fuel pump

[Guest]

hi all, mark h in mesa arizona here. is there a non-stock replacement fuel pump
available for my '86 gl1200 interstate? the local shop wants $185 for a new oem one.
mine has always made a dull clicking noise when operating but lately the sound has
changed to a more metallic clicking sound and i'm thinking that the pump may be
going out on me. also, the tech at this shop tells me that if the pump actually fails
i can bypass it, connect the fuel supply line directly to the carbs and that the bike
will run normally as long as the gas tank is kept at least 2/3 full. any truth to this?
thanks in advance for any info or suggestions.

[Guest]

I don't know about any truth to it - but I wonder what happens when you go below the 2/3 line. LOL. Even if it does work good til the 2/3 line , I would hate to always fuel up at 2/3's tank full. Good luck - hopefully tricky or someone can help you out. ------WngDng------

[Ed Z]

The pump is a rather low pressure design... The first 1/3 of a tank would likely keep the carbs fed as long as you were gentle on the throttle... Many bikes use simple gravity feed (no pump) and work quite well... What really determines the need for a pump is the location of the tank (above the carbs) and the choice of the float seat diameter...

You can use just about any pump as a replacement as long as you take into account the pressure limits (pop-off pressure) of the needle and seat in the carbs... If you go with a higher pressure pump, then you would need to also change the flloat seats to a proportionally smaller diameter (increase pop-off pressure)... If my pump were to fail, then I'd go with something like this and mount it where the fuel filter currently is...

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