ninjette.org - View Single Post - Bike sat years. Overhaul time. What’s first?

CZroe · August 19th, 2022, 11:32 PM

Gallery updated:
https://imgur.com/a/bivUW24
Has a bit of video too.

I had a couple days off to start this and, well, we aren’t off to a good start. The weather was so bad that I barely had a break in the rain long enough to drain the gas… and I found it already drained.

https://i.imgur.com/aGvyTYe.jpg

Zoom. Enhance.

Full resolution: https://i.imgur.com/ch6HE0N.jpg

Bone dry.

Also, the key was stuck. I wonder why…

https://i.imgur.com/R2Yvz9g.jpg

Amazingly, I did get the key working though I’ve seen others resort to the drill for much less.

Recall that I had left the tank full with ethanol-free E0, a whole can of Sea Foam, and a brand new petcock to replace my leaky one. In fact, here is my old petcock after I found it swimming in a plastic bin full of water…

https://i.imgur.com/9fP7n0e.jpg

…and here is where I disassembled it over 8 years ago to document its defect:

https://imgur.com/06nhPsg

It’s very possible that the new petcock had the same issue and I didn’t notice because I didn’t detect a leak and I was hesitant to tear into a new part. My tank is known to readily form a vacuum so it’s possible that’s why I didn’t detect a leak. [Edit: Found an old conversation where I noted it was built differently despite having the same part number. Guess I did disassemble and analyze it before installation after all.]

I gotta admit… I’m feeling pretty discouraged here. Still, I’m willing to attempt a tank treatment… but I have to find out if the gas went into the crank. The rain came back before I could check.

…but before all that, I went digging for other stuff and found TWO headlights. One was was a Ninjetter’s crashed headlight that I was going to salvage a reflector from if the HID projectors didn’t work out. I also wanted to experiment with it to modernize an EX250F.

https://i.imgur.com/ZWYtjUw.jpg

For some reason, the cracked up one was stored in a plastic bin that preserved it while the other grew mildew all over despite being indoors. The foam rotted off too.

https://i.imgur.com/XKPd49f.jpg

Next step? I really don’t want to go through restoring the tank only to have another leaky petcock cause another cascade of issues. I’m having flashbacks to the period before I abandoned it because it would develop three more issues for every one I fixed… usually from unwanted interference from friends and family. First the ruined headlight, and now this:

https://i.imgur.com/5mhtATZ.jpg

I was storing these outside until *someone* insisted that they be stored inside even when I pointed out that they were intended to be exposed to sun and rain. Today I found that one of my lower fairings has been getting scratched every time someone opens the shed door. This is relatively recent because they weren’t like that earlier this year.

This is the same uphill battle I was facing many years ago when I frustratedly abandoned it. The same person is trying to do it again. For example, I wanted to prepare the lean-to for moving the bike inside but over the last two days this person insisted on dragging in a double-length pallet and building an elevated floor… completely ignoring that the bike was moved out in the first place specifically to demolish/remove an elevated floor. Talk about not learning from mistakes!

Yes, I would say that the original elevated floor no one asked for was the cause of all this. The area was specifically built with no floor to park and work on the bike. Once the floor was added against my will I couldn’t even stand up in there so it had to go. By the time it was gone, I was rebuilding the forks so it had no front tire and wasn’t safe to move back inside. By the time I was ready to reinstall the forks I found the upper fairing was misplaced and the headlight ruined. By the time I got my HID projectors from China I needed a new powersports battery. By the time I had a battery I needed E0 fuel and Sea Foam. By the time I swapped fuel I discovered a leaky petcock… and on and on and on. It only seemed to end when I ignored/abandoned it, but clearly it never really ended.

Even though I stopped tending the battery and starting the engine occasionally around 2015, I thought I took appropriate precautions by storing it off the ground with stabilized E0 fuel and a cover. Boy was I wrong! I expected to need another battery, carb job, etc… not a rusted fuel tank and a crank full of gas.

