my missing gas tank

ive gotten the engine to the point of me testing it. but, i dont have a gas tank, and i see two hoses connected to the carbs, one big and one small. the big is connected to the fuel line, i know that much(?), and the other looks like it would be a breather for the gas tank. am i correct on this? and i have something set up so i can add gas to the big line, but what should i do with the small one? just leave it open air? but everything else is in the good. i have even turned the engine by hand a couple times, no lock up or stick spots. and i have been told i can use a car battery as a battery, since i also dont have one of those. anything else i should worry about?

 

The small line is a vacuum line. it would hook up to your petcock so that it would only flow when the engine is running, unless the petcock was in the prime position. If your going to run it with the tank off pouring fuel down your fuel line, you probably ought to plug the vacuum line (the small one) so its not sucking air.

 

I did the same thing with mine a couple of weeks ago.
Finally got the engine back together and got it in the bike. I don't have a battery and the fuel tank is still apart but I wanted to hear it run.
I filled the float bowls via the fuel line and a funnel, grabbed jumper cables and my lawn tractor battery for power. After a few cranks she fired up and sounded great. Now to get the rest of it together and take it for a ride!

 

thanks guys. i was going to plug the line, but wanted to double check just to make sure. i hope it runs. the engine is my main concern. but the exhaust ends are filled with grass and junk, more squirells i guess. nick how much eninge work did you do? i have checked the plugs, cleaned out the old oil, and turned the cylinders. everything has looked fine.

 

I would pull the silencers and clear them before firing up, no sence setting the bike on fire with combustibles in the exhaust! Sounds like your on the right path otherwise! Good luck, you should be rewarded soon!

 

I bought my bike completely disassembled last summer. You can see pictures of it in my gallery. From what I understand it was taken apart to be restored by someone in 1998 and has been collecting dust since then. The cylinders looked like they were honed, the head could have been done also. It came with some new parts still in Yamaha bags, but I needed to buy quite a bit also. I put in new rings, piston pins, bearings, seals, and gaskets. Very pleased to hear it run, sounded great! Now I need to go thru the forks, install the brakes, bought new SS brake lines and caliper kits. Slowly getting it together, hope to be riding soon!

 

cool. ill be trying the bike tomorrow afternoon after work. can i just take that half of the exhaust off? its has to be replaced or a new one fabricated. it has alot of rust holes and scaling. i think i have to replace the same things as you nick. and my front tire popped the other day, haha, it was dry rotten. the back is still cool though. tell you how it goes tomorrow.

 

I'm sure you can pull it off and run the bike, may change idle settings, and it will be louder. I was tempted to run mine with just the headers on, but I managed to get the exhaust system in place.
One thing I did was to run my shop vac thru both ends of my pipes and collector manifold with some shaking and turning to get as much loose crap out as I could.
Good luck tomorrow!

 

Hey Nick
To possibly enlighten the rest of us ,can I ask what happened to your bike motor (before you owned it that is) or do you know why the prev. owner had to tear it down to that extreme in just a dozen or so years?
These motors seem somewhat bullet-proof with just the minimum maintenance. I'm sure there's a reason, I guess I'm just nosey as to the major rebuild. ...Squirrels perhaps?

Have fun munkey, by the way you talk, I have faith the bike will be great again

Jeff

 

I wish I knew jeff-ski.

I bought it from a guy who I met at work, he told me it was his buddies bike who was doing a major overhaul/restore to two Secas. He completed one but ended up moving to another province. The bike was left behind in the middle of the tear down.

I walked away from the sale at first after seeing the parts all over the garage and not certain on what was there and what was missing.

After a couple of weeks he came back to me reducing the price to what I thought was a low value. I wanted to get back on a bike for quite a while so I fell for it, knowing I was in for a lot more expense ahead. I figured I could live with a few bucks here and there and here for needed parts. Spent a lot of time on Ebay cause there was nothing available for parts around here.

