Rebuild a success. Yea! Minor problems but ….

[Tazman11]

My 1999 Valkyrie needed some attention after 22 years of neglect by the original owner. Since my purchase a month ago, I stripped it down to nothing but a motor on a frame. Since it only had 13,000 miles I hoped the motor and transmission were in good shape. PO never did anything except for an oil change or two. This was, strangely enough, one of the things that appealed to me. I knew that everything was stock and had not been screwed with.

Over the month, working 3-4 hours a day, I changed every fluid, put new tires on (zip tie method,) new seat (thanks John,) new switchblade windshield, adjusted valves and put new timing belts on, POLISHED ALL THE CHROME (thanks Ingersal Rand for making the best 3” buffer made - my new favorite tool), polished the tank and fenders along with Mother’s wax, desmoged, rebuilt petcock (more on this), had a Race Tech shop rebuild my front suspension,  AND PUT THE BIKE BACK TOGETHER WITHOUT HAVING EXTRA PIECES LEFT OVER.

Today, after putting the completely stock exhaust back on, came the moment of silence. I said a quick prayer, put the choke on, turned the key to on (I had charged the battery last night to make sure it had a full charge), hit the starter switch and Tazman came roaring to life. Took a ride around the neighborhood with a giant smile on my face. I had only ridden it for 5 minutes before the tear down started. The forks had lost all their oil and it was scary to ride. This Bike is amazing like I thought it would be. Rides like a solid, heavy, and powerful steed that it is. You guys already know this so it not new info to you. The tires and suspension gave such a comfortable ride and the throttle gave excelleration beyond that needed by most mortals.

I discovered only two issues that I need to solve before a longer riding adventure. 1 I have an exhaust leak from the number 5 cylinder. Despite tightening beyond spec, I could not get the leak to lessen. I do have new gaskets on and removed to old ones during disassemble. I’m going to pull the left exhaust off and reassemble. This should be an easy fix hopefully. I will soon know. 2 The petcock is leaking like crazy. When I first put the tank on and put fuel in the tank (only a gallon or so) I did have a leak in the petcock so I took it out, watched a few YouTube videos, read the post here, and made sure I assembled it properly. Also of interest, the petcock only leaks when turned to off or on. When turned to reserve, no leak. I did use the Honda rebuild kit and I believe I put it together correctly. I may just purchase a new petcock and be done with it unless you guys/gals can point me to the error.

Very upsetting that I can’t figure out the petcock assembly especially after researching it so thoroughly.

HELP

[Scooby]

If you "panky fanger" tighten the exhaust nuts when they are hot/warm you may have some success with that leak. 

[Tazman11]

Exhaust is fixed. The gasket in #5 did not seat properly. Took a 40 mile ride and loved it. Even my picky wife said she felt very comfortable a secure on the back. The Ultimate seats we put on sure helped with comfort. Tomorrow, I’m going to get the rear bags/hard cases polished up and mounted. The PO scratched the heck out of the top of one. Some quality time with my DA sander with 600 grit to 1500, then polish and wax should make short work of it.

I sure would like to get the petcock figured out. I have another rebuild kit (for the trike when the bike is done) and I’m going to compare with what I installed the first time rebuilt. GOOD Pictures and video might help but elusive thus far.

I have been riding bikes for 45 years and I can honestly say, The Valkyrie is the best all around motorcycle ever made. It has few shortcomings, gas mileage for one. Wow what a motorcycle. Built in America, even better.

[Skinhead]

If you only had a gallon of gas in the bike, that may be why the petcock didn't leak in the reserve position.  I assume you rebuilt the petcock?  If so where exactly was it leaking from.  If leaking out the vacuum port, it is probably the diaphragm.

[yrunvs]

Ok consider getting a Pingel petcock.

[Madmike]

If you are going for a new petcock there are a couple of aftermarket a;alternatives.  One is built for the Valk and has the vacuum control, the other is a direct interchange but is straight manual operated.  You can use the OEM on/off/reserve handle and hardware.  I put one of these on today and IMHO is the way to go.

The only difference is that the pickup tube is about 1/2" shorter and so you will get a bit more on main and a bit less of reserve.

The part number for the "manual" valve that I used is on one of the pics (18-4133).  I am an Imgur virgin so once this is posted I'll check and see if I got the link to one pic or 2.

If you go to the K&L website you can see both models and there is a list of wholesalers that sell to the shops.  The valve is available on EBay but only shows US sellers and so for me (Canada) it worked out better getting it from FortNine in Quebec and getting it mailed.  They ship free after $50 and so I added a tube of moly paste and ended up paying the same for that as I would have for the now free shipping.

https://imgur.com/a/jr7m79r

https://www.klsupply.com/carb-fuel/fuel-petcocks.asp