August 19th, 2022, 11:32 PM	#16
CZroe CPT Falcon Name: J.Emmett Turner Location: Newnan, GA Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 CP Blue EX250J, '97 unpainted EX250F, 2nd '97 unpainted EX250F (no engine), '07 black EX250F Posts: A lot.	Gallery updated: https://imgur.com/a/bivUW24 Has a bit of video too. I had a couple days off to start this and, well, we aren’t off to a good start. The weather was so bad that I barely had a break in the rain long enough to drain the gas… and I found it already drained. https://i.imgur.com/aGvyTYe.jpg Zoom. Enhance. Full resolution: https://i.imgur.com/ch6HE0N.jpg Bone dry. Also, the key was stuck. I wonder why… https://i.imgur.com/R2Yvz9g.jpg Amazingly, I did get the key working though I’ve seen others resort to the drill for much less. Recall that I had left the tank full with ethanol-free E0, a whole can of Sea Foam, and a brand new petcock to replace my leaky one. In fact, here is my old petcock after I found it swimming in a plastic bin full of water… https://i.imgur.com/9fP7n0e.jpg …and here is where I disassembled it over 8 years ago to document its defect: https://imgur.com/06nhPsg It’s very possible that the new petcock had the same issue and I didn’t notice because I didn’t detect a leak and I was hesitant to tear into a new part. My tank is known to readily form a vacuum so it’s possible that’s why I didn’t detect a leak. [Edit: Found an old conversation where I noted it was built differently despite having the same part number. Guess I did disassemble and analyze it before installation after all.] I gotta admit… I’m feeling pretty discouraged here. Still, I’m willing to attempt a tank treatment… but I have to find out if the gas went into the crank. The rain came back before I could check. …but before all that, I went digging for other stuff and found TWO headlights. One was was a Ninjetter’s crashed headlight that I was going to salvage a reflector from if the HID projectors didn’t work out. I also wanted to experiment with it to modernize an EX250F. https://i.imgur.com/ZWYtjUw.jpg For some reason, the cracked up one was stored in a plastic bin that preserved it while the other grew mildew all over despite being indoors. The foam rotted off too. https://i.imgur.com/XKPd49f.jpg Next step? I really don’t want to go through restoring the tank only to have another leaky petcock cause another cascade of issues. I’m having flashbacks to the period before I abandoned it because it would develop three more issues for every one I fixed… usually from unwanted interference from friends and family. First the ruined headlight, and now this: https://i.imgur.com/5mhtATZ.jpg I was storing these outside until someone insisted that they be stored inside even when I pointed out that they were intended to be exposed to sun and rain. Today I found that one of my lower fairings has been getting scratched every time someone opens the shed door. This is relatively recent because they weren’t like that earlier this year. This is the same uphill battle I was facing many years ago when I frustratedly abandoned it. The same person is trying to do it again. For example, I wanted to prepare the lean-to for moving the bike inside but over the last two days this person insisted on dragging in a double-length pallet and building an elevated floor… completely ignoring that the bike was moved out in the first place specifically to demolish/remove an elevated floor. Talk about not learning from mistakes! Yes, I would say that the original elevated floor no one asked for was the cause of all this. The area was specifically built with no floor to park and work on the bike. Once the floor was added against my will I couldn’t even stand up in there so it had to go. By the time it was gone, I was rebuilding the forks so it had no front tire and wasn’t safe to move back inside. By the time I was ready to reinstall the forks I found the upper fairing was misplaced and the headlight ruined. By the time I got my HID projectors from China I needed a new powersports battery. By the time I had a battery I needed E0 fuel and Sea Foam. By the time I swapped fuel I discovered a leaky petcock… and on and on and on. It only seemed to end when I ignored/abandoned it, but clearly it never really ended. Even though I stopped tending the battery and starting the engine occasionally around 2015, I thought I took appropriate precautions by storing it off the ground with stabilized E0 fuel and a cover. Boy was I wrong! I expected to need another battery, carb job, etc… not a rusted fuel tank and a crank full of gas. Last futzed with by CZroe; August 20th, 2022 at 12:05 PM.