clothes dryer on NO HEAT cycle for about 30 minutes in one direction and 30 minutes at a right angle. If you don't wrap it and take ALL the space "slop" out of the dryer space you will dent the tank.  THIS BEAT SHAKING IF FOR AND HOUR THOUGH!!!

TAKE OUT ALL OF THE FISH ROCK --- ALL OF THEM -- A PAIN

I then reattached the pet chicken or seal the opening and filled the tank with APPLE CIDER VINIGER from WalMart, it too 4 gals to do the 2005 tank.  Left it over night and in the a.m. I opened it and it looked and smelled like poop!  A thorough hose rinsing about 10 times and it looked almost new inside. Completely dry ti and DONE!

Good luck on the repair

[yappahgo]

Well!

Thanks for the tip about the idle mixture screws. You are correct, I did NOT pull them. But I got the bike running anyway. Just now, tonight.

There was a long delay while other things got in the way... friend got married, work stuff... I had the carbs off the bike for that whole time. I got the emulsion tunes out and cleaned them, and I played with the float heights, but I really didn't think I solved anything.

Fast forward: today I put the carbs back on the bike, seated the airbox, rigged the petcock, set it to prime for a while, connected the battery (fresh off charging it last night), set the choke and hit the starter. Joy! She kicked over and settled into a beautiful 1500rpm idle once I got the choke off.

It looks like my fuel system problems are over! But if I get into trouble again I'll do the idle mixture screws.