Blue 88 resurrection - Lamely Lounges

[lamelylounges]

Hi Folks,

I brought home a blue 88 Hawk last weekend. It had been sitting in a garage for 20 years, so it's going to need some work to get it roadworthy again. I'll try to update this thread as I make progress. Hopefully this is the right place.

This is how she looked the day I brought her home, before and then after her first wash.

[lamelylounges]

I figure the first thing to do is work on cleaning out the gas tank. And then, unfortunately, I tore the Fuel Tube A despite my best efforts to be patient and gentle. I hope that's not a sign of things to come!!!

[lamelylounges]

I did a bit of soap and water and bicycle chain for an initial cleaning. If petcocks are really only about $20, then I am more than happy to rip and replace my petcock. So tonight I disconnected the petcock. However, the petcock screen set (16952-MN8-003) had other plans is staying inside my tank.

What would you recommend and how badly can I screw this up?
I'm assuming the worst case is the I end up need to force it backwards into the tank.
I'll search this forum's history, but if you know the answer feel free to help me out with advice.

[lamelylounges]

Read some threads and some folks run without the petcock screen set.
So I decided I might as well do my best to pull as much out as I could.
I got a lot of it out, but had to ream a bunch of it back into the hole and into the tank.
That is it for me tonight.

Next up is to think about how to clean out the tank some more.
Current thinking involves white vinegar from Stop n Shop.

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[Peteroo]

Yea, you can soak in vinegar solution. Throw some screws/nuts whatever in there and shake away. Rinse with baking soda solution and oil the inside to prevent any flash rust. I wouldn't worry too much about a tank screen so long as you have a decent post filter.

[ParcNHawk]

Vinegar can be aggressive and cause flash rust as quickly as it ate the old stuff.

Use Evaporust if you can get it.

Screws and nuts are a good idea but fishing the last few out is near impossible. A length of the right chain can do the same job and be removed in one "shot."

[lamelylounges]

Vinegar can be aggressive and cause flash rust as quickly as it ate the old stuff.

Use Evaporust if you can get it.

I suppose you're right on that one. I was going to try to save a couple bucks.
But with evaporust I don't have to mess around with neutralizing and running around like a crazy person doing acid phase, neutralize phase, rinse outs, and stressing about flash rust.

Thanks for the nudge in the right direction.

[lamelylounges]

deleting my post. nothing to see here.

[lamelylounges]

Work interfered with life. I hate when that happens!

I got my hands on a big container of evaporust. It certainly seems like the easiest way to proceed, and importantly it avoids bringing nasty chemicals into the house and then needing to dispose of them. The tank soaked from Friday to Sunday and is looking quite good, tho there are still some chunky patches of rust, so I'll let it soak for a bunch more days. No particular rush.

In the meantime, I've had a hell of a time getting the carbs off of the boots. I've been shooting it with liquid wrench penetrator and then finally got out the hair dryer. The hair dryer did the trick, so my carbs are finally off the bike. Bonus points for not loosing the choke cable plunger and springs!

This will be boring for most of you, but for me it's like taking my first trip to outer space.

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Next, I decided to peak down into those intakes and I'm not sure I like what I see.


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Both valves on the "inside" position (as opposed to the outboard, if you get what I mean) look similar ... like wet, dark-roasted coffee grounds.
Hopefully this is not a sign of disaster.

Anyway ... next up is continuing to work on the carburetor.

[DrPMC]

Those valves don't look like a cause for concern to me. Have you run the bike (apologies if this has been covered elsewhere)? I'd always be inclined to do the absolute minimum necessary to get a bike going and then take it from there. Your machine looks like a very clean, dry stored bike. Its a pity about what the fuel has done to the tank but hopefully it's not too far gone. Are the carbs horrible inside too? That can be cleaned our with a bit of elbow grease and some new diaphragms fitted.

