took the vf out for a ride to wales as a shakedown test after her rebuild and after 170 miles of no problems she blew a fuse, replaced fuse and got another mile before running out of petrol though i had half a tank full. presumed the problem was the fuel pump, so removed the pump and filter from the equation and she started ok. i have read somewhere that you can gravity feed vf’s this is why i tried it. the bike got me home but would not go over 80mph and if the petrol level dropped lower than a quarter you could feel it starting to be starved of petrol.
has anybody managed to run their bike gravity fed or does the pump need to be used? i am off to nurbergring on her in two months time and dont want the same fuel pump problem happening again.
i have had an email from jamie at daugherty motorsports who has modified his bike to run on gravity feed. he has none of the problems i had, so i presume it was the fact that i used the existing pipe work and may of had a slight kink in the fuel line, i will try re-routing the pipes and see if that works any better.
i have had an email from jamie at daugherty motorsports who has modified his bike to run on gravity feed. he has none of the problems i had, so i presume it was the fact that i used the existing pipe work and may of had a slight kink in the fuel line, i will try re-routing the pipes and see if that works any better.
Hi Gary , Gravity feeding 120 horse,s can be dangerous ,to the health of your engine , Z1300,s have 120 ponies and gravity feed ,they have 5/8 inch fuel line and even that can starve the engine when the tank is low , If your fuel pump is crook replace it with a low pressure Generic Auto unit 3 psi about AU$30 ,pick up the ignition on power from the fuse unit. The fuel tap and fuel lines are too small to safly gravity feed ,and to modify the tank for 5/8 inch lines would cost more than the fuel pump convertion .
Hi Gary , Gravity feeding 120 horse,s can be dangerous ,to the health of your engine , Z1300,s have 120 ponies and gravity feed ,they have 5/8 inch fuel line and even that can starve the engine when the tank is low , If your fuel pump is crook replace it with a low pressure Generic Auto unit 3 psi about AU$30 ,pick up the ignition on power from the fuse unit. The fuel tap and fuel lines are too small to safly gravity feed ,and to modify the tank for 5/8 inch lines would cost more than the fuel pump convertion .
i took howardk’s advice and fitted one from a car, just a bit of re-plumbing and it works a treat. if it fails i will be in touch kfrogzx7.
i tried to get the gravity feed to work but the routing of the pipes was a pain in the arse and every time you moved on the bike the seat would pinch the pipe and you would slowly run out of petrol. i think howardk had a valid point about the amount of fuel delivered causing the bike to run week, when i ran the bike with the new pump it felt great and some of the jetting problems i had been having after fitting a k&n filter and dyno kit (flat spot at 4k). i had cured these faults by re-jetting and moving the needle down but now they are back, causing me to think that my old pump wasn’t delivering enough petrol even when it worked. i will keep a length of fuel pipe under the seat for emergency use if the pump ever does go again and drop the needles one notch. thanks for all the advice.