1985 VF500F fuel petcock repair kit

I am finally getting around to overhauling my "new to me" petcock and was wondering if this kit was the right one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1247623323...:Honda&hash=item1d0c6a1cbf:g:n9MAAOSwsFVaz5iP

The selector is leaking like a sieve so I am going to have to drill out the rivets. This looks like the kit to do it.

Thanks!

 

That should be it. Good dimensions listed, so get yours apart and verify.

 

Thank you sir!

 

So the kit came in....no instructions or info on the web site. Has anyone installed one of these before?

Do I grind off the rivet or just drill through it??

 

Drill the head off so the face comes off (not necessarily with the supplied bit) but don't drill out yet. Get it apart. Verify the supplied drill bit is correct for the tap / screws.

Then without other things to drill thru, drill for tapping.

 

Thank you...just what I needed.

 

I would be very careful on depth. I would also consider a blind hole, or bottoming tap. I would even consider taking it to a machine shop and having them do the drilling and tapping, as they will be able to tap it so the threads are only as long as they need to be for the screws and the threads will be uniform all the way to the bottom.

 

I'm sure you could just drill and use the hollow rivet to center. But I prefer to inspect first and not unnecessarily drill out the face plate.

 

I think the back flanges out and is not blind.

 

Yeah, that metal is pretty weak and soft....I tried to "fix" the POS that is currently on the bike and the tap just ripped metal out of there. I could barely get a screw to thread in and had to safety wire the outer plate on so it would not leak.

These petcocks are VERY hard to come by and I def do not want to F this one up. No idea when another one will come up on Ebay.

I need to take this to our machine shop at work and see if they can jig it up and drill it straight. A bottoming tap is also a very good idea.

 

Probably wrong... it's been a while.

 

And there's nothing saying you need to use the supplied screws at that length.

 

It is definetly blind....

 

Yeah to "fix" the last one I had to use a screw that was probably 12 or 13 mm long.

 

Def blind.

Straight would be nice then. It was along time ago I did one for a friend. Didn't have any issues... the perfect timed shot of Bourbon I guess.

 

Well you can't win or lose if you don;t run the race. I was successful in drilling out the rivets and tapping it out "freehand"

Unfortunately the seal that was sent with the kit did not fit, was not even close. The vendor warned this might happen so I am not upset at all. There must have been production changes during the life cycle of the VF500F that caused them to use different size seals on the 84-5 petcock. Since Honda never offered the seal separately (you had to buy the entire petcock if it leaked) I guess they never worried about the size difference. Oh well....

I have several new repop petcocks laying around and found the seal that I needed in one of them. It's all good.

I do have a question, do I need to lubricate the rubber seal with anything or leave it dry for assembly?


Picture of old vs new seal...

 

sometimes you can just flip the original seal front to back

 

I would put a LITTLE some thing on there ( red rubber grease, silicone grease?) So the first couple turns when dry won't gall the rubber.

 

This one was hard as as a rock! No go there.

 

Great, that is what I was thinking, just needed confirmation. Thanks Capn'