New to 2nd Gen... Have Questions!

Yeah, the RWB paint scheme is one of the coolest aspects of the bike.

 

Ok, so I think I'll have some time tomorrow to take a closer inspection of my tank... in particular, the vent tube and the petcock. Heat shielding is on order and will be here in a few days. Hopefully I'll have some time to tackle the repainting of the white by the end of this week too.

Does anyone know where to find the funky 3 hole o-ring that seals the petcock to the tank? Mine was rather flat, and not being able to find anything local, I used several layers of metal duct tape cut to fit and built up the slot in the petcock to allow the o-ring to seal again. Well, it worked for about 2 weeks before it started leaking again tonight. So where the heck do I find that o-ring?? I tried Honda Motorcycle Parts, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha Motorcycle Parts - ATV, Classic Bike, Dirt Bike Parts, but they only offer the whole petcock and Googling didn't reveal much. I don't really want to buy the whole assembly just for the o-ring (I already have an extra petcock for some reason).

Other question... how does the vent tube / vent system work? Does it connect at all to the overflow hole next to the filler hole? I would imagine it would somehow, otherwise it would do no good being there, but if it does connect, why doesn't the tank just vent to that top hole then? My first approach will be to blast the vent tube with compressed air from the bottom of the tank, but if it is clogged, will it just spew all the blockage into the tank?

 

Sounds like all the hard work has been done already. Congrats

 

Yeah, you have to buy a new petcock, total ripoff, oh well.
If you think that vent tube is clogged I would try and blow it out with gas not in the tank and the cap open.

 

I doubt those O-rings are specific to a Honda VFR so that any set of metric O-rings would likely contain what you need. Most repair shops that work on imports have large selections of routine-replacement rings.

Additionally, suppliers of industrial bearings carry a large selection of O-rings too, so you might try there. Bring in the old rings to match up.

 

Ah squirrel, it is that three-holed o-ring that seals the three holes on the petcock to the tank, it looks like it would be applicable only to this Honda petcock design.
You could probably get a bunch custom made for the application but it would probably cost you a mint after it is all said and done.

 

......sorry, i've never so far needed to get inside a VFR petcock ! Woulda been smart for me to look at a parts fische first.

 

Dukie: Unfortunately, I think you are right... new petcock is the only way to go to find that specific o-ring.
Squirrel: Understandable if you've never had to tear into it. You would think that they'd make it easy to replace the o-rings by making them standard sizes, but that could just be the engineer in me wanting everything to work out nicely.

This shows the o-ring that I'm talking about... maybe this will help someone else out as I tried and had much difficulty finding a picture of this, so I took my own. The Honda specific o-ring is black, laying beside the petcock:



I feel like I have 2 options at this point, and I'm curious what people think about both:

1.) Try fitting the standard sized Viton o-rings in (brown, two inserted in photo above), and just slicing away a little of the edges where they meet. I'm thinking this would work because as the petcock gets bolted on and compresses the o-rings, they would merely push against each other and still maintain the seal.

OR

2.) Attempt to find an o-ring like the one in the picture below, and just slice out the three holed section that I need. The advantage would be that you maintain one piece this way, but it might be tough to find one that has the right size holes and the correct offset. Maybe someone out there knows if petcock hole sizes and arrangements are pretty standard??



Sorry for taking a while to get on here and update, we've got some fairly hot / humid weather right now (upper 90's / low 100's) and the A/C is currently not working in my black car. A/C for the car has been a priority since the bike isn't quite finished yet, and hopefully will be taken care of by Friday when the part shows up. Still waiting on the SprayMax 2K Clear to show up anyways... that should be here soon and with any luck I'll have the bike ready to go by the end of the weekend. I'm probably jinxing it by saying that now...

 

Progress update:

1.) Finally fixed the leaky fuel petcock. Tried cutting out the intricate 3 hole shape several times, with varying degrees of success. Thought I had one that would work, but it still leaked. On the upside, found out that the new clear coat really is fuel resistant! :thumb: Ended up just cutting a large flat piece to go under the entire petcock, with holes punched in it for the fuel and bolts. Has been working well for about a week and a half, not hint of gas fumes.



2.) Fuel light does work properly... as many have suggested it's supposed to. Starts dim and slowly comes on full, at which point it's time to switch to reserve.

3.) Added reflective heat shielding with a foam type backing to the underside of the tank. Makes a huuuuge difference. The very bottom edge of the tank still gets a little warm, but no where near what it was doing before.

