Last night I spent some more time on the
gas tank. When I first started working on the Sport 60, I noticed that there was some liquid still in the gas tank. Bad sign - the bike had been in storage for about eight years, and I didn't expect that any liquids would have been left in the tank. So I removed the leather straps holding it in place, unsecured the fuel line and removed it from the bike (interestingly enough, there were a few [abandoned, fortunately] wasp's nests that had been built in the space between the frame and the tank.
So now, I was faced with a problem. What do I do with whatever is in the tank. How do I dispose of something which I am not even sure what it is other than it is liquid and is sure to be nasty. Here's a solution I did not find online and am hoping that the EPA won't hear about: I dumped it in my yard. Last summer I had an a
bove ground pool in the backyard which, when removed, left a large dead circle in the middle of it. It's been six suitable months of grass growing, and the ring has not recovered. Seemed like a good place to dump noxious fluids to me.
Seriously though, how does one dispose of such liquids? I don't imagine that it's recommended that one pour them down the drain or in the toilet. I suppose I could purchase a large vat of some sort, but then where would I take this massive pipe-bomb once it is filled? What do the chemical plants themselves do?
Regardless, I poured the liquid out of the tank, and it was pretty disappointing. It was gasoline. It was black. And it came out with chunks. I shook it out as best as I could and took a look inside. The tank didn't really seem rusted, just dirty and full of slime. With the
Vespa 90 project that I am helping to restore, we used a process called
Renu to clean and re-coat the gas tank. And
it was a solid solution in that case. However, the problem with this method is that it they drill holes in the tank to sandblast it out, and the entire thing is then coated in an ugly black. In other words, while it may not matter on a Vespa, its not a workable solution on the Sport 60 where the gas tank is in plain view (and indeed part of the unique aesthetic of the vehicle).
Later that first afternoon I was in Autozone buying some misc parts and solvents and queried one of the associates regarding the best way to clean a dirty tank. He recommended lacquer Thinner, in the tank for an hour, and that should do the trick. I bought a gallon took it home, let it sit, and dumped it out (again, in the yard - bad environmental steward, I know, but this is a sweet little motorbike we are talking about here). Alas, the liquid again came out a dark nasty blacking brown, and more debris with it. One the plus side, however, it did burn through the tar which previously appeared to have been clogging the fuel line.
Fast forward to yesterday. After work, I decided to do another round of lacquer thinner to see what else might come out of the tank. I re-installed the fuel valve (which I had cleaned in the meantime and had re-assembled) and filled the tank back up. Immediate discovery - the fuel tap is bad, and either parts of it or the entire thing needs to be replaced. It emits fuel regardless of the setting. I suspect that the cork gasket inside has disintegrated beyond use.
This time I did a lot of shaking, rotating and more shaking throughout the evening (rather than for just an hour) and let it sit overnight. This morning I got up and poured the liquid out. The color was a little better and this time it was not accompanied by any debris. This gives me hope that perhaps this method is working. But seriously, before I do another round (next time with the tank completely full to the brim) I need to figure out how to dispose of this. Perhaps my neighbor's yard?
While working on the gas tank over the past few months, I have also attempted to discern what best to do about the carbeurator. Like the gas tank, the carb had a good eight year (or so) period where gasoline sat in it. In addition, the threading that the bowl screws into had been broked at some point and so the entire assembly with held together with a combination of liquid gasket and bailing wire. Initial attempts to purchase a replacement carb (a BING 17mm) from Motorwest (who, it should be noted, have had every single other replacement part I have ordered. Cheers to those guys). I then tried to buy one from Mopeds Online, only to discover (after I placed an order) that they were defunct (odd that they would be out of business but that their store was still working. As of today, it no longer is).
So, I thought, why not try and rebuild the carb as it was, with some bailing wire and liquid gasket of my own. After all, I am told that it ran in that condition before, why not again. I put it together with the liquid gasket, but haven't had the chance to do the bailing wire. Perhaps tomorrow, while I do the gas tank treatment (the POR-13 came in the mail today). I also joined several Yahoo! groups to post some WTB messages about a carb. Maybe I'll come up lucky.
