Fuel Tank

I was contemplating performing an electrolysis cleaning of the fuel tank to remove rust from inside the tank and I even bought the necessary steel rod and Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda to make my cleaning solution. Here is one of many links on the process if you want some more information, Tank Electrolysis. Once I had everything, I had second thoughts on performing this unknown process and potentially making things worse. The tank was in really good condition already for a 33 year old fuel tank.

I then asked for some second opinions on the GS Resources forum and was told that it was fine as is, stop messing around, and just ride it. Tough love in this group.

The previous owner had also indicated that he had a leaking issue at the fuel petcock and that he had replaced the gasket to address this, but I was still noticing some dampness around the petcock while the tank was sitting on my shelf even though the tank was pretty much dry this whole time so I went ahead and ordered a new OEM fuel petcock and the necessary gaskets to replace this.

Before replacing the petcock, I added some HEET to the tank to try and break up any old gas that might be remaining and flush out any loose debris. The tank was clean, but what I did find was that the fuel petcock was leaking badly at the two mounting screws. Turns out the previous owner did not have any gaskets on the screws and was using star lock washers instead…

The fuel petcock was probably ok, but might as well install the brand new one in case anything else was wrong internally. This fuel petcock is vacuum operated in the Run and Reserve positions and there is no Off position, so if this feature is not working properly and there is any issue with the carburetor float valves you could potentially fill your engine with gasoline. Not fun.

The new fuel petcock did come with the o-ring perimeter gasket, but I still needed the gasket washers for the screws. These gasket washers are metal and rubber melding two concentric washers into one with metal on the outer ring and rubber on the inside making a tight seal against the screw when tightened down. New petcock installed:

I then reinstalled the the tank onto the motorcycle frame and made my connections.

I used all OEM fuel lines. Everything fits just right and doesn’t require hose clamps. Just like the fuel petcock screws, one thing I don’t like is fuel leaking on a hot engine that is sitting between my legs.

No leaks and the fuel gauge works too.

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