4.) Checked the vent tube from tank to lower right side where it would drain... 90 psi air would not go through the tubing, waited a few seconds, then BLAM! hunk of dirt / crap shot out. Decided to check the coolant overflow tube too... was also clogged like the vent tube. Blasted air up through the vent port on the bottom of the tank and it came out of the hole next to the filler cap. BUT I still have fumes coming out the key hole!!

Does anyone know how the vent system works / is designed to work? What I've gathered thus far is the following:

A.) The overflow drain hole next to the filler has a direct shot through the tank to the vent tube on the bottom of the tank.

B.) There is a reed type valve built in to the underside of the filler cap, covered with a black circular hunk of plastic. (Will upload a picture later) When the pressure drops below ambient within the tank, it opens allowing the tank to suck air. This passage runs through the cap itself and draws air through a little hole on the outside of the cap next to the hinge.

C.) That same reed valve is designed to close the passage when the pressure in the tank goes above ambient so that no fumes leak out through the vent hole.

D.) It appears to be that the overflow drain hole DOES NOT connect at all to the volume within the tank to allow the inside of the tank to vent. If you think about it, it kind of makes sense otherwise you'd run the risk of getting rain water into the tank via the overflow hole and the fumes would much more easily escape up next to the cap instead of down through the vent tube. If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.

If the above 4 things are true, then how it the heck is the tank supposed to vent when excessive pressure builds up inside?

I need to get this figured out ASAP as this is the last important thing that needs done before I go for longer rides than just around town. Already checked to see if a locksmith could get the lock core out of the cap and he felt like he couldn't get it out without damaging the lock. If we can't figure anything out, then my only other option is to buy a new lock set (ignition, gas cap, and seat / helmet lock) as I would prefer to have one key for everything. The only set I've found is on eBay in UK and the seller does not list that he'll ship to the US. If no one here has a set, I will contact the seller and see if he will make an exception for me.

 

Two mini projects that I was working on the other night:

Even though I've got a different R/R on the bike, it still gets hotter than hell. I figured a computer fan blowing on it would be a good idea, so it's currently piggy backed off of the fuel pump right now. Didn't have room to mount it directly on top of the R/R as I had planned, but it still moves enough air that after a short ride, I can touch most of the fins without burning my fingers.

Originally, I was thinking that it would only get power when the engine was running, but it appears as though the way the fuel pump relay works, the fan can fire up, then because it's drawing a little current, the fuel pump gets power at all times. I'm actually ok with this, my 500 was wired so that when the ignition switch was on, the fuel pump was on. It's nice to just turn the key, hear it run, and immediately know that the carbs are filled and ready to go. Now I don't have to deal with a jumper wire to prime the pump anymore.



The right side fairing stuck out about an inch further than the left side. I've heard varying opinions on the fairing stays, so I decided to make my own simply to keep everything symmetrical. I don't want them to do a whole bunch of damage if the bike ever does go down, so I made them out of relatively thin aluminum. Hopefully they'll just fold in on themselves if the unspeakable ever happens. I had 2 extra DZUS connectors, so I figured this was a good application for them.

 

Just realized that I don't have any picture up after fixing the paint and clear coat debacle!

Ordered SprayMax 2K Clear and just used Rustoleum brand Auto Primer and Industrial White paint. Muuuch more affordable than the Chromabase car paint... $6 for a 16 oz can vs $33 for a 8.5 oz can. The Rustoleum definitely did not lay down as smooth as the Chromabase, but as long as I wet sanded in between each layer of paint, all was well.

The SprayMax did an awesome job! It stayed clear no matter how much built up, and it really is fuel, weather, and scratch resistant. They've definitely got a customer for life.





All of the white parts finally match! Woohoo! :madgrin:


Decided to recover the seat as well. The original seat was in pretty good shape, but there were a few small tears that needed addressed. Found marine grade vinyl at a local fabric store for a couple dollars and the color was an almost exact match.



The only stuff left are relatively small things (aside from my fuming gas cap). The carbs need a little tweaking (my Morgan Carbtune just showed up yesterday, so I get to try that tonight) since I tore them out and cleaned them once more. Ended up using Squirrel's advice about cleaning the idle jets that are pressed into the carb body by using a fine piece of wire. Didn't have any music wire, so I unwound a single strand of wire from a bicycle brake cable and that work nicely. Now I'm idling on all 4 cylinders and barely need the choke to get the bike started. Need to do the sight glasses on the clutch and brake reservoirs, move the rear shock canister (it hits the swingarm with a passenger), polish the clear coat and that's about it... then it's time to break in this bike. :biggrin:

 

Looks nice, the Morgan is a nice piece of tuning equipment.
K&L sells a carb cleaning tool with different sizes of wire on it for the cleaning task.