help me please

[Milhouse]

Hi,

need to know the length and diameter of the fuel line for a '99 GS500E.

I need to replace mine but it's still in storage in my brothers place (packed behind a lot of his crap so it's a bit hard to get to right now)

Thanks in advance for you help.

House

[raylarrabee]

which fuel line?  There's several of them.

[Milhouse]

damn I don't know.  are they all different diameters?  that's all I really need since I can just buy it extra long and then just cut it to size if I have to.

I think it's the one right beside (most visible) the fuel pepcock.  But if you know the diameters of all of them I will take all the info and just sort it out later.

thanks,

House

[BUZZIN]

I believe the actual ID is 7mm.  The closest in inches is 5/16 ID.  Wild guess on the lengths: At least 18 inches a piece for the two that come from the tank to the frame mounted petcock (more is better when lifting the fuel tank), and at least 6 inches for the one from the petcock to the carbs.  I'd buy a minimum of 4 feet, 5 would be best.

[tdan553527]

4 feet will be plenty, just replaced mine, used 1/4" ID, a little tight on the petcock, but worked fine.

[cheesy]

I believe the actual ID is 7mm.  The closest in inches is 5/16 ID.  Wild guess on the lengths: At least 18 inches a piece for the two that come from the tank to the frame mounted petcock (more is better when lifting the fuel tank), and at least 6 inches for the one from the petcock to the carbs.  I'd buy a minimum of 4 feet, 5 would be best.

you're better off going with 1/4

[BUZZIN]

Has anyone had any experience using clear PVC tubing for the fuel lines?  It seems as though, with what appears to be fuel flow issues that a number of people are having, with clear you could then determine if you are really getting fuel from the tank to the petcock, and from the petcock to the carbs.  Also, when the fuel is low it would be evident which hose from the tank is the REServe vs the ON.  Is there any reason that clear pvc should not be used?

[Milhouse]

Thanks guys I knew I could count on people from this board!!!

SC

[Kerry]

Has anyone had any experience using clear [...] tubing for the fuel lines? [...] when the fuel is low it would be evident which hose from the tank is the REServe vs the ON.

I'm trying to figure out how one would use this bit of info.  The REServe hose from the tank is the one connected to the longer brass tube from the tank-mounted petcock.  (The front one, if the petcock is mounted correctly.)

Unless you know which inlet on the frame-mounted fuel selector switch the RES hose should be connected to, how would knowing which hose is the RES hose be helpful?  :dunno:

But if you're on a ride with someone else, and they run out of gas, and you don't have a siphon hose in your toolkit, I guess it could be useful to SEE which hose has fuel in it, just in case you're down to RES yourself.  That way you know which one to pull off and direct into a can!

Sorry, I can't comment on PVC lines - I don't know anything about 'em.

[Ed89]

Has anyone had any experience using clear PVC tubing for the fuel lines?  It seems as though, with what appears to be fuel flow issues that a number of people are having, with clear you could then determine if you are really getting fuel from the tank to the petcock, and from the petcock to the carbs.  Also, when the fuel is low it would be evident which hose from the tank is the REServe vs the ON.  Is there any reason that clear pvc should not be used?

I have clear reinforced PVC tube for my fuel tube.  I use it only because I was trying to figure out my fuel starvation problem.  I have no problem so far.  But keep in mind that many plastics can be dissolved by petroleum products, and I would suspect that the clear hoses are suspectible to that.  Which is probably why there are hoses that are specially meant for fuel.  So in the long run the hose might become gooey, which could be a problem if the bike has not been ridden in a while allowing build up of the gooey stuff (e.g., winter storage).

I should really change them out now that I have more or less figured out my fuel starvation problem.

Cheers,
e.