Sportster 1800 Mikuni Generic Fuel Pump swap

[howie099]

I replaced my fuel pumps and filers on my Sportster 1800 w/dual 717's single carb engines. I seen a few talking about the Challenger 1800's so here is one of the Sporster 1800 's or any other setup with the single carbed 717's w/External Pumps.
Here is my shopping list of items...

1 - 10' section of USCG 1/4" Fuel line
1 - 10' section of USCG 5/16" Fule line
2 - Mikuni Fuel pumps (your chocice need to be more the 31Gph)
2 - Fake glass universal fuel filters
2 - 6"x1" x 1/8" Aluminium

Total about $120. I only used like 3' of each fuel line if you want to save a little money. iboats had the best deal on it.

I used the Mikuni DF52 series pumps that handle 35Lph. The boat use 31 Lph so you have 10% cushin here. Save a little than going with the DF62's. I did what most people do and JB Weld 1 port and made a plug by cutting the threads off a stainless 1/4'" bolt and used hose clamps just to make sure..

 

[howie099]

After that pumps are dry and ready to go lets say next day. I did remove the flame arestor to make this easier. You can keep it but it is tuff to get around with it there. You just remove the old pumps from the brackets. They are held on by 2 bolts and nuts each. Need 10mm socket and wrench. Air rachet makes this go faster if you need the tip for the day. Very simple. I just cut the rubber hoses at the fuel pump since they need to be shorter and some of it will be removed since I repalced the crappy seadoo fuel filters. I use the old bracket. Did't remove anything from the bracket system. I just added a 6"x1" piece of 1/8" aluminium strip I cut from some old stock. Drill a 1/4" hole in it at one end. I added it to the bottom of the OEM bracket hole closet to the head and mounted the pump back to the bracket. I used the pump to mark the place to make the 2nd hole on the aluminium strip. Drill that hole and secure with bolt and nut of your choice.

 

[howie099]

After you have your pump mounted we are ready to remove the old fuel filters. I just remove the nut holding the filer, removed the lines from the tank, and threw to the side. I left the old brackets there to ziptie one of the new filters. Here is the where the 5/16" fuel line comes in. The boat never came with 5/16" fuel line. The the outlets on the tank are 5/16". To streach the OEM hose pretty much sucks. For $20 I bought 5/16" line also to make this so much easier. In total you only need like 2' of 5/16". The cool thing with this style of fuel filters is you get select what size of nipple you want for the filter. Doesn't get much better than that. I put the 5/16" on the in and 1/4" on the out. Here you can decide on how you want to run the lines. I always try for the shortest lenth with no 90 degree bends. You will need to use some 1/4" fuel line to make new pulse lines since you will be about 2" short with the new pumps. I used mini hose clamps for the fuel line since this fule hose was not as thick as the OEM but was still USCG approved for all fuels out there.

 

[howie099]

You can see in the pics the finished product. The hardest part was cutting the metal and bolts to use as plugs. You can see the new pumps just sit a bit off to the side more than the OEM ones do. Plus these babies are like $30 new and rebuild kits make this cheaper yet to repair. I used my red fast fuel line I use for PWC for the pulse lines. The fuel filters do have replaceable elements also. I found them on Ebay for like $12 each. You can if you want keep your old filters but why these are much easier to see when they are dirty or you can use the standard Fram G2's most people use and only have to stech 1 line. Those filers are like $3 at Wal-Mart. I don't think I missed anything here doing this. Total after the pumps dry you will have about 3 hours in this project.

 

[jhjesse]

Nice write up. I like the idea of replaceable element fuel filters.
I think you will really like the new fuel pumps.

 

[Albysure]

Yea nice....I like how the set up looks... I was lucky enough to find the factory pumps at a local dealer....but next time if I even have the boat I'm going your route...we're you having any issues before this and if so what was it doing?

 

[howie099]

Really didn't have any issues, but the boats only gray temp lines were the pulse lines. Even though I removed them and used another ones green stuff was starting to come out of the pump in the line so I was being pro-active. It does seem to start up faster after sitting. Maybe both the new pumps and shorter fuel lines each one in now like 3-4' shorter after the OEM fuel filter is removed. I am going to open the pumps just see how they look inside.

 

[m.colley]

Thanks for the write up Howie. I'm thinking about doing several mods/upgrades on my 1800 this winter and this is one of them.

Thanks again,
Martin

 

[Albysure]

Sounds good