[QUOTEIf I bring the battery inside and put it on some aluminum foil or something, will I be able to charge it safely? The charger I bought unfortunately plugs into an outlet, my garage's only outlet is on the ceiling, and the person who shares the garage parks so far over there isn't even room to get a stepladder there without damaging his car...][/quote]

Set the battery on a chunk of wood next to an open window for ventilation and away from your coffee pot or toaster. lol

 

I'd just use an extention cord with the charger. You can use a car battery to jump start but it is not recomended, the extra amps could fry the bike's electronics if your not carefull with it.

As for the fuel selector, leave it in the "ON" position when you ride. It acts as your fuel gauge, when you run out of gas switch to the "RES" to use your fuel reserve to get to the gas station, you should get about 25-30 miles on "RES."
If your bike develops a fuel leak while sitting in your garage with the switch in the "ON" or "RES" position it will drain the entire tank on the floor so it is recomended to leave it in the "OFF" position when your not riding, but I only do it when its in storage.....

Your sell has to be notarized? Where do you live? I've never heard of that...

 

Dragone, good point on the block of wood. I can also use my balcony for ventilated area. As long as it will charge and keep the charge without being on the bike.

Prom, unfortunately with the way the other guy in my garage parks, I don't think I can reach the outlet without risking damage to his car. I need to talk to him about it (it squeezes my space and makes it hard to get out of the car also) but I don't know him and don't see him. It's an apartment complex :-/

As for the fuel selector, I don't seem to have an "Off": I have Res, On, and Pri (prime?).

I live in Ohio. The notarization thing is a pain, and after talking to a friend who went through a similar situation, even if it's notarized the clerk of courts won't accept the transfer if it's been signed a 2nd time. So we're going to have to have him report the title lost, get a new one sent to him by the DMV, and go through the process again. Sigh. I think I made a mistake on this purchase because it's been nothing but hassle, but live and learn.

Re: the bike. Spoke with a buddy who knows his engines, and he gave me some thoughts on things to try as well, including starter fluid to the carb (he's suspecting that the previous owner may have known about bigger carb issues and done that before I got there).

One more thing that I forgot about until I spoke with him: On Sunday when I was struggling to start the bike, I didn't get the kickstand down all the way and the bike went to the ground, lightly. As in, I got control of it enough to lay it down without any body damage and even though I failed to get the handlebars turned away the mirror didn't even break off. But what I noticed was that after lifting it, there was a puddle of gas on the ground. Now the gas cap on this doesn't latch, but that's on the top and I didn't notice at the time any gas on the body of the bike. Since then, no gas has leaked out either trying to start it or while it's standing around.

Does this help at all? I apologize for not mentioning sooner, I had forgotten.

 

One trick when buying a bike is to check the motor immediately when you get there. If it is warm then the seller has already started it, probably because it doesnt start well when it is cold. Always insist on seeing a cold start.

When the bike goes down the fuel will drain out of the float bowls on the carbs. Its not a problem, the carbs arent made to run sideways so its natural for them to leak when its down. However it takes a while for the floats to fill back up when means you may be running the starter a bit before fuel actually makes it to the engine. Make sure you do it in spurts so you dont burn up the starter.

Some starting fluid might help get it running if you have good spark, if nothing else it will eliminate some possibilities. Let us know what you find

 

Follow jeffs post above. And give us an answer. I wouldn't use the starting fluid other then spray it around the carb boots to detect cracks/ air leakage.

 

Thanks for the thoughts, especially on the cold start. I did see it start after I know it had been sitting around for 15-30 minutes, but that may not have been enough time. I should have insisted on longer. Ah well, learning experience :-D

I will let you guys know what I find out. Still trying to get the title straightened out, need to try charging the battery still, and trying to get a friend to look at it this weekend.

Thanks again for everything, and I'll keep you posted!

 

(If you think transferring the title is fun, try resurrecting a salvage bike in Ohio. The state patrol inspectors in Blue Ash are like CSI; if it's not "documented," stay home.)

 

Well the good news is he found a notary that knew him and went ahead and signed it. I have my title now.

had a buddy who used to ride and knows a bit (but not a mechanic) look at it today. We found that there's been at least some customization done; what looks to be the original gas hose has been bypassed, there's a couple hoses in the carb that look to be gas hoses capped with screws, and the hose that appears to be what takes the ags to the carb had fallen off the fuel valve. Unfortunately, re-attaching that was not enough...

We tried starter fluid on the carb's air filters (there are 4 of them apparently on this one?), and I recharged the battery. The engine seems sounds better and stronger now, but the carb does not appear to be firing (wrong word?). It seems as though it's not getting spark for some reason. The spark plugs look good and we cleaned them off with a wire brush. I'll try pulling each and looking for spark later or tomorrow, but just from attempting to turn it on, they aren't firing.

Spoke with the previous owner, and he said he didn't have any problem with spark and insists that he did not have any tricks to get it started.

I got my repair manual today so I'll flip through it. I think I might need to get a mechanic out here though to diagnose it...

 

yes, flip through your manual, get familiar with the definitions and where things are located on your ride. Enjoy the learning curve.

 

Wow, I'm not sure which direction to go with this anymore. I cant keep track of whats been done and what its doing now.

If the fuel hoses came off then it would leak fuel every time you tried to start it. I'm guessing it was a vacuum hose that came off the fuel petcock as you said it did not have an "OFF" switch (Fuel selector switches with no off position are typically vacuum operated) I'm also guessing that your other "gas hoses" that are capped are actually the intake hoses for syncronizing the carbs, but like I said I'm completely lost. Maybe some pics or a video of what its doing would help.