Hi K Gurus,
                I find myself needing your advice once again. The fuel delivery and return hoses are cracked with age and will eventually fail.
One hose appears to do a lap around the top of the crankcase between leaving the tank and entering the rear end of the fuel rail. Do I have to remove the fuel tank and dismantle the air cleaner box and other bits to replace it?

Or, is there a much easier way like connecting the new hose to the old hose and drawing the new one through as the old one is removed. I imagine it could be similar to the way electricians pull wires through a conduit.

I'm looking forward to your advice.

Cheers
Leon 

You need to remove the air filter box because the hose goes to the fuel pressure regulator then from it so there are actually 2 hoses. Make sure to leave an extra 50mm of hose to make it east to get under the tank without removing it.

I did my last one a few months back.

The original lines are clipped with clips that you can't easily remove, I used stainless steel worm drive clips when I did the replacements so its possible to get them off with just a screwdriver.

'Remove air box' as Clymer says all sounds so simple, if only. You only need the bottom half out of the way but.....the top half will just lift out of the way so no problem there. The bottom half has 2 Allen bolts [6mm?] into the top of the crank case. After 32 years they don't want to come out easily and if you totally bugger them up you end up having to cut off the bottom half of the air box. Fine if you have a spare. So, try and get lots and lots of WD40 or something in there to ease the removal for quite a few times before you finally go at it. Two access routes, one from top where the air filter slides in, second is through the air intake pipe out the right hand side of the airbox which you will need to remove. For getting the bolts out you really need access to both. One of mine was tight and I did manage to get a visegrip onto. If you bugger the bolts just nick one off some other part of the bike. Copper grease on them before they go back and don't lose the washers etc that seem to be UNDER the airbox as in between the airbox and the crank case. With that out of the way you have enough room to get at the Fuel Pressure Regulator [FPR] to get the 2 pipes off it.

You do need tank out of the way as you don't want petrol around you and it allows the top of the airbox to lift up out of your way enough to get in there. BUT be very careful removing the lines from the tank. It will most likely piddle fuel everywhere so let it be run very low before going at it. Tank should be put on some cloth or carpet but don't have it resting on the spigots, lay on side with some cloth covered wood under the left side. The spigots under that tank CAN break off and for bad luck watch the spigots on the fuel rail too, you could have concealed corrosion there and too much brute force could break them. I didn't worry too much as I had a nice clean spare rail in the shed.

The standard BMW line is 8/13mm and they sell it in a meter length, plenty for all the lines.

The pipe nearest the radiator has/should have insulation sleeved over it that you can slip off and reuse.

As with everything other jobs when you are in there with tank off.... new crank case vent pipe which does perish and fail, also replace the vacuum line from the no 4 intake that goes back to the FPR.

When you get the lines all back in place on the fuel rail and on the FPR and the clips sorted it's time for a mug of tea and clean out the earths and electrical connections under the fuel tank.......
 
Pay close attention to the fuel pump plug at the front left of the tank on the bolt down tank, look for signs of arcing and close up the connections on the bike plug a little to make sure its a good tight fit going back so you get a good electrical connection.
 
I would pop the tank back on before putting the air box back and test the running to make sure of no fuel leaks anywhere but especially around FPR as you wont get back in easily. Once that's all good you know your electrical connections are good and pop the tank back.

Of course while you are doing this easy to consider new air filter and new fuel filter while you have the tank off and then go the rest of the way and do all the fluids because you have access to the radiator too..........

Even better is that if the darn clutch cable has been stiff its now going to be so easy to replace it........

After that you go for a test ride and wonder 'how amazingly good the K feels after just changing the fuel lines'.

BMW 13mm hose clamps are better than generic worm drive hose clamps - part 13311460928.

You don't have to use BMW fuel line for the external lines. Any fuel line rated for fuel injection will do. (They are all ethanol friendly these days.) You can use 5/16" fuel line if 8mm is not available.

Getting the whole air box out of the way so you have plenty of room to get to the FPR lines:
http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/maf/maf.htm

The BMW parts guy did advise against them too as in 'Jubilee' type clips but there is a BMW stainless steel one that uses a screw arrangement which I found out because I brought one in with me and he said it was used on some R bikes. That's exactly the part no 13311460928 you posted.

