I have a year 2000 Thunderbird Sport. It has been off the road since 2007 but I have just started to restore it. I have used electrolysis to remove all the rust from inside the tank and very pleased with the result. Clean back to bare metal. I removed the petcock to do this and discovered that the reserve filter has collapsed and broken up. I can not source just the filter to epoxy back into the hole, simple job if I could get this part. The Triumph petcock is around £70 to buy! I can't understand the high price as it is a Mikuni part. Some Suzuki Bandit petcocks have the same 34mm spacing between fixing bolts and are less than £10 to purchase. Some Yamaha ones are less than £7! Interested to know if anyone has managed to source just the filter element to repair a petcock or if they have fitted a different type to a Thunderbird sport tank? Other option is to refit the old petcock minus its filter tube and fit a cartridge filter in the fuel line. There is no way I am forking out £70 for a Triumph supplied Mikuni part.
Thunderbird Sport Petcock
- Thread starter Firework
- Start date
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I doubt that you will ever find just the filter element part you want as a stand alone item.
You mention the Suzuki petcock so why not simply fit another cheaper brand of petcock if it fits?
You mention the Suzuki petcock so why not simply fit another cheaper brand of petcock if it fits?
Looking at the tap on a Suzuki petcock, the fuel outlet appears to be in a different place to the Triumph one. Also, the listed diameter of the fuel outlet is smaller by a couple of millimetres than the Thunderbird sport fuel line. Wondered if this would matter assuming you could adapt the fuel pipe to fit. My bike is not available for me to look at at present. May take a week or two before I can get the tank and bike together. Will have a better idea then.
Understood. You want the outlet pointing in the right direction.
As for the outlet diameter, that could be a problem with fuel feed at high speeds/revs and could possibly starve the carbs to a degree.
If there is no solution then an in-line filter may be the only choice.
Let's hope others will jump in with some opinions and info.
As for the outlet diameter, that could be a problem with fuel feed at high speeds/revs and could possibly starve the carbs to a degree.
If there is no solution then an in-line filter may be the only choice.
Let's hope others will jump in with some opinions and info.
Made a good repair to the petcock for under £10. Bought a Triumph, Norton, BSA universal fuel petrol tap brass gauze filter with 1/8" gas thread from E bay, along with a couple of new gaskets. Removed a few thou from the diameter of the threaded section of the gauze filter and it pressed tightly into the cleaned hole in the petcock casting. The external diameter of the gauze filter is 10mm so I used a 10mm circular punch to cut the holes in the two rubber gaskets to size. Assembled, everything seems to be holding perfectly tight. The hole size in the brass gauze is larger than in the original plastic filter so I will probably still place a cartridge filter in the fuel line as belt and braces.
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Great fix, good for you 
Nice!
Looks pretty darned good. Great job.
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