Petcock identification and advice to repair.

[Prisondawg]

Hello, my tank is from what I believe to be a 78 special, I'm thinking these petcocks are swapped since they both appear to be facing the same direction. One was leaking so I took it apart to see what was happening and the washer was bent out of shape so I tried to straighten then out and replace them , now they both leak worse than ever before. I was looking to just swap them out for new ones Mike's has then for 41$ each I don't mind spending the 80 something dollars for peace of mind . They say they work up until 1977 however will they work on my tank. Here's a picture of what I'm working with now and a link for what I would care to replace them with . https://www.mikesxs.net/yamaha-xs650-petcock-oem-type-non-vacuum-rh-oem-447-24510-02.html

 

[XSLeo]

What you have in that pic is some aftermarket petcock mounted on a adapter plate. Who ever put them on there used either two lefts or two rights. There should be a left and right.
The early bikes used the regular petcock with OFF/ON/RES. The later used a vacuum petcock with ON/RES/PRI.
The vacuum petcocks had a wider center to center spacing.
Mike's sells manual petcocks to replace the regular petcock as well as the vacuum petcock. So measure the center to center spacing of the mount bolts that go into the tank. Make sure you get the ones that match your tank.
The washer you straightened, was in under the plate that holds the lever in place? If so that was is supposed to be bent. It is what is called a wave washer. It is what provides the pressure to hold the lever in tight against the rubber piece with the holes in it.
Leo