Not cheap but essential if you want or need a tank off away from home.

I just found the BMW fuel line cheap added in with a bigger order. It also is nicely stamped outside with the manufacture date.

It looks like I'll be spending Saturday afternoon in the workshop with friend Bill. Olaf, you must have spent quite a bit of time writing such detailed instructions and warnings. Thank you so much. For Rick G and  Duck thank you for your input also..

I'll let you know how it goes.
Cheers
Leon

Leon

Its not too hard to wrote down that lot having done it exactly like that. It seems a lot but the trick I think with a K is when you go in somewhere do all the things likely to get you are you are going in. When I went at the fuel lines the first time I couldn't shift those Allen bolts in the air box for anything. Not too long after I found myself in France with a fuel leak and supping tea at BobT's house when I mentioned it. Anyway with his assistance and insistence and his superb tools I went at it again and he managed to get the two bolts opened. A bit of copper grease on them and popped them back so when I did go at the job I knew they would come out. Go at them first because without the airbox bottom off you wont be doing the job. If you have already cut fuel lines etc at that point then you have no bike until you sort it.

Those clips Duck mentioned are essential too. They are also very neat.

Might sound a strange thing but if you do buy the meter length of BMW hose cut 2 small lengths of it about an inch long and seal one end with a decent mastic so its fully closed off. When you disconnect the fuel hose one at a time slip them on to the tank spigots, they will go on easily, stop spillage and stop anything getting in. You can do same with the injector rail. When you travel leave 2 of them tucked away somewhere. If you ever find yourself taking the tank off at any time you will smile inside.

Bill for company as in Indian036? I can't think of a better way to spend a day. .....

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:Might sound a strange thing but if you do buy the meter length of BMW hose cut 2 small lengths of it about an inch long and seal one end with a decent mastic so its fully closed off. When you disconnect the fuel hose one at a time slip them on to the tank spigots, they will go on easily, stop spillage and stop anything getting in. You can do same with the injector rail. When you travel leave 2 of them tucked away somewhere. If you ever find yourself taking the tank off at any time you will smile inside.

That doesn't sound as strange as Clymer's plug-it-with-a-golf-tee instruction.   It sounds more secure.

A quicker easier way of blocking off the tank spigots which involves no messing around with mastic is to loop a piece of hose from one to the other.

I was wondering when I would get that one so this is how it went.

Clymer: I bought the golf tees but found they don't work in the tank spigots and therefore don't stop the fuel leaking. They do work in the tops of the fuel hoses left after you take the tank off, just to prevent stuff getting into them.

Looped pipe on the tank spigots: works but when you take the first fuel line off and put on the pipe the other end is open until you connect it to the second spigot. You need to plug it with a finger meantime which leaves only one hand to get the second pipe off. When you pull the second one off the fuel tank you need Manual Dexterity to help get the hose end on the spigot and that bugger isn't always around when you need him. The BMW fuel line is much too rigid to bend around to form this loop so you need some extra plastic tubing. One you make the two fuel line spigot caps they are for life.

Hence my solution.

LeonW wrote:It looks like I'll be spending Saturday afternoon in the workshop with friend Bill. Olaf, you must have spent quite a bit of time writing such detailed instructions and warnings. Thank you so much. For Rick G and  Duck thank you for your input also..

I'll let you know how it goes.
Cheers
Leon

Mission accomplished.  

An extra hand and an extra mind made the task easier, but Leon had it under control. A successful afternoon of tinkering and kameraderie.

Hopefully, Leon will soon be able to join us on a ride somewhere. The RS is raring to go. Its in better order than many we see, and has done some good travelling already.

Gaz et al, keep an eye out at Phillip Island.

Bill

As Bill said, mission accomplished. a very pleasant way to spend Saturday arvo. I went for a spin on Sunday for about 100kms and all is well. No fuel leaks or other nasties. And thanks to Bill for the assistance and company. There were many times when 2 hands and 2 brains were better than one.

The next adventure is to Phillip Island next week. I think we have more to worry about with the weather than the bike. Fingers crossed and I hope that comment did not jinx me.

Cheers
Leon

Excellent outcome!!