Yet another "Help, my petcock is broke" thread
 

Hello guys & gals...
My CA95 has been running great lately, so naturally Murphy's law has to make an appearance.
I started it up this afternoon and saw fuel pouring out of the lever slot. I shut it down quick and drained the tank.

Now I can see that the previous owner has attempted to repair this unit without buying a single part. The bowl bottom seems to be lined with JB weld possibly from damage around the wrench point, and the plate that is supposed to push down on the lever packing over the lever is home made. The screw that holds the packing in is wrong too, and it appears that he has managed to partially thread it in only partway because of this..

So, I'm either going to need to find the plate and screw (and probably a bowl to be safe), as well as getting a repacking kit to undo all of the mess ups, or I'd need to get a petcock adapter. I've been looking at this adapter:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/CA77-Honda-Dream-...item45fac2daa6

The only problems I can see with the adapter would be the screws. The screws I have are only threaded part-way down, so I wouldn't be able to tighten them up far enough. If I could get another set of screws, my other concern would be whether the may leak.

Any ideas/advice for either solution?

Unfortunately, there aren't many petcock options. You can try and rebuild what you have...hope to snag one online if one comes up...fabricate one yourself...buy the ebay one you used as a link, if the screws are too long add some washers. On the bright side he offers a 7 day money day guarantee minus return shipping, so try and calculate you getting it on a Monday, and if it doesn't work get it back to him asap, and hope he makes good on returns. From what I recall theres a member on here sinjinle that bought one of the ebay ones, it might be a good idea to ask sinjinle if it worked.

The ebay replacement petcock will work. I see this item on ebay all of the time.
The screws only thread part way because the wrong screw pitch was used. The threads in the tank are the same thread pitch as the tank screws.

You can retap the threads to the next pitch. I have done this. I may have some original tank petcock screws, plate and bowl that I'm not using.

If your interested PM me.

Thanks for the advice,
I'm going to try rebuilding the current one first... the bowl hasn't leaked yet, so I'm going to touch up the JB weld and alter the home made packing plate so it doesn't push the rubber down unevenly. Hopefully, it will be back in working order then. If not, I'll have to explore the adapter option.

Heh, wrote my reply then Spokes's message appears!
Sending PM

Follow up:
After replacing the bowl, selector lever, packing plate, packing, screen and gaskets... it works!

I got to ride the bike around for the first time today, all thanks to Spokes and this great forum.

Any leaks? All is well? What a feeling of accomplishment bringing one of those fuel tanks and petcocks back into service huh? :) Over-engineered wonder they are.

Okay, good time for an update then :)
I had a little scare once or twice. I tightened the screws a little bit more, and it took care of the first leak (about a day later)... two days later I found some more gas around the bowl, but it was just the fuel line clamp. Repositioned and tightened, and so far it is still working great.

In other news, I've [finally] gotten my motorcycle learners permit! Not to fear though, my learner bike will be an old 80's Yamaha SR185. I'd rather risk the $200 barn find over the classic.

Hey any wheels will get you down the road! Good work on becoming legal. I have had a couple fuel leaks when things get put together initially but I just put a pan under them overnight and in the morning the leak is gone. Kinda weird... maybe the seals swell up and squeeze the leak shut? I dunno maybe I just get lucky with these things.

Most of the petcock leaks I've dealt with were caused by a dried out and shrunken cork. I've had great success with soaking the cork in STP over night. That process swells it up and also keeps it lubricated and makes it easier to move.

I noticed an inexpensive petcock rebuild kit that didn't seem to be out there before. $20 ... not bad, for those like me that would like to retain the original petcock, and much less costly than the NOS rebuild kits going for $50-$60. The seller claims the kit works for the CA95.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Hond...#ht_500wt_1413

http://www.forths.com/blog/wp-conten...etcock_kit.jpg

I picked up a kit like that, and along with some spare parts from Parks I got mine working perfect again.

Same here. Rebuuilt with kit in bythelake's post and all is working well.

Yeap same kit here as well.

Mine works pretty well just missing the screen. I may buy the kit just for that. Thanks for the link ByTheLake!