78 1000 skunk - here goes nothing

[shwaz]

purchased a month ago, it's in my friend's garage about 20 minutes away as i want to keep it out of the weather. for those that haven't seen the purchase thread, here's a shot of the bike at the PO's garage

and in the trailer on the way home

carbs and gas tank are at my apartment.

started electrolysis on the tank; something's happening there but I'm not exactly sure what yet.

volatage is steady, though it seems to have increased slowly over time. was probably closer to 3v when i first hooked it up

here's the rod after 24 hours. doesn't seem to have the "i've got hunks of rust hanging off of me" that i've seen in other photos - more of a kinda condensed carbonate gunk that scraped off. lost a lot of the threads off the threaded rod as well. not sure if something's going wrong here.

it is a steel rod; it's whatever they sell in home depot and lowes. i saw some people cautioning against using stainless steel but i don't know where to find a solid iron rod and other folks didn't mention anything against steel at all. didn't get any clarity on what the issue was with steel either.

that's it for right now. carbs are apart as well, may start throwing some photos of those out here soon too as i struggle to figure out how good or bad a job of jetting was done back in the 80s or 90s when the stock exhaust was replaced.

cheers!

aaron

 

[7981GS]

That may just be the plating on the threaded rod reacting. :-k

Eric

 

[shwaz]

That may just be the plating on the threaded rod reacting. :-k

Eric

figured as much, nice to get added input thanks. zinc, i'd imagine.

anyway, scraped it off and put it back on the charge. will check it again in 12 hours.

 

[steve murdoch]

Looks like a very good starting point, Aaron.
Are you going to keep it stock?

 

[shwaz]

Looks like a very good starting point, Aaron.
Are you going to keep it stock?

aside from the 4-1 and pods, yes that's my intent. considered going back to stock exhaust but i think it's more trouble than its worth to me at this point, not to mention i'm curious what the kerker sounds like (my 850 has stock exhaust). but overall i like these bikes just the way they are. wouldn't mind a set of samsonites or krausers for it, but i'm really not in a rush, gonna take my time with it. especially as my 850 started sputtering and died once on the way home last night - i have more than enough to keep me busy. oh yeah, and i'm expecting my first kid in... like 8 weeks

 

[shwaz]

gas tank - exterior

gas tank - exterior

so as i mentioned, i'm storing the bike at a friend's in teaneck because he has a house and a garage, whereas i have neither of those things.

i knew i wanted to start working on cleaning the inside of the tank, and he was heading down this way anyway, so i asked him to bring the gas tank with him.

well, he put it in a contractor bag and gave it to me, and i set it outside on the deck since it had never been drained entirely and smelled a bit gassy. came back to it a day later. no problem, right?

i still can't decide if i'm more upset at him or at myself, but for some reason he gave me the tank in the bag upside down and i never looked inside the bag and didn't check it. the gas cap held up pretty well, considering, but enough had leaked out to ruin the top of the tank. it was already scuffed from a tank bag in the past so i knew i'd plan to repaint it someday, i just didn't expect ... that

 

[Guest]

wow...strange gas would cause that. That's gotta hurt, go have a beer

 

[shwaz]

electrolysis fail?

electrolysis fail?

well i checked the tank after another 12, 15 hours.

i'm using a nokia phone charger (5v dc) with the wires stripped for my power source. i know some folks have used battery chargers or just batteries, so i might try next with something with a bit more juice.

the top of the tank looked like it was filled with sea foam. the anode had a layer of that whitish green crap on it again, much more than anything else. after draining the tank there were whitish specks on the hump inside, probably more throughout but who knows. it comes off easily enough but i think something isn't working quite right with the electrolysis.

the waste water coming out of the tank is a greenish white

here's the rod after spraying it down with some water to get most of the whitish green scum off of it

i did rinse the tank thoroughly and shook it out (just water) and got all this crud out, so that's something.

