Fuel petcock with "reserve"

[zz28zz]

Trying to get an old 1987 Honda Elite 50 going after sitting abt 17 years with fuel and oil in tanks. Gas tank was a mess. Lots of rust. Got it cleaned up along with the carb. Haven't messed with oil tank yet. Either fuel or oil or both got into crankcase. Enough got in there to liquid lock eng. Flipped scooter upside down and turned crank back and forth. That got a lot out. Filled crankcase with fresh pre-mix, flipped scooter upside down again and repeated turning crank back and forth to flush out whatever was in there. Did this 4 times. Hooked-up jumper pack and elec starter works great. Still spitting fuel out the sparkplug hole and passages where reed valves mount. Blew compressed air thru spark plug hole (with piston down) and out the reed valve openings (reeds removed). The pre-mix just keeps coming out. Getting good spark but if I install plug and crank it over, it just wets the plug and doesn't show any signs of life. May have to wait it out and let the fuel trapped in crankcase evaporate.

While I'm waiting on that, I'm now looking for a fuel petcock, fuel lines and a aftermarket fuel filter. Current fuel petcock is a vac operated unit but has a piece broken off. Was curious if there's a manual petcock available with a reserve setting like most old-school motorcycles had. If not, any recommendations on what brands of vac operated petcocks to look for or avoid? What size is the fuel line? Got some 1/8" line but it's too small for fuel nipple. (Fit good on oil inj nipple at intake). Couldn't find any bulk metric fuel line locally so I'll need to order some online. 4.5mm maybe??

[motormike]

I think you might be shooting in the dark trying to find the petcock you describe. I certainly don't know of any. However, you can probably find a fitting to fit the threads on the tank, one that will allow you to have a short piece of hard line. Then, attach clear fuel line to that, and install an inline fuel shut-off available at any Ace hardware...lawnmower. . style by Briggs and Stratton. They're only about $8, and I've done it a few times. Put your filter inline too.

[zz28zz]

Yeah, figured it was long shot. If I can't get a reserve type, I'll probably just go with some Amazon/ebay vac operated. Trying to find one that's the right size.

[zz28zz]

Still waiting on vac petcock to arrive but got the scooter running using a home made fuel delivery sys. Discovered needle won't seat and carb floods. Looking for a replacement needle for the stock keihin carb. Anyone found a good source for replacement?

[Johnp891]

I just put one on my 85 spree. It was like $14 on eBay. Works great. I’ll see if I can find the link to the one I bought

[Johnp891]

This is the one I recently put on my spree. Works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185971100117?h ... R76Tjse5Yg

[zz28zz]

This is the one I recently put on my spree. Works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185971100117?h ... R76Tjse5Yg

Dang, that's exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I've already bought a vac operated petcock. Thx for the link.

[Willem]

This is the one I recently put on my spree. Works great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185971100117?h ... R76Tjse5Yg

Noticed this ebay ad says its for 86/87 NQ50… would it work on the 85 NQ50? Is there any reason it shouldn’t?

[Meatball]

The ebay ones are a crapshoot. Different years Spree’s have different thread pitch on the tank bung. The ebay sellers are 75% inaccurate on fitment. I say this because I had to buy 4 different petcocks from 4 different sellers before I got one with the correct threads.

I made the rookie mistake of trying to thread on the wrong one and totally jacked the threads on the gas tank. Hard lesson learned.

[Willem]

The ebay ones are a crapshoot. Different years Spree’s have different thread pitch on the tank bung. The ebay sellers are 75% inaccurate on fitment. I say this because I had to buy 4 different petcocks from 4 different sellers before I got one with the correct threads.

I made the rookie mistake of trying to thread on the wrong one and totally jacked the threads on the gas tank. Hard lesson learned.

Ouch. Thank you for the info, I will be sure to be careful if/when I decide to try and get one… that’s super irritating. I feel like it’s worth it though to better keep fuel out of the carb for winterizing.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

For reasons known only to Honda-san, the tank nipple size changed in 1987 across the line-up, including Sprees, Aeros and Elites.