1980 Classic fuel petcock question

why would the stand pipe for the main be so tall? seems with the slope of the tank that the pipe should be shorter than 4 inches to extend the main range. got a plugged fuel filter so waiting for dealer to get me a new one. seems the reserve wasnt flowing very well so i took the petcock off to check it out. pretty crudded up and of course i tore up the petcock gasket. will have to order one from dealer when i pick up the fuel filter. looked at an oil drain gasket set i have laying around but its hard plastic and the dealer thinks the gasket is more of a o-ring. at least its going to be raining this weekend so no riding anyway.

The long pipe is the main fuel pickup and the one further down by the nut is the reserve pickup. My 82 GPZ1100 B2 has the same set up.

It would be a good idea to get some carb cleaner and pipe cleaners and scrub out the crud from the selector valve. Remove the phillips head screw and it should come apart easily.

Keep carb cleaner away from the rubber gaskets(don't ask me how I know)and re-assemble the fuel petcock

only have a drain hole for the reserve (no other pipe than the main). cleaned the passages already w/ carb cleaner. oops, didnt't take the selector valve apart before doing this. maybe I will have to order more pieces then just the petcock to tank gasket. i know you said not to ask but....did your selector valve gasket get ate up by the carb cleaner??

That tube doesn't look right to me either unless the reserve on the G1 is 2.5 gallons. Maybe someone did a homemade tube? All my manual petcocks have 2 tubes, one short and one long, but the long is about 2", not 4".

so the $64,000 question, what would it hurt to lop 2" off the tube? hummm

Before shortening the tube, I would first drain the tank (engine off, bike on centerstand or held level) from the petcock into a gas can on the floor to the level where it must go onto reserve. Then switch to RES and drain the remaining fuel into an empty can so the volume flowed from RES may be accurately measured. This procedure will reveal exactly how much gas is available upon switching to reserve tank.

Good Luck!

good idea. didn't think to try this. i will report back w/ results.

I am with Ron... the pickup tube is way too long... looks home made to me. You will be switching to reserve all the time. A reserve without its own pickup tube was OK when the bike was new and the tank pristine but as a tank ages, crud builds up and if you have a flush res opening, it will tend to fill with crud. I would consider using an aftermarket petcock and just get rid of that junk.