I bought it with the promise of the registration to follow, which didn't happen. A registration search found the last owner was someone totally different and it was last registered in 1988. I couldn't locate the previous registered owner, but there's a special section in our law that allowed me to transfer the ownership into my name.

So, back to your original question, I don't really have the answers, just questions:
Was it driven for only 6 years??
Mileage suggest it may have, only 27,500 km (17,000 miles).
How long did it sit before being taken apart??
Torn down for what reason??
Too many questions without answers, but that's behind me at this point.

I got her running again, boy did that sound good!
It's not ready for the road yet, gotta do brakes, and go thru the front forks yet! Carbs must have shaft leaks, the RPM climbs all on it's own.

 

well, ran into a problem. i hooked the terminals up to my car battery via jumpers, put the ignition to the on position, and nothing. no lights, no startup, no horn. its dead. my only guess could be that something is fried. or could it be a short somewhere? im kinda frustrated. could it be something simple i am completly overlooking? anyone else have this happen?

 

Did you check the fuses? And have the shut off switch turned on.
Sorry I had to ask. You did say something simple.

 

yeah, it still had spares uder the cap too. the shut off switch is like permanetly stuck on run. and the throttle is almost completly stuck. but i didnt think that would have alot to do with a simple start test run.

 

If the kill switch is stuck on run it nat well be gummed up with corrsion. I'd start by stripping it and checking for voltage at that point.

If no voltage (with key on) then check for voltage at fuse box to eliminate dirty/dry connections there.

If still none the time to trace the wiring from the ignition switch to the connectors inside the headlight bucket. Check for dirty/loose connections.

More than likely will be something simple, but with electrics, trouble shooting is very time consuming.

Also check all connection coming directly off the battery. Power comes from a connection on the starter solenoid. Pay particular attentio to earth connections. One on the engine and one to the chassis. Remove and clean if neccesary.

Hope this helps with somewhere to start.

HG

 

If something was "shorted" you would get sparks or smoke happening someplace.

The kill switch won't stop the rest of the bike coming to life. You should have dash lights, tail light coming on. At least on my bike it lights up!

I would start by checking your battery connections to the bike. Jumper cables are pretty big versus the bikes cable connectors. Make sure your getting a good clamp onto the cable ends. Sorry Silentmunky, gotta say it, make sure your connecting + to + and - to - and your 12volt battery is charged.

As the others have said.....
Next is to look at the fuses as they are well know to be a weak area. Take them out, clean the posts, check for tightness. Mine have broken ends and have melted into the fuse block plastic. I cleaned them up and soldered them to the fuse, just to see bike run! (have a replacement block on order)

I would then look at the overall condition of the wiring harness, connectors, etc. Does it look dirty, stiff, burnt, green stains on connectors, or reasonable clean, and dry. Check connectors, make sure they are plugged in, and that good connection is taking place. Work toward the ignition switch, there is a mess of wire connectors in the headlight bucket.

Try switching the key on and off a few times, maybe you have some corrosion on the contacts inside the switch. This may help, I had mine apart and cleaned it up, but that was last year and I can't remember the details at the moment.

Other than that, have a volt meter, a wiring diagram, and some patience to check the power flow thru the system.

Good luck

 

Outstanding guidance Nick. Bravo! Munky, if you follow the bouncing ball on Nick's post, you'll nail it for sure! Chasin' wires can be a challenge but one worth taking on. I expect you've already ensured that the old battery isn't completely sulphated up. I understand that the internal shorting of the plates in this fashion can lead to a dead short internally and thus, no current flow through the rest of the system. Just a thought.

 

i dont have to worry about a corroded battery, its not there. i cleaned the terminals so the jumpers would get a good connection. it might have something to do with the fact that someone took a hammer to the bike. and then headlight is mostly gone, but a small piece is still attached to the connector. ill go clean the fuses and connectors on them. then run a search and list of what nick suggested.