New Member! First Bike Build - '84 VF500F Interceptor - 7000 miles!

The stock fuel delivery system looks like this:

from the '84 parts fiche


photo of stock fuel system on an '84 VF500F:


If your aftermarket inline fuel filter is working to spec you should be okay running the bike without the redundancy of the petcock filter screen, IMO.

 

Not sure which tank you will be using, but the "Red-'84" tank should be full of debris and flakes, I wouldn't even think using it without the screen.
Even so most likely the debris won't make it to the carbs if an inline filter will be used but you will be risking clogging the petcock and damaging the seal when changing from "on" to "res".

 

+1 A very good point, running without the petcock filter screen is contingent on having a clean rust free tank.

 

This thread brings up a good topic, as the petcock screen is NLA, perhaps, with some Yankee ingenuity, a brass mesh screen can used to fabricate a replacement (link below).




Wire Mesh Filter Disc, Woven Mesh Disc Disk Filters from TWP Inc.