Another update in the ongoing saga of my efforts to bring my 1972 Triumph Bonneville T120R to the point of  being able to ride it.

When we last left off, I needed to get my kick pedal bent so it could clear the new muffler (and pipes) that we put on the bike (more about that in the original post, “The Bonnie Situation“).  I’m happy to report that the kickstart pedal now clears the muffler and we’ve successfully started the bike…for about 10 seconds at a time.  It appears we’re getting good compression from the cylinders, spark plugs are firing, but something is preventing the fuel from getting through.

DOH!!! Rust inside the gas tank!

Visual inspection of the inside of the gas tank shows signs of oxidation (rust).  Particles of oxidized metal float in the tank’s ancient fuel…and I have no idea how long this fuel had been inside Bonnie’s tank…possibly 20 years.  20 years of no love, you get Angry Tank (Girl) syndrome.

No doubt the oxidation needed to be fixed, for even if I cleaned the fuel filters and the carburetors, they’d just get clogged again with the rust peeling from the walls on the inside of the gas tank.

Tank removal was fairly easy…once we found the sole elusive bolt that loosened the tank (removed the rubber Triumph medallion right on the top of the tank and there she was!).  Emptied the old rusty gas into a can.  Dave’s going to let that gas settle and strain it…eventually using it to fuel his weed whacker.

The plan is to give the insides of the tank a nice chemical bath, and/or coat the entire inside with some new fancy goo that will magically make this oxidation go away (possibly both).  Mmmm…

Simultaneously, we get moving on thorough carburetor cleaning.  Might as well clean it all.  The theory being:  next weekend we basically have an entirely new fuel system to go with her new exhaust system.

Now, while we had her tank off, we set forth on some good ole’ engine degreasing. She needed some love, for sure!

I have to say…Bonnie cleans up very nicely.  Here are some photos of the process:

Bonnie with tank off (above)

Close up of engine post-cleaning.