vapor lock, and more

[John Soliday]

On the topic of washing machines, exploding hoses are still not uncommon.
To that end, I guess I'm a bit paranoid, I've installed stainless braided
hoses on the washer and all of the toilet water feeds.  Those more modern
plastic flexible hoses look scary to me.  Also, on the washer, which is on
the 2nd floor where a flood would be a disaster, I have an electronic water
sensor on the floor behind the washer and it is connected to electric 12V
solinods (sp?) which will shut off the water if a leak is detected.
Previous owner had set the failsafe system up.

On starting bikes, my Dunstall Norton was the worst.  You had to pray to the
god of Lucas and repeat "least start" exactly three times.  Then you had to
position one piston just shy of TDC on the compression stroke, tickle the
carbs the exact amount to slobber gas, then jump on that kick starter while
gently rolling on the throttle.  Failure to do any of these steps exactly
right resulted in taking the ZX10 on the trip ;-)

John (proud to have been exorcised of all things British)

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com] On
Behalf Of art.robinson
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 6:32 AM
To: 'GPZ List'
Subject: RE: vapor lock, and more

Déjà vu! I'd all but forgotten starting my '54 AJS Model 20 Springtwin.
It had a choke lever, but the bike wouldn't start if you used it (but it
was a really nice choke lever and perfectly matched the ignition
retard/advance lever on the other bar, which you also never used).

The way you started it was to hold down a small button on top of the
carb, which held down the float and allowed the carb to briefly flood.
The bike would start immediately and run without the choke

When I was a working man I introduced a manufacturing line of
electrically operated stainless steel poppet valves.
They had wide range of applications (and voltages) from aircraft to
commercial coffee makers. 

I wonder if a normally closed valve like this might be a safer
alternative to the vacuum operated gas valve? It could be wired into the
ignition switch and would only open when the ignition was turned on.

A friend of mine used two of them for his washing machine. In those days
the connections were rubber hoses attached to threaded laundry tub
faucets and a flood resulting from a broken hose wasn't covered by your
insurance, as the connections weren't viewed as permanent plumbing. 

The idea worked fine and the problem is essentially the same as ours.

Any thoughts on this idea?


Art in TO

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com]
On Behalf Of The Masons
Sent: 15 August 2009 20:47
To: William K Denton; gpzlist at micapeak.com
Subject: Re: vapor lock, and more

Bill:
Like Art--sometimes you get lucky.  This morning I put fresh gas in the
'75 
Honda and decided to ride it down to the rental cottage about 4 miles
away 
to cut the lawn.  It doesn't have a choke cable or lever (removed by
some 
previous owner) so I usually just suck some gas into a 5 cc syringe and 
inject it straight into the carbuetor throat.  Its lights on the 2nd
kick. 
I head up the driveway and make it about 40 meters down the road before
the 
engine died.  I hadn't turned on the petcock.  I know the bike is not
warm 
and I'll just kill myself trying to kick start it without the syringe.
It 
is much simpler to push it back the 40 yards and then bump start it on
the 
200 yard sloping driveway.  This bike has no plates. insurance or
ownership. 
While I'm pushing back an Ontario Provincial Police cruiser drives by
very 
slowly.  They really frown upon the locals riding around the roads with 
similar bikes.  He rolled down his window and just said "you're not from

around here are you?"
I rolled it back down the driveway and took the truck over to the other 
cottage.

Jim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William K Denton" <wkdenton at verizon.net>
To: <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: vapor lock, and more


> Jim said, "The manual petcock is only as good as the operator as I
found 
> out this morning."
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jim,
>
> Agreed.  However, at least with a manual shut-off, you can correct the

> "behavior" [no one to blame but yourself].  With a vacuum shut-off
tap, 
> you are at the mercy of the rubber supplier's QC and the ravages of
time 
> and fuel reformulation effects on elastomers [everyone to blame but 
> yourself].
>
> On the brighter side, the OEM petcock packing (4-hole rubber gasket
P/N 
> 43049-1075) is cheap (<$5.00) and plentiful, as it is used in Vulcans,

> ZX6's, ZX9's ZRX's, GPz's and ZX11's.  At that price, one should just
add 
> "replace every five years" to the scheduled maintenance routine in the

> shop manual.
>
> Bill Denton
> Yardley, PA
> wkdenton at verizon.net
> Lazarus Cycleworks, LLC
> Breathing New Life into Old Bikes
>