From the "It pays to follow directions" department

A little while ago I replaced the fuel pump on my bike. It wasn't too hard a job at all -- pull off some bodywork, use a special one-purpose tool, and remove and replace.Or so the theory goes.After I did this I noticed a problem.When I would start up the bike sometimes it would make a giant cloud of white smoke. This was disconcerting. It was more worrisome when I realized it was gasoline vapor boiled off my exhaust header.At first I thought I had overfilled the bike. The next fill-up I left a lot more space and I still had the same issue. In fact when I pulled the bike into the alley when we went camping I found the left header soaked in gas not more than five minutes after I shut her down.The leak wasn't from anything except where I messed with when I swapped the pump assembly.I asked online on a forum I frequent and quickly got an answer.

This might seem obvious but there was an inmate who was installing the gasket onto the pump first then slipped the assembly into the tank's opening resulting in a chronic leak.

Umm... sounds like the issue. That's the process I did.Or, of course, I could have just followed the instructions.Yeah. Right up on top.

Seat sealing ring in the fuel tank and lubricate the ring's contact face with the fuel-pump unit.

I did the opposite. I installed the ring on the pump and jammed the whole sucker down.Here's the aftermath on the ring I replaced tonight:Something jabbed the seal good and it tried to compress the whole thing.In profile, the ring looks like it goes around something:It does. The gas tank.Grrr...Thankfully when I ordered the pump I stuck the gasket into my cart as well. The original one I chewed up at least had a replacement.  :-)