The Hodaka Club Forum

Hi all, after five years of absorbing your collective wisdom I thought I'd jump in to say hello and share some pictures of my 01 Dirt Squirt that is finally up and running. Growing up we had a few Hodakas in the family, but my favorite by far to ride was the red-tanked Squirt, and when one came up nearby on Craigslist after a random search, it had to be destiny.
She had reportedly been sitting in a backyard under a tarp for eight years prior to being sold, and then five more in various stages of rebuild in the garage until I finally decided in December to finish the job. Fortunately only a few parts were actually missing (still wondering where that carb slide went?) and several others needed replacing, but with help from Paul and Bill, it is once again complete, albeit with a couple of better-than-stock parts. Admittedly, it is not a full-on restoration, but will still a lot of fun to trail around on.
Just a couple of questions for you all, I saw the recent thread on removing the oil pump if premix is preferred. Back in the day that was the first mod that good old Dad did to the bike, even before taking delivery, to run premix. But, is it even recommended, or does the oil injection work reliably, assuming you remember to put oil in it? Right now I am taking the belt-and-suspenders approach with both pre-mix and oil injection, just to be cautious. OK, it does smoke a little...
Also, I replaced the old disassembled petcock with the NOS replacement, but the old one seems to be pretty serviceable and should be of value to someone out there, except that the lever doesn't fit snuggly in the petcock. It looks like there should there be an o-ring that fits around the lever where it fits into the housing...does anyone know the size or whether a replacement would be available, or what the size is?
Thanks for any help you can provide!

Beautiful Job !!! One of my personal favorite models and you made us all proud.
Congratulations on a job well done!!
Paul

Keep in mind that when the oil injection system was installed on the Dirt Squirt we were using oil mixtures recommended at 20 to 1. We now use improved oil and most are using 30 or 40 to 1. So if your system is working you are getting more oil than needed if you are using the new improved 2 stroke oils. So I can see that you would be smoking if you also mix oil in your gas.

I would say use one or the other but not both. I know it is hard to know if the oil injection is working. One way is while you have some oil in the gas take an oil line loose and get some air in it. Then run it a little and see if it moves (assuming you have a clear line that you can see through.)

To further gain some trust in the oil pump, pull the banjo bolt at the intake and replace it with a short 6mm bolt. Then run your oil line into a zip lock bag and seal it with a zip tie or rubber band. Then run it with premix in the fuel tank and verify that you are getting a steady supply of oil output. This is also assuming that you have checked the oil pump cable and actuating tang and adjusted if required.

My opinion on using the oil pump vs eliminating it? I run 3 different Road Toads with the oil pumps in place and straight non-ethanol gas in the fuel tanks. These bikes are ridden around town on occasion and are not driven hard. So I trust the oil pumps for this purpose. If I were running the bikes hard and/or using them off-road, I would personnally elect to eliminate the pumps and run premix. Just my opinion.

By the way, that is one fine looking Dirt Squirt!
Dale

Thanks for your advice and kind words. I'll give it a try with testing the flow from the oil tank, and if it looks good, take a leap of faith with straight gas. I also found a thread advising to stay away from ethanol blends, which is tough to do around here, but I'll see what I can find.

Stations offering non-ethanol gas tend to congregate around marinas or lake access. Since boaters are regularly loading up on it, you can be fairly certain the gas isn’t sitting there in the tanks for very long. I always buy non-ethanol at those types of locations.

I still use Yamalube 2-S in my Yamaha RD350B, which is oil injection. However, the Yamalube is intended for oil injection rather than just premix. The comment about oil ratio is valid. I would not use a modern 32:1 premix oil in the injection system. Use one intended for the purpose. No telling if an injection system can be adjusted for modern lean burn ratios. I have no issues with my Yamaha. Smokes no more than it did back in 1975.

How about Castrol R? Now that would be a good smelling bike!