Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Restoration question

Hey guys, I am restoring a 1978 Kawasaki Z1-R Turbo and I know this isnt the forum to discuss Kaw's, but this is the forum where the collective brain trust lives for everything cool on 2 wheels. Anyways, this bike has been sitting in storage for about 10 years and it is obvius that before it went in the gas tank hade either a cup of oil poured in for preservation or there is some really, really, really old bad gas in there. ANy suggestions on how to get it out?

if it is the old gas turned to tar it's a tough job. Best thing I found short of costic chemicals is to fill it with gas or kerosene and let it sit for awhile to dissolve it. Agitate it from time to time. This is how I clean that gunk out of my 55 Studebaker that sat in our barn from 1964 to 1992 when I pulled it out.It had gas in it all those years and it turned into a solid.

Many years ago I used a Bardahl recirculating cleaning tank for the same purpose and it worked well; maybe you can find a local automotive shop that has one in use that you can access, a SafetyKleen sink might work just as well but I've never tried that. Also, I'd put a teaspoon of Marvel Mystery Oil down each spark plug hole and let it work for a couple of days before I ever tried to turn it over.

What Dog said - AND DON'T TWIST THAT THROTTLE UNTIL YOU'VE CLEANED THE CARBS. You'll crack the diaphrams, stretch cables, screw your floats, and possibly screw up other carb stuff.

I'd take the carbs off and soak them in the same sauce you use to melt the gunk out of the tank.

Any good solvent like Goof Off should work,
but after I would coat the inside of the tank with something like Kreem.