Rusty gas! ARGHHHHH!!!!

[work9to5]

So I've been restoring an old tank and finally thought I had it finished and plugged it in on the bike. turned the petcock and started her up. Ran great for a minute. Then shut off, I noticed the line had filled with rust colored gas (I thought I had gotten all the rust out but seems a missed a pocket). I had a line fuel filter in between the tank and the carbs so that stopped most of it but the gas color on the other side of fuel filter was still rusty. Bike would start after that but sounded way different (louder) and was lomping upon throttle it would shut off completely. Also pipes 3 and 4 where not firing at all. Since then I've put the old tank back on put some seafoam in the gas mix and went through all the carbs and cleaned them. I'm still having issues tho. Now idle is really loud! it burned some smoke when I first turned it on (im thinking the rusty gas that was still in engine compartment. pipe 4 is not heating which is kinda normal considering im only running it for a minute before killing it. It now idles and throttle doesn't kill it but when I switch to drive and throttle it up it lomps and shuts off. What other steps should I be taking to get this engine back to running shape other than cleaning carbs and restoring good fuel consumption? Ideas and thoughts appreciated on this one. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[work9to5]

Bump! Ok guys still need a little help. Since my last post I've changed all spark plugs. went though the carbs and cleaned them again. Thought maybe I had messed with the air/fuel screws so reset them to a turn and a 1/4 out. I do have a change in performance as a result of this second cleaning. The bike fires up right away and stays in idle with no problem. It can switch into first with no problem and drives in first until I push it and open up the throttle/gas, which results in the engine dying. Also it smokes the whole time (black smoke). I plan on going back through the carbs and cleaning them once more and checking the float level again, but what am I missing? What could rusty gas have done once it reached my engine compartment that im not considering? I thought that it would just burn off the bad fuel? Any suggestions as to whats going on? Advice is appreciated, thanks

 

[Ribo]

I'm no expert here but I can imagine if small metal fragments got into the combustion chamber they could certain do some damage to the piston rings if not the walls. Have you done a compression test? Black smoke to me sounds like you're burning oil - check valves and rings - take off exhaust and see if you have oil on the exhaust side of the header.

 

[teazer]

Black smoke is rich mixture - chronically rich. Blue is the usual sign of oil burning.

How was it running before you switched tanks, or is this a whole new ballgame?

 

[Heavies]

Like teaser has said black smoke is most likely too rich, blue white would be burning oil.

Maybe it is just your mixture is out, or float is stuck

Did you use anything to clean the tank, did you clean that substance out completely, is the gas you are using brand new gas or gas that has been sitting in a gas can for a long while, is it ethanol mix gas?

Ethanol mixed gas is the worst idea to date, in terms of the motorcycle, amongst other things. It will fuck up your bike in no time flat. On one of my builds I had some of that shit sitting in a plastic gas can for a month, when my tank was complete I poured it back into the freshly painted tank ready to rock. The ethanol in the gasoline soaked up moisture in the atmosphere and turned into a sticky sludgy mess that not only clogged up my fuel filter, it also clogged up my carb. I carefully cleaned that crap out of the tank, lucky i didn't fuck up the new paint job, changed all fuel lines, and cleaned out the carb as best as I could, which wasn't all that thorough since I didn't want to rip it all the way down.

Lesson one was don't use old gas in a new tank
Lesson two always use some kind of gas stabilizer in my bike(or any other gas powered device) that may sit with a tank of ethanol gas for any period of time.
Lesson three never vote for a democrat.

 

[work9to5]

was running fine before I switched tanks. Used that metal rescue rust cleaner product (which I have to say is shit btw). It was running a little too rich before (blacken plugs) but never smoke. I must of messed up my air fuel ratio when I cleaned carbs or possibly it could be the gas (+the combination of seafoam added). Will start over with new gas after I go through carbs again. thanks