 

[shwaz]

ok. 5 months later

ALMOST got around to using my POR 15 kit on the tank today. not going to do electrolysis after all; i bought the kit so it's spent money and it should take care of the insides of the tank just fine.

i know i have to seal the gas filler hole and the petcock hole. question: what about the fuel gauge sensor? does that have to come out before i start tossing chemicals in there?

 

[tkent02]

If you ever want it to work again it has to come out.

Electrolysis takes a lot more power than a phone charger, and regular steel is needed. Stainless makes poisonous gases, makes the water into a hazardous waste, I can't remember exactly about the galvanized stuff but it's not good. I have an old box spring I cut pieces off of, bare steel, it works well.

 

[Gregory]

the fuel float is probably pretty rusted up also, it will be a good opportunity to clean it up real good

 

[Guest]

the fuel float is probably pretty rusted up also, it will be a good opportunity to clean it up real good

It's plastic. Couldn't find a pic for one for the GS1000,
but it's similar to this.

 

[Gregory]

The float is plastic but that is not what rusts.

he will need to open that metal box up and clean out the rust and gunk and grunge on the copper contacts etc.....if it looks anything like the one in my rusted tank did.

 

[Guest]

The float is plastic but that is not what rusts.

he will need to open that metal box up and clean out the rust and gunk and grunge on the copper contacts etc.....if it looks anything like the one in my rusted tank did.

Most definitely.

 

[shwaz]

what rust?

what rust?

you guys clearly don't know what you're talking about



what should i even do to this thing? *dremel wire brush?

 

[Guest]

you guys clearly don't know what you're talking about



what should i even do to this thing? *dremel wire brush?

I think we know what were talking about, but geez we didn't know we'd be up against something that looks like it spent most of it's life in salt water. I've never seen one that looked that bad.
Anyway, for starters I would seriously look for a "replacement" I have seen them on E-bay a perhaps someone here might have one they'll depart with.
Other than that, I'd ohms check for varying resistance throughout the floats range, to see if it even works. If by chance it does or can be made to by cleaning the contacts, I'd soak it in a product called "Evaporust"
http://www.evapo-rust.com/

But that's a long shot. If it were mine, I might keep it just to fill the hole until I could locate another, then I'd toss it with extreme predjudice.

 

[Big T]

you guys clearly don't know what you're talking about



what should i even do to this thing? *dremel wire brush?

evaporust, metal rescue, Permatex rust remover, vinegar

Any of those might save it - I'd start with vinegar because it's cheap

Don't bother with scraping it off, you'd never get enough of it

 

[Guest]

I can't remember exactly about the galvanized stuff but it's not good. I have an old box spring I cut pieces off of, bare steel, it works well.

That float assembly is galvanized, and it appears that in the Electrolysis process that galvanized metal became the equivalent of a sacrificial zinc anode. I've seen alot of rusty tanks but the float assemblies in them looked pretty good.

 

[shwaz]

evaporust, metal rescue, Permatex rust remover, vinegar

Any of those might save it - I'd start with vinegar because it's cheap

Don't bother with scraping it off, you'd never get enough of it

thanks. thinking about the dremel, there's also the inside to consider so yeah. i think i'm just more mechanically minded than chemically so scraping it off comes to mind first

i've never used vinegar but know i've seen mention of it here before. regular white vinegar, just soak it?

i'll try an ohms test but would be good to get the crap off it so i can at least use it to seal the hole until finding a new one if it's shot.

 

[shwaz]

That float assembly is galvanized, and it appears that in the Electrolysis process that galvanized metal became the equivalent of a sacrificial zinc anode. I've seen alot of rusty tanks but the float assemblies in them looked pretty good.

OMG SCIENCE!


do you think that's possible? the current wasn't connected to the float assembly, it was connected to the crappy threaded rod i bought... though of course it's electricity, it goes where it wants....

so you're suggesting that the reason this one looks like it's made of rust is that it acted as the anode, since i didn't pull it before trying electrolysis, AND my anode wasn't good steel, so the float assembly basically attracted as much rust as it could?