Got a bit done on Buzz today, enough to get in a short ride. Very short.

I built a fuel feed and return thingy that bolts in place of the stock petcock. I neglected, however, to photograph it before I installed it. With luck, we’ll never see it again. It is quite simply a 5/16″ tap for feed and an elbow with a 1/4″ hose barb for return. It’s actually a single part found on the shelf at AutoZone that I cut. I cut a piece of 1/8″ plate into the proper shape, drilled two 1/4″ holes to mount it. The OD of the tubing is .370 and I had a drill bit that was .373, so I drilled two holes for the tubing. I put those two too close together, however and I had to angle them away from each other to allow for clearance to put hoses on the tubes. I brazed the tubing in, wire brushed the whole thing, cut a gasket and bolted it up. Voila!

This is an intentionally simple design with no valves. I will procure a suitable feed valve and locate my existing return valve and install them soon. Besides the safety issue, it’s tough to have to drain the tank each time it’s removed, so the valves will definitely go on sooner rather than later.

I had previously drilled a hole in the tank for fuel return. I got a flanged bolt, put a gasket on it and used a piece of wire to pull it through the inside of the tank. I put a washer and nut on the outside and applied LocTite. Hopefully, that’s the last of that, too.

After that, it was just a matter of putting the tank back on (and rerouting hoses), buttoning up the wiring and putting the seat on.

The front tire needed air and I felt obligated to lube the chain.

The ride down the road was a LOT more fun than the push home…

He ran pretty good, actually. I went down my street a couple of blocks, jumped over a block and was headed back toward the main street when Buzz suddenly bogged down and died. He restarted easily, so I figured I just didn’t have enough gas in the tank. I went back to the house and put in about a gallon. My plan was to take him to the car wash, knock some dust off and come back. I decided that if I had troubles, I didn’t want to be on the main road, so I went to a parallel side street and headed for the carwash. When I went over the hump crossing the next street, he died again. This time he didn’t restart.

I pushed him up in a nearby parking lot where there was some light and had a look. I noticed that the fuel pressure wasn’t coming up and I didn’t hear the pump running. I pulled the seat off and found that the fuel pump fuse was blown. I didn’t have a spare 5A, but I did have a spare 10A. I put that in and it didn’t blow, but the pump didn’t run, either. I pushed him home from there. It was only two blocks.

I suspect something pinched. It’s too dark to troubleshoot now. I’ll take a look tomorrow.