silverbird1100 Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Has anyone done this? Any tips for the gaskets inside and getting a good seal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 I did it a few years ago and don't recall there being anything special to it. Put a little motor oil on the o-ring and it should pop right in. Of course, I'm a super pro wrench puller so a dumb novice might have a problem. Just fucking around, but because I do this stuff all the time I know I find lots of things to be 'normal' and often don't acknowledge stuff that a non-wencher might be stumped on, but I'm pretty sure there was nothing special to it. It might take a good twist & tug to pop the old one loose. There's a little spool like thing in there with an o-ring at each end, I didn't do anything with that. Basically the fuel rail has a big hole at the end just like the FPR and this spool is like an adapter that fits into the two holes to join/seal them. If one wanted to be super meticulous he could replace the o-rings on it, but they seem to go 'forever'. From memory: there's nowhere to put a wrench to hold the fuel rail from trying to twist as you put force on the wrench to break the FPR nut loose. The rail is sturdy but instead of just pulling on the wrench 'till it breaks free I'd use a light hammer or large wrench to tap on the wrench to break the nut free, it just puts less torque on the rail which makes me feel better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverbird1100 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 Thank you very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 18 hours ago, superhawk996 said: From memory: there's nowhere to put a wrench to hold the fuel rail from trying to twist as you put force on the wrench to break the FPR nut loose. The rail is sturdy but instead of just pulling on the wrench 'till it breaks free I'd use a light hammer or large wrench to tap on the wrench to break the nut free, it just puts less torque on the rail which makes me feel better. IIRC, when I did mine, I used an adjustable wrench to gently hold the fuel rail steady while working the FPR with the other wrench. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverbird1100 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) Are these known to fail? I have no symptoms but trying to do preventative maintenance for a 6000+ mile trip this summer. Bike only has 8000 miles but that means it may have sat with ethanol fuel for long periods of time. Edited January 18, 2020 by silverbird1100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomek Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 There is no rule, there are like 20-30 different fuel blends in U.S. My XX is on original FPR, 207 k miles. 90% of those miles were on e10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 2 hours ago, silverbird1100 said: Are these known so fail? I have no symptoms but trying to do preventative maintenance for a 6000+ mile trip this summer. Bike only has 8000 miles but that means it may have sat with ethanol fuel for long periods of time. The FPR on any car or bike can fail at any time. I have enough experience with them and other rubber fuel system parts to say that sitting, no matter the fuel, can be worse than regular use. The one on my '01Bird shit out very quickly after it sat for an unknown amount of time under the PO's ownership. The one in my Porsche also failed very quickly after a long sit before I bought it, and I'm pretty sure it had non-E gas. I'm not a fan of suggesting unwarranted replacements of stuff and if it were just going to be put into local commuter service I'd say let it go, but in your case I vote for replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomek Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 One more thing, if are gonna be there I would replace all vacuum lines, I don`t remember ID, but figure that out and buy couple feel from places like Auto Zone. Cut to the size and replace them piece by piece. Much easier and quicker that way. IIRC FPR is a reference type, so leak anywhere in vacuum lines effects fuel pressure, effects AFRs and gas mileage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superhawk996 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 The FPR is a reference type and relies on the vacuum signal for proper pressure and vacuum hose is cheap. That said, I'd put vacuum hoses on the gateway slippery slope list; why not replace all the coolant hoses, and plug wires, and fuel pump, and the million other more important parts that can actually stop the bike? They last 'forever' and are better quality than what you'll get at Auto Zone. Hoses are effected by time, but not that much. Heat does more to them and with 8k miles they haven't been worked hard. The bike I replaced the FPR on had over 50k and sat a long time before I got it. The FPR diaphragm had failed sending gas though the vacuum hose for an unknown amount of time, years later it's still fine. Nothing against changing it, but I wouldn't consider it something that it needs. But the thought leads me to wonder if anyone has had a hose failure on a Bird, or other bike, it seems to be quite rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomek Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) I`ve seen them cracked and leak, and MPG drop by about 5- 10 %. So it is not gonna stop the bike, 5 bucks says many people don`t even know they are leaking and riding like that. It does not effects anything else, it just creates rich afr under cruise conditions. It does not matter at WOT since there is no vacuum in intake part where injectors are. Bulk vacuum hose is like 2-3 bucks, if you think auto zone is not good enough, you can find high temp silicone for not much more. It takes about 15 minutes to replace them. Those bikes now are 15-20 years old, it would be unwise not to do them if the fuel tank is out anyway. Edited January 18, 2020 by tomek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverbird1100 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 17 minutes ago, tomek said: I`ve seen them cracked and leak, and MPG drop by about 5- 10 %. So it is not gonna stop the bike, 5 bucks says many people don`t even know they are leaking and riding like that. It does not effects anything else, it just creates rich afr under cruise conditions. It does not matter at WOT since there is no vacuum in intake part where injectors are. Bulk vacuum hose is like 2-3 bucks, if you think auto zone is not good enough, you can find high temp silicone for not much more. It takes about 15 minutes to replace them. Those bikes now are 15-20 years old, it would be unwise not to do them if the fuel tank is out anyway. If it won't strand me then screw it, maybe carry it with me but I'm getting excellent mileage and it runs perfectly. I hate breaking into factory job anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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