Penton fuel taps

[Tim McKinney]

Hi Guys

I'm new to the Penton game so bear with me on some of the more minor questions. I just bought a nice 74 Harescrambler but the last owner let it sit quite a while with old fuel in the tank and the fuel taps are in need of cleaning out. They are the original square chrome type and have a dentent every quarter of a turn all the way around. What is a rule of thunb as far as off-on-reserve position on them before I remove them from the tank, it still has some old fuel in it?

Thanks
Tim

OLD BIKES RULE!!!

[Lew Mayer]

Pointing down is "on", naturally. Look on the sides of the square body and one should have an "R" for reserve and the other has a "C" for Off, I believe.

Lew Mayer

[joe novak]

May I suggest what other Penton owners recommend: gas with NO alcohol (ie. racing gas, aircraft, et.al.).   Some Penton owners claim that the alcohol softens the fiberglass resin in the gas tank.   joe

[DKWRACER]

Hi Tim, welcome to the POG, and congrats to your find.
 The petcocks should be removed for reasons stated, they do become clogged etc.. Al B. (thankfully) has rebuild kits that he spent an enormous time with his vendor to help with swelling, and are well worth the effort. Once you have them fixed, a simple test in the three positions should confirm operation. As a sidebar, I wrote about a simple fix in Tech Tips to mark the petcock levers with file marks visible when the levers are in the up position (off)...lest we have a possible flooded crankcase..............dummy me, has done that before.........

Enjoy your new Penton!

Tom Brosius
Mile High Pentons

[Britt Boyette]

It's pump gas that's the problem. You can use race gas, av-gas, or gas bought from a marina. These are all alcohol free. I never store any gas in the tank as I always drain after use.

Britt Boyette
1976 125 MC5

[Mike Lenz]

93 octane pump gas works ok also as long as you drain yout tanks after use.

[joe novak]

All the concern with the fiberglass resin becoming unstable (gelled) makes me more motivated to start on my STEEL TANKER project bike.   It seems like a good idea to run the carb dry of fuel other than the NON-alcohol type.

[Tim McKinney]

I plan on sealing the tank with the Caswell 2 part sealer that can be bought direct or I have gotten it from Hugh Weaver at Bultaco Motorcycles. Easy to apply, drys clear inside the tank like a clear jell coat and I've never had an issue with it peeling or any type of fuel vapor issues after the application.

OLD BIKES RULE!!!

[firstturn]

Tim,
  We have had problems with the sealer if the tank has ever had synthetic oil used it it.  The sealer separates from the tank.  FYI.  Also on the subject of fuel petcocks Al has rebuild kits which I would recommend.  

Ron Carbaugh

[tomale]

Joe, I have drained the fuel out of my tank and that works pretty well, leaving it in the tank is not a good idea for sure... but I wonder if we are not creating another problem, draining the fuel could dry out the rubber parts... I have been thinking about using gas with out bad stuff and then adding something to stabilize the fuel...
Tim, there were some original petcocks that were chrome and if it is some of those then yea they are worth rebuilding  I believe that if the handle that turns the shut off valve is rubber coated then you have an original but if they are not then they could the later aftermarket units then they are not worth it. I had trouble with the aftermarket units. first, the handle that controls the valve loosens and falls out, two, the fuel pipe that the fuel goes through to get to the valve is too small and the bike runs out of fuel at high speed or up steep hills, better to rebuilt the stock units if possible or find another petcock instead.  the good new is that most of the European bikes of that era all used the same thread size that bolts it to the tank so finding another petcock is not to difficult, If you need to replace them you might try Bing International, they have all sorts of great stuff, beside if you need to find some jets for that bing carb then that is a good source too... Do do not be meek about asking question here, this is the best group of guys anywhere in Vintage dirt bikes, reqardless of the brand of bike.  The unvarnished truth is simply this, this is as good as it gets. And no matter what the question, you will find an abundance of information. probably more than is required but that is good too, because we learn so much.... No question is to silly.....I know I have asked more than my share....Less I forget... welcome

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)74'
250 hare scrambler (project bike)

[Britt Boyette]

I noticed the original will say OMG on it too. I had an oddball petcock a while back which did not say OMG on it. Also, I think OMG stands for "Oh my God", which is what I say whenever they leak.

Britt Boyette
1976 125 MC5

[Tim McKinney]

I checked out my fuel taps today and they appear to be of the aftermarket variety, copies of the originals. Even cleaned completely and blown through with air, they pass such a small amount of fuel that I think I'm going to change over to some OMG taps like you see on the Maico's and Husky's. No reserve on most of them but they flow a bucket of fuel.

OLD BIKES RULE!!!

[tomale]

Tim, good plan. In the Spring of 2003 I pulled my Mc 5 out of the back of the shop and started working on it. I had never left gas in it so I figured that I would not have much of a problem with varnish but I was wrong and it took a number of try's to get it cleaned out. one of the other things that I had a problem was with the Petcocks. One was broken so I replaced it with an aftermarket version, It sort of worked It gave me fits trying to figure out why I was running out of gas on the top end. As you know, the problem ended up being the petcock. I ended up finding another stock one that was broken and I used it plus the one that had been on my bike and using Al's rebuild kit, I got it working great. It was then that I found out that some Husky and maico uses a similar unit too.. what a find...

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)74'
250 hare scrambler (project bike)

[Mickey Sergeant]

Are the petcocks Al Buener sell anygood.Mine need to be replaced

[firstturn]

Mickey,
  yes they are and I also use the rebuild kits.

Ron Carbaugh