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Where is the petcock knob?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greenagain
  • Start date Start date
G

Greenagain

Guest
I'm confused. I'm in the process of resurrecting a 1980 GS1100E. The tank was Kreemed in it's past life, and is now rusting again so I picked up a 1980 GS750E parts bike with a rust-free tank. As you more experienced folk are aware the petcock's have different bolt patterns so they're not interchangeable. The 750's petcock has no twist-knob so I'm looking on alpha-sports parts fische and they have a drawing of it missing the knob too.

http://alpha-sports.com/spst/1980 GS750E/24.htm

What am I not understanding here?:(
 
Greenagain said:
I'm confused. I'm in the process of resurrecting a 1980 GS1100E. The tank was Kreemed in it's past life, and is now rusting again so I picked up a 1980 GS750E parts bike with a rust-free tank. As you more experienced folk are aware the petcock's have different bolt patterns so they're not interchangeable. The 750's petcock has no twist-knob so I'm looking on alpha-sports parts fische and they have a drawing of it missing the knob too.

http://alpha-sports.com/spst/1980 GS750E/24.htm

What am I not understanding here?:(
Click to expand...

Some just have a little screw.
 
Thanks guys. I did do a search for 'petcock' first, and got 500 threads. I read through about 80, but that title didn't catch my eye.

I feel about $ 60 better so far, as long as the rubber bits are still good in it.

I did read many posts about not bothering to rebuild them, and only replace them though.:-D
 
All the '80 bikes (with the possible exception of the "little" bikes) had leverless petcocks. My '80 GS550L still has the original petcock on it and it still works just fine (he says while crossing fingers and knocking on fake wood!).

Regards,
 
Planecrazy said:
All the '80 bikes (with the possible exception of the "little" bikes) had leverless petcocks.
Click to expand...
Where do you draw the line on "little" bikes? My son's '82 650L and my wife's '82 850L both have levers on the petcocks. :shock:


.
 
Steve said:
Where do you draw the line on "little" bikes? My son's '82 650L and my wife's '82 850L both have levers on the petcocks. :shock:


.
Click to expand...

Are they aftermarket or original units? I'm pretty sure the 650's had leverless petcocks as well, though not 100% positive. My 550 is smaller than your bikes, but has the leverless petcock, for example...

Regards,
 
Your 1980 850 originally came with a leverless petcock, as did most every model that year. They went back to the levered ones in '81, so to answer your question I'm referring to most every 1980 Suzuki GS motorcycle with an OEM petcock. I suppose the non-US bikes may have had different petcocks, but in all probability yours most likely has been replaced at some point in its life with an aftermarket levered piece. If you look up the Suzuki replacement part for most 1980 bikes you'll find that it specifies the leverless units.

Regards,
 
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Thanks, Emjay! I meant to look that up and post it but you beat me to it!!

Regards,
 
23.gif


That part to the right of #2 looks like a little lever set to the "RES"erve position. That's what my bike's "fuel cock" looks like.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
Last edited:
psyguy said:
huh, i'm getting more confused now :?:?:?
so, is this a leverless petcock?
http://www.alpha-sports.com/suzuki_parts.htm
Click to expand...
I can understand where there might be some confusion. In years past when I looked up these parts I'd find true "leverless" replacements, but I see that on several sites now they reference a "levered" petcock, even though the true OEM pieces had no lever. I've owned both a 550L (which I still own) and a 1000G, and have seen numerous other 1980 bikes with original petcocks - all had "leverless" units. In the diagram below if you look at part #13 you will see what's on my 550L ... a "leverless" petcock. Note how there's a small rounded "nub" at the bottom of that piece ... that's where the plastic slot is that allows you to manually switch the petcock from run to prime (there is no reserve).

Hope this helps clear things up.

Regards,
SU0086_031.gif
 
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If the current microfiche's are to be believed there ARE a few oddball models that had levers in 1980, but I checked a variety of models (not all) and the following models had leverless (and the fiche still reflects this):

GS1000E
GS1000S (Wes Cooley)
GS550L
GS750E
GS1100E
etc.
etc.

The weird thing is that mixed in are a few versions of these and other models that appear to have a levered units (according to the current fiche), even though through the years almost everyone whose posted (in my memory) had leverless units and thought the lever had broken off (myself included way back when)...

Regards,
 
Mr. Planecrazy,

In the above case, does PRIme setting also perform the REServe function? Just curious. :-s

Are you calling my "Jessie" an oddball? [-X

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
BassCliff said:
Mr. Planecrazy,

In the above case, does PRIme setting also perform the REServe function? Just curious. :-s

Are you calling my "Jessie" an oddball? [-X

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...

LOL! I would NEVER call YOUR Jessie and oddball ... somebody else's? Sure!

I honestly don't know if the PRIme setting performs as a REServe, but I would guess not, since these leverless units really aren't designed to be tampered with at all, especially on the side of the road. Unless you have exactly the right sized flat-bladed screwdriver you're not going to be able to turn the valve anyway.

Thank YOU for your indulgence, and
Regards,
 
Planecrazy said:
If the current microfiche's are to be believed there ARE a few oddball models that had levers in 1980, but I checked a variety of models (not all) and the following models had leverless (and the fiche still reflects this):

GS1000E
GS1000S (Wes Cooley)
GS550L
GS750E
GS1100E
etc.
etc.

The weird thing is that mixed in are a few versions of these and other models that appear to have a levered units (according to the current fiche), even though through the years almost everyone whose posted (in my memory) had leverless units and thought the lever had broken off (myself included way back when)...

Regards,
Click to expand...
And, that includes my '80 GS850L........:-D
 
Curiosity killed the GS

Curiosity killed the GS

Hmmm. Just to satisfy my curiosity then... So the leverless petcocks have no reserve setting? You just run out of gas with no warning?

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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