[Slumlord]

Hi everyone,

I'm still new to the scene so please humor me on this topic as I'm sure it's pretty basic. I'm risking a verbal berating to find out how to siphon the gas out of my tank, but doing it in a safe, efficient and less possibly ingestive way, rather than using a tube and sucking the gas through?
I found that this company, http://www.superrvproducts.com, makes a cheap solution and they also sell their products on eBay.

Anyway, I just thought I'd ask to see what you veterans were doing now that the winter is on its way and winterizing is on more peoples minds.

-----------------
1977 Honda CB 550 K

 

[jbranson]

I have one of those little siphon tubes with a little plastic sqeeze pump on it. It gets the flow going and then it siphons on it's own...or you can use the squeeze pump to pull the fuel out. It cost about $5 and I've been using it for years. I think Walmart has them.
JohnnyB

 

[Slumlord]

Hey Johnny,

Yup, Napa has one really similar for the same price. I suppose I should have checked there before posting.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Geeto67]

what bike?

I usually just turn the petcock off, connect a hose to the petcock running into a gas can and then turn it on. walk away and check on it in an hour or so. Oh and do this outside or your garage will smell like shit.

if the petcock is fubared I will turn the tank on it's side, remove the petcock and then set the tank up on a stool with a funnel underneath running into a gas can.

This doesn't usually work for bikes with a vacuum petcock (kawasakis, suzukis) but for cb750s it works fine

for vacuum petcock bikes that little pump should work fine.

 

[jbranson]

Geeto... I'm not sure if he is talking a race bike or not. But with the race bikes it can be a pain. I have three bikes that have to have the tanks drained before heading home each event. They are in an enclosed trailer that shares living space so I can't have fuel sloshing around in the tanks on the way home.
One problem with the little pump thingies is some of the hoses on them are pretty short. Petcock method can be easier if you have the time for it to drain.
JohnnyB

 

[Geeto67]

I can understand draining a race bike, espically one that you sleep next to.

something tells me if he had a race bike he would not be asking the question they way he did.

I used to have pretty heavy gas powered radio controlled toys habit. There used to be this siphon for filling up and draining the tanks that was actually a hand crank. The more you cranked the faster it sucked all the stuff out. it was a neat little toy, called a fast fill or something like that.

winterizing? there is still a good 2-3 months of riding weather this year.

 

[bfd]

Geeto
If your Duc is like mine and you don't have the luxury of riding the tank dry, your going to have to syphon at some point. All the lines on my bike are buried underneith

 

[imslow]

remember . . . i before e except after c

 

[Geeto67]

quote:
Geeto
If your Duc is like mine and you don't have the luxury of riding the tank dry, your going to have to syphon at some point. All the lines on my bike are buried underneith

right now, yeah I don't hardly use the thing. I thought I was going to break in the bike in the first week. The day after I bought it however I got called into work on a time sensitive project and I have been there ever since working 12 hours a day 7 days a week.

The nice part about my duc is the tank is plastic so I don't have to worry about rust (just gummied up fuel pumps) and it is FI which means it can compensate for some really crappy gone bad hi-test.

the really really nice thing about my cb750 is that I ride that bike everywhere and I don't mind that it sits outside uncovered, and all cb750s tanks are interchangible...so I just throw what ever tank is full on and ride that bitch dry as a bone. I think she is only not used 3 months out of the year which is whatever 3 months it happens to be snowing.

 

[Slumlord]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments.
As for the race bike comment, no no, it's just a stock CB 550 K. There is nothing race worthy about it. I'm just looking to drain it so I can pull the tank, get it painted and start in on restoring the rest of the inner workings (Carbs, hoses, etc).
I did end up picking up the little plastic pump things last night, so I'm hoping that does the trick when I siphon the gas this weekend. If it doesn't work how I want, I'll try the petcock method - Thanks Geeto!

 

[Bret]

"All the lines on my bike are buried underneith"

quote:
remember . . . i before e except after c

Unless the word doesn't have an 'i' in it. Underneath.
Sorry for the hijack. Couldn't resist.

Cheers, Bret @ Glass from the Past

 

[peteN]

spot on, Bret. Nice catch.

if at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer

 

[Diamondj]

For steel tanked street bikes, you are better off using a stabilizer like Sta-bil in the gas. Run it until the stabilized gas is in the carbs and you should be good for the few months you can't ride. Pulling the gas out of the tank leaves the door open for rust......

Jim