I'm a active on the General VRCC Forum & have been told you guys have a better solution to my problem than we have. It's as follows:
DK
Member
*****
Posts: 536
Little Rock
View Profile Email Personal Message (Online)
Belly Tank Fuel Pump Failure
« on: Today at 02:52:17 AM »
Reply with quoteQuote Modify messageModify Remove messageRemove
My belly tank fuel pump failed during a recent trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The tank has been installed less than one year and has +/- 7,000 miles of operation since new.
Changing back to gravity flow wasn't a big problem, but stopping for fuel every 120 miles for the remainder of the trip was a hassle, especially for the other riders on bikes with 200 mile ranges.
I want to revert to a gravity system, as Mother Honda intended. Mark T's recently published mod is a great design, but I don't need all of its features or complexity.
Following is a description of what I propose to do & I would appreciate any suggestions or criticisms anyone may have.
I plan to install a Pingle with a "T" added between the petcock & the carb feed hose & connect the Pump output hose to the "T". The vent hose for the belly tank would be extended to a high point above the maximum full level of the original tank. Possible locations would be threading it into the Sissy Bar or terminating it with clear hose in the windshield bracket or inserting it into the backrest. I'm not concerned with spillage if laid down as I've triked my Valk.
The Pump would be defaulted "off" and controlled by a handlebar switch. Upon beginning to stutter when down to reserve, the Pump would be switched on and remain on until emptying the belly tank and again reaching reserve or refilling the tanks.
My thought is that the likelihood of Pump failure would be drastically minimized by the Pump running far less time. My concern is that the Pump failure may be primarily caused by heat and this mod would not obviate that problem. The failure being caused by heat is enhanced in my mind because the failure occurred within an hour after making three consecutive hard trips over the Dragon and the further fact that when I turned on the key the following morning, the Pump kicked on as if it was happy.
What are your thoughts on insulating the Pump? I could either shield it with heat shield insulation or a possibility would be to encase it with SprayFoam.
I understand the distance between the petcock and carb bank is severely limited. Is there room to add both The "T" and a DanMark?
Can the Pingle be disassembled so as to remove all heat-sensitive parts so as to enable brazing or soldering a shorter "T" to the petcock outlet? Is the Pingle made of brass or pot metal?
Again, I'd appreciate any thoughts or criticisms of this plan.
Dan Kennett
kennett.dan@gmail.com 501-541-0046
