Fuel tap (petcock) alternative.

I tried a search but drew a blank. Has anybody swapped their vacuum petcock for a 'normal' on/off/reserve?

It was a common and recommended mod when I was running my Kwak ZRX1100 as the vac tap had a habit of failing which was only highlighted when a float valve went bad and filled the crankcases with fuel.

Worthwhile mod or waste of money?

Thanks

 

I did and I like it a lot. Just have to remember to turn it off.

 

I did too. Works great, I plugged the vacuum line with a bolt that fit tight in the line and tucked it up in the frame.

 

Why not just pull the vacuum line off completely and put a rubber cap on the nipple like the other three?

 

many thanks, I will put one on my shopping list

 

You can convert the existing one with a small amount of epoxy putty.

 

if your petcock is similar to this ,as wizard says you can make it into a manual one with a little epoxy putty



remove the vacuum valve and fill the hole with the putty

to do the job right you need to turn the cicular valve on the lever 180 degrees

do this by filing off the stop lug.
doing that means the i.d. on the face plate will be wrong, so bondo the plate and rename the positions.




so now you end up with 2 off's ,top and bottom, and forward for "on" and backwards for "off"
stu

 

I LIKE my vac-op petcocks. I have a brand new one and two rebuilt ones, and they all perform flawlessly.

(I also like my self-cancelling turn signals.)

 

You are right, Fitz, when they work correctly, they are great.

 

Many thanks guys, esp bensalf for the pics on how to convert.
I run a few 30 plus year old bikes, so sometimes they can sit idle for a month or two, so fitting a manual tap does give a little peace of mind.

I also like the self cancelling indicators by the way

 

that's slick bensalf, never seen this done before, fnf you could add a briggs & stratton shut off valve to the fuel line per rick's tutorial. hope this helps.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------to do the job right you need to turn the circular valve on the lever 180 degrees
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sorry that would be 90 degrees
stu :roll:

 

My Norton has manual fuel taps (of course) and also brass floats and other hardware.

It's like "Russian Roulette" with forgetting to shut the fuel off against the always-possible hung float.

I've owned the bike for 40 years (anniversary just passed) and I only "lost" twice. Luckily the old pre-unit Britbikes don't have a sump to fill with gas, the oil is inconveniently held in a remote tank. Just makes a giant stinky mess in the parking lot of the restaurant you stopped at.

 

The one time one of your floats sticks gas will get into the engine.