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Quick petcock recommendation question...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Taliesin
  • Start date Start date
T

Taliesin

Guest
I was planning on rebuilding my petcock, but as I pulled the old one off, I quickly found myself annoyed with it. It's a weird petcock, and I'll try to describe it.

First off, there's no switch or lever. There's a plastic, slotted hole that you can stick a screwdriver in to change it between the two settings.

Secondly, the two settings are PRI and....an arrow of some sort at the top.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get this thing to actually set on PRI, so I could drain the tank. I just don't like it. Add to that the fact that I have no idea when the PO did this stuff, I think I'd rather just buy a new one and forget about rebuilding.

However, $70 for a petcock on Bike Bandit seems excessive. I'm not trying to be cheap. Just don't want to pay more than I have to.

Is this going to be sufficient?

http://www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1715

It says it's vacuum, and it's got a lead for a vacuum tube. Or do you guys have a different petcock you'd recommend, and/or a different vendor?

edit: I attached a pic of the current petcock. Sorry for it being so blurry, but I took it with my cell. In the pic you can see the PRI setting on the top left, and the little arrow thing right at the top. You can also see that there's no switch.
 
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You have the dread 1980 petcock, Suzuki's stupidest invention.
Some 1980 bikes do not have room for a normal vacuum petcock, and the mounting bolt spacing is different too.
The PRI function is different as well, even on PRI it still needs vacuum to start the fuel flowing, but it will stay open after the vacuum is removed until the tank is empty or it is switched back to ON.
 
Before I would spend $70 on a new stocker I'd spend the money on a Pingel.
 
He needs even more room for a pingle, That is as good as anything. Z1 is a good place to buy it.. OEM are around $87
 
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Ok, thank you for the MANY recommendations.

You are correct in that I don't have much room between the tank and the carbs.

The original issue is that I have a loss of power at high RPM's. The carbs have been cleaned and dipped, sync'ed, valve clearances have been checked and a shim has been replaced to bring the clearances into spec...

At high RPM's, my bike just sporadically doesn't give me the power I need to accelerate past about 60-65mph. From doing searches and reading posts, it seems to be a fuel starvation issue.

There is no inline filter, lines are clean, those carbs were beautiful after the clean and dip, and this problem is driving me mad on a bike that I otherwise quite enjoy riding.

What do you guys think?
 
Taliesin said:
Ok, thank you for the MANY recommendations.

You are correct in that I don't have much room between the tank and the carbs.

The original issue is that I have a loss of power at high RPM's. The carbs have been cleaned and dipped, sync'ed, valve clearances have been checked and a shim has been replaced to bring the clearances into spec...

At high RPM's, my bike just sporadically doesn't give me the power I need to accelerate past about 60-65mph. From doing searches and reading posts, it seems to be a fuel starvation issue.

There is no inline filter, lines are clean, those carbs were beautiful after the clean and dip, and this problem is driving me mad on a bike that I otherwise quite enjoy riding.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Test the petcock's flow rate, run a hose into a bucket or something, use a syringe or a vacuum pump to open the valve. It should flow a lot of gas, a steady stream from the hose.
 
I had to suck on the vacuum line to drain the tank today, as I didn't know how the prime function worked. Took a long time, and I wouldn't say there was a LOT of gas flow. It didn't dribble, but took awhile to fill just over a large coffee can.

It seemed to be a steady stream, though.
 
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Just to keep people up on this, I ended up taking the tank in to Maaco for a quick paint job.

When I got the petcock off, there was sealant all OVER the place. The PO had a problem with leaks in the past, I am thinking, and put sealant between the gas tank and petcock, as well as in the join where the diaphragm goes.

So I applied a spare rebuild kit that I had, and I'm thinking this might make a good backup petcock.

I also bought a new one from that guy on eBay.

Thanx to everyone for the links and suggestions. I don't know if this will fix my problem or not, but it feels good getting this loose end taken care of.
 
I had similar issues, but it seemed to be a time thing (3 minutes up the road), not a speed or rpm thing.

petcock replaced, checked the lines, cleaned the carbs 3 times just to be sure. adjusted valves, scratched my head, consulted gsresources again...

turns out that when the original vacuum petcock was replaced with a manual one, there was a leftover (air intake, I suppose) hose that had not been properly plugged.

I plugged it and she has ran like a champ for 15 000 km.



Taliesin said:
Ok, thank you for the MANY recommendations.

You are correct in that I don't have much room between the tank and the carbs.

The original issue is that I have a loss of power at high RPM's. The carbs have been cleaned and dipped, sync'ed, valve clearances have been checked and a shim has been replaced to bring the clearances into spec...

At high RPM's, my bike just sporadically doesn't give me the power I need to accelerate past about 60-65mph. From doing searches and reading posts, it seems to be a fuel starvation issue.

There is no inline filter, lines are clean, those carbs were beautiful after the clean and dip, and this problem is driving me mad on a bike that I otherwise quite enjoy riding.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
 
Mine is definitely a RPM-based issue. Low RPM's, no problem. High RPM's, loss of power.

With your issue that would have been the vacuum hose. Not technically an air-intake. The OEM petcocks are vacuum actuated, meaning the valve is opened when your carbs pull a vacuum and need the gas.

I still have a vacuum petcock, so that's not my issue. (It was my issue, however, when I was sync'ing my carbs and had an auxiliary tank on. lol)
 
In case anyone stumbles upon this thread in the future, I thought i'd provide an update.

The petcock replacement seems to have solved my power loss issue quite well, and I can highly recommend the eBay source that was posted earlier for the '80 petcock.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!
 
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