Roxy: Fuel Filter Fiasco

It's hard to know when to follow the old mechanic's adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Just to keep the carburetor as clean as possible, I figured I could at least tackle the seemingly easy job of replacing the fuel filter, since the one that was on the bike was looking pretty aged.

This is basically how it went...

1. I ordered 2 different kinds of fuel filter online, plus clear blue fuel lines in 1/4" and 5/16", just to be safe.  One of the filters was the same K&N that was on the bike (so I thought).  And the other was a brass 90 degree version that I thought may come in handy if I had to use the original carb with the fuel line on the opposite side of the petcock.
2. Finally had a nice long afternoon to do the work.  Started by cutting off the old rubber lines since they were stuck way too tight to get off any other way.  Everything came off quickly and easily.  On closer inspection, the old filter definitely looked liked it needed replacing.  But it was all downhill from here...
3. Immediately realized that the 1/4" fuel line was way too big to fit either the petcock valve or the carb gas valve.  I thought I could snug it up and make it water-tight by simply using a hose clamp.  I was wrong.
4. Also, the K&N filter that I thought would be a direct replacement was actually longer than then one I had, making it much to long to fit between the petcock and the carb.
5. My long relaxing afternoon in the garage suddenly became a race.  First, went to the hardware store, hoping they had polyurethane hose smaller than 1/4".  They had vinyl tubing that small, and also a polyurethane one but it was thin and stiff and not suitable for the bike.  No luck there.
6. Went to the auto supply store since I had to grab filters as well.  I got two simple brass ones.  At first I thought they were sold out of 3/16" line, but luckily they carry it in the back and you can just get as much as you need.  I got 4' of their black rubber fuel line.  Small ray of hope that the day would get better...
7. Race home and try to pick up where I left off, though now I only have 30 minutes left to work so I'm scrambling.  Scrambling and fiddling with fuel lines isn't the greatest combination.
8. Replacing the lines and filter was actually fairly straight-forward at that point.  Got everything tight and leak-free.  Finally, time to start her up...
9. ... and she won't hold idle - again!!  Not sure why this problem always surfaces anytime I touch the carb.  She's been running just fine for days now.  The only thing I'd done was run gas through the carb.  I can't see how that should affect anything about the idle.
10. But I did notice that my jury rigged choke handle gasket had basically fallen apart.  I figured maybe that was the problem, but then again, had it been fine on all the long rides in the past week and only fallen off today??
11. Left the garage and couldn't get back to work for a few hours, and I was losing daylight.  Under the gun, yet again.
12. At this point, I figured I had nothing to lose, so why not try installing the original carb that I had cleaned and rebuilt?  This carb had the fuel valve on the opposite side, so I had to install the 90 degree filter.  After getting everything swapped, I crossed my fingers and opened the petcock.  
13. Everything seemed to be holding together... until gas started leaking from where the bottom joins the top.  The gasket didn't quite fit the dimensions of the bowl, but I thought the fact that it was squeezed tightly would keep it water-tight.  Guess I was wrong, again.
14. So now I think I'm stuck with the first carb, but I should really install the proper choke handle gasket, just to eliminate that as the possible air leak.  I was hoping I could get the choke handle off with the carb still on the bike.  But I hit the same problem I did on the other carb - the end of the handle was so deformed that it wouldn't pass through the hole.  
15. So I pulled the entire carb off, and just like I did on the other one, I tried to file the tip down so that it could pass through.  But it was already dark and I was working with just a headlamp now.  As much as I filed it down, it still wouldn't pass through.  I finally had to abandon that strategy.
16. So the carb goes back on, and I concentrate on trying to make a better jury-rigged gasket.  I ended up using a small section of the rubber hose, cut to fit snugly into the gap.  I also spread petroleum jelly around the contact surface hoping to improve the seal.
17. And started her again... and actually got a weak, but steady idle.  Was happy enough to leave it at that.  And I'm still left with the question of whether I really should have bothered switching the filter in the first place.

The old setup.

 

Funnel to catch gas from the drain plug.

 The old filter on the farthest left, and the 3 others I had to choose from before the trip to the auto supply store.  The simple one on the farthest right was in the box of parts from the PO, and I didn't know how much use it had already seen.

Testing with the 1/4" lines that ended up leaking.  Nice clear blue lines, though.  Will probably end up ordering them again in 3/16".

And the final setup.  Not very pretty.  Though I did eventually swap the hose clamps for the wire fuel clamps.