Suzuki 2 Strokes

Just got a '73 GT250. This bike is in beautiful. shape, garage kept and all original parts (even the tires ). Runs beautiful, just needs some minor repairs as it's been sitting for a while. The big problem I'm having at the moment is a leaky petcock. It's leaking around the valve/switch/selector/whatever you call it. I pulled the two screws holding it on, and behind it there's a metal ring, and it's all bent out of shape. Anyone run into a similar issue? I feel like a little gasket paper would probably fix it right up, but I don't want to mess anything up since I just got everything else on the engine running just right...

I don't know much about 250's. But, nearly all petcocks are the same in some sort of fashion. The bent ring is most likely a wave washer. It's suppose to be bent. When the plate is tightened down over top of it, the wave washer acts like a lock washer and provides more pressure due to it's bent design. Most petcocks have a small spring behind the fuel switch that you said was leaking. That spring loses elasticity over time. If you were to remove it and pull on it to stretch it ever so slightly it should be ok after. Stretch it out to gain a quarter inch or so of length. If it's the original petcock, being 30 some years old. If it were me, I'd work on replacing it as a whole or all of its internals. 30 some years of gasoline contact does bad things alone. Then take wear, expansion, contraction into account. Consider yourself lucky, that any petcock would last 10 years. Leak free. One of a couple reasons fuel pumps were installed in modern motorcycle tanks. Petcocks are simply not reliable from a sealed stand point.

Behind the lever should be a flat rubber with 4 holes in it, look it up online and replace it. It's part number 5 on this, go ahead and get 3 & 4 as well.

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no 3 is the filter,it will be o k.no 2 and 4 and 5 should be replaced.2 and 4 MUST be flat washers.I put o rings in the first one I did and it took ages to click that they are flat.I have 4 reconditioned and tested units on my bench.(these have new diaphrams).if you have any more leaks I can help.