I'm sure this isn't the first time this was done but thought I would share.
I have been in need of replacing the screen filter on my Petcock for my bike. stock one is worn and ripped in a few places, but couldn't bring myself to modify or replace the whole unit with an OEM style one. This was $80 or so that I just couldn't see spending... (yea I'm cheep like that)
So ... I thought.. what else is made with that fine screen material that would be a good replacement for this silk cloth type one that comes from the factory... Well, it turns out that a metal cone style coffee filter fits the bill!!
In fact, with concerns about what to use that would be fuel safe or corrosion resistant. it works out anyhow! because the one I picked up is stainless steel. ( I', not a coffee filter expert but assume most would be corrosion resistant like this for health reasons, etc)
Here is the style filter I picked up. ( I got mine from a chain drugstore but assume they have them at the box stores).
What I did was cut out one side of this filter, and then sized up the diameter and length so that it would rap all the way around the petcock about 1.5 times.
Now from here, I tried a few different attachment methods but when trying out a spring, I found it locked it in quite well. Now this part is harder to document, because I happened to have a little box of random springs and want to say the best description is, about 2 inch spring with the diameter of a pencil. Sorry, I should have taken a picture of it before I started bending it "open" but after playing around, I fits quite tight over the new filter and plastic Petcock tubes.
I will let this picture speak for itself but here is the fit covering the lower reserve fuel access.
NOTE: The filter I used wasn't long enough to cover the main fuel access on top, and I plan to re-do this soon but for now, I have tested out about 4 gallons running directly off reserve the whole time to pull fuel from this lower section, using a tank that has small amounts of rust/sandy which shows up after a year of use, and after a week, took out the filter and noticed it had collected a little bit of this material on it. And most importantly, carbs haven't been contaminated!
Once I saw that it really did the job of protecting material that small, ,I thought I would share!
Paul
