More Cafe

The carbs are back on and I was extremely tempted to start the bike up and see how it ran with the rebuilt carbs but...I decided to be patient and not allow any of the rust/dirt in the tank into my newly cleaned carbs. So I removed the fuel petcock valve. This is a bit of a rare valve. From what I can tell, Honda only used it one year. The threads are huge (20mm). I removed the valve. 

Then I took it all apart. The cloth on the lower left is a pre-filter. It is very difficult to find parts for this petcock but I think I have finally found the few pieces I need and will order those on Monday. I need to replace the o ring on the upper left as it broke (found it in Florida) and there is a gasket that was totally gone (found that and a new pre-filter and pick up tube in Pennsylvania).

I cleaned the petcock in Chem Dip and it'll go back together just as soon as the parts arrive.

Then I took a perfectly good tank, grabbed a few different hammers, and started to beat the hell out of it.

This was a very scary process. I have never done any kind of metal shaping or stretching before.

I ran into a bit of an issue. I got too excited, didn't take my time, and while trying to chip away what body filler I was finding, I managed to punch 2 small holes in the left side of the tank. I was not happy. At this point, I decided that it was best to get the tank media blasted. I dropped it off with Spectrum Powder Works in Colorado Springs and picked it up a few days later. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The guys at Spectrum quoted me $150 to pull a small dent and weld the 2 holes. Welding a tank can be very dangerous. If there is leftover fuel or fumes in the tank then the weld spark could easily blow it up and can cause serious harm. I'm not sure if I'm going to do this on my own yet but I figured I'd start cleaning it just in case. First I plugged the bottom end, put a hose in the tank, turned it on and let it flush it for an hour and a half. Then I threw in some dish soap and continued to let it flush. Then I finally blew it out with compressed air and wiped the tank down with WD40 to prevent flash rust. There is still a hint of gas scent in the tank. 

While the tank was flushing I decided to install the new gas cap seal.

While cleaning up the cap, I realized that someone had clear coated the chrome cap and started hand sanding that out.

This is much better.

And here's how it sits now. I spent about 2 hours today addressing some of the high spots in the right side knee dent. I am pretty happy with this side now. I just need to get the dent pulled from the left side and then rework the leading edge of the left side knee dent to match the right side better. There's also 2 other small dents that I will pull if I do it on my own in addition to welding up the holes. Now I'm just going to sit and think about things. Like...is it really a good idea for me to try to weld this thing up? Stay tuned.