There are ways of restoring age-hardened rubber that I have found work well but most people prefer to replace the rubber bits. I'm sure you can replace the damaged fuel pipe with a section of suitable piping bought by length - unless you're fanatical about originality

[lamelylounges]

DrPMC
I haven't run the bike yet. I like your strategy of doing the minimum. And, yes I think it was primarily stored inside a dry garage. The tank is cleaning up nicely and I think will be nice after another several days of the evaporust.

I haven't opened up the carbs yet, so I'm not sure what I'll find when I get in there. I figure they are going to need a cleaning and as long as I'm in there I might want to throw in a stage 1 jet kit.

Regarding the "restoring" of the age-hardened rubber, I've read that people boil the boots to soften them up. Do they stay soft for some time, or does they harden up pretty quickly again?

[DrPMC]

DrPMC
I haven't run the bike yet. I like your strategy of doing the minimum. And, yes I think it was primarily stored inside a dry garage. The tank is cleaning up nicely and I think will be nice after another several days of the evaporust.

I haven't opened up the carbs yet, so I'm not sure what I'll find when I get in there. I figure they are going to need a cleaning and as long as I'm in there I might want to throw in a stage 1 jet kit.

Regarding the "restoring" of the age-hardened rubber, I've read that people boil the boots to soften them up. Do they stay soft for some time, or does they harden up pretty quickly again?

I'm not adverse to mending and modification but I don't like to disturb something unless its necessary. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'

Yes, heat will only temporarily soften rubber parts. To recondition my rubber parts, including the inlet rubbers, I used a mixture of Methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen or wintergreen oil), mixed with Isopropyl alcohol. I'm afraid I can't remember the ratio, but its on-line somewhere. I filled a pickle jar and left the parts in there for a few days. As I recall, they don't mind being left in there and won't dissolve. If you take them out and they harden put them back. An added bonus is that your bike and workshop will have a fresh and minty perfume afterwards. It is strong stuff so don't drink it instead of your cup of tea.

I originally fitted foam filters but I just jetted up and put some washers under the needles but I'm not as exacting as some people (all the details on the forum, I think). A free flowing filter is the easiest and cheapest tune-up for an NT650 that there is.

[lamelylounges]

I've been busy traveling, then catching covid, and spending a couple days in bed.
Fortunately, my basement is as good a place as any in this house to quarantine, so I've been able to do a bit of work.

The gas tank has soaked for a solid week in evaporust and I'm pretty content with the results. Gave it a good rinse. Dried it out with a hair dryer.
It's not showing signs of flash rusting (is that something that happens with evaporust?). I do have a bottle of marvel mystery oil that I can put into the tank if that is the wisdom of the herd.

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I've got the carbs off. I'm pretty excited to see that the diaphragms are in decent shape and don't show any signs of wanting to tear. Yay!
And I'm into the carbs as far as the float bowls, but haven't taken out the needles yet.
One of the float bowl screws was on the edge of being stripped. The usual remedies of penetrating fluid, whacking at it, and heating it with a hairdryer took care of the problem.
I'm pretty happy with these vessel jis screwdrivers.

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And the other exciting bit is that I got a new battery installed and the electronics seem to check out fine.
I'll need to clean out the switches on the left, in particular, as they feel very sticky and gummed up.

[ricksax]

The gas tank has soaked for a solid week in evaporust and I'm pretty content with the results. Gave it a good rinse. Dried it out with a hair dryer.
It's not showing signs of flash rusting (is that something that happens with evaporust?). I do have a bottle of marvel mystery oil that I can put into the tank if that is the wisdom of the herd.

After evaporust it is recommended to fill with non-ethanol gas, a headache if the tank is off. You can also try some Fog Oil spray, which is recommended for power equipment when stored. It should give a good coating.

[lamelylounges]

What's for dinner??

These are the implements I used to try to get that little f'er of a rubber washer out with my pilot screws.
Thank heavens I finally saw a post that mentioned using a paper clip. DUH!

Also, happily, I didn't have to mess around with the pilot screw caps as someone before me did a nice clean job of that task. PHEW.
I might call it quits for the night and get in the mood for Halloween with my son.

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