Motorcycle Repair: 1985 Honda VT1100, honda vt1100, lower tank

Question
Yo ,Ive got this bike its been sitting in the garage 6-7 years .NO spark no fuel ,i stripped it down to access the coils and electric moduals and the lower fuel tank.Im unable to get any fuel out of the lower tank,the dealer said there was a vacume diaphram in the system which i can not find in the manual or on the bike.The petcock is mounted to the sidwall of the lower tank ive removed it, and am able to run a wire up thru the outlet tube to the petcock port so its not plugged. the second petcock port in the tank seems ok,although its weird it has a metal tube extention into the tank ? Thank you for any advice you can provide.Steve

Answer
Steve,

The metal extension tube is probably the non-reserve outlet for fuel delivery.  Meaning, when the petcock is set to "on" it will feed from the extended side and when set to "reserve" it will feed from the low side, the idea being that the sputtering from low fuel will prompt you to switch from on to reserve letting you know the tank is almost empty.  Typically the vacuum assists are located on top of the carburator.  I'm not that well versed in vacuum assisted fuel systems however I know they require clear non-leaking hose and a flexible/plyable diaphram with a tight seal and a freely woking mechanism.

As for spark, check resistance of the coils (high and low tension), condition of plugs as well as their gap and tight clean connections all around.  If all is ok you will need to to swap out the ignition module with a known working one to test.

Good luck,
Mike