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This installation has not been vetted by any engineers
or other technical types. |
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The Auxiliary Tank And Mount |
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| Having looked at the various aftermarket racks that would
be suitable for mounting an auxiliary fuel tank, the Alu-Rack
seemed to be the best choice. You can buy one at Twisted
Throttle for $135 (in 2007).
The Alu-rack turned out to be very thick tubing which is a confidence builder as the rack ( and therefore the tank) hangs out well past the mounting points on the bike. The tank could be mounted further forward but then it would have to go up higher in order to get the seat off and on. Mounting the rack takes no explanation. However, I bought four new mounting bolts that were 10mm longer. The bolts that came with the rack were just too short. That may have been due to mounting the rack in conjunction with the Honda / Givi side bags. |
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| The Auxiliary Tank holds a bit over 11 Liters or about
2.9 U.S. gallons. That's an increase to the stock tank's fuel
capacity of 50%.
The tank, when full, should weight about 18 Lbs or so. That's a bit over the limit of the rack and mount but assuming that the breaking strength is well above that, there's still a good margin of safety. A local boat tank welder build this to my design for $100. Great value for the money as the welding was great and took very little sanding - just enough to rough up the surface for paint. |
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| A couple coats of pickup truck bed finish later... |  |
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| Pingel #1210-AH. It has no reserve and the lever movement is oh so
smooth. You can just feel the
quality of this little gem. This is not the place to try saving a few
dollars. You probably have to order directly from
Pingel as nobody stocks this one. About $60 and it's rebuildable.
Pingel is quite specific about instructions on sealing the threads. According to the instructions, Teflon tape should be used on the threads. I just learned that there is the hardware store Teflon tape for plumbing and air fittings and then there is the "other" kind for gasoline environments. Buy the YELLOW tape in the YELLOW package. It says right on it that it can be used in "pipe assemblies handling gasoline..." "You must apply at least 3 revolutions. DO NOT use Teflon liquid or pipe dope, use only Teflon tape." |
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| Filler cap It's a non-vented cap from Mark Williams Enterprises The weld in bung, also from Mark Williams. I think that Sampson Sport Touring also sells these. Pingel too.
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| In order for the petcock lever to clear the passenger grab bars, the tank needed to be spaced up about 1/2 inch. We made these from aluminum. It's quite likely that had the petcock bung been welded a little more to the left we wouldn't have needed to do this. | 
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Sitting in place, but not yet bolted down. |
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A closer look. |
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All bolted down. Petcock closeup. |
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Add a vent - we used 1/4" ID fuel line. |
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| Give your tank a good flush and leave the cap and petcock off while the water evaporates. Flush with alcohol if you like as it evaporates quicker. Or borrow your sweethearts blow drier. ( Probably do that while she's out to avoid the explanation of why you want it.) | |
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Tapping Into The Main Tank |
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| The bulkhead fitting to tap into the main tank is a Tempo
#200150. Try your local boat store.
The thought of that nut coming loose on some lonely stretch of road is a bit tough to shake. The nut has since been drilled through the side for a bit of safety wire. Once the fitting is securely fastened to the tank plate, the hole will be drilled through the threaded portion of the tube and the stainless steel wire installed. The same yellow Teflon tape used to seal the petcock should be used to seal the elbow to the bulkhead fitting - not yet installed for this photo. |
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You can't see the O- ring on the bulkhead fitting on the above picture - it's tucked up under the top of the threaded section. The O-ring and crush washer will be replaced by a pair of Stat-O-Seals |
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| I went to the McMaster-Carr website, a very good supplier for the bulkhead fittings. They show using just one O-ring. Drawing at right. They say "Through-wall fittings, which are also known as bulkhead fittings, allow you to make safe, quick inlets and outlets in plastic and metal tanks, walls, and panels for faucets, pipes, and spigots. To install, start by depressurizing and draining your tank. Cut a hole in your tank, slide the body of the fitting through the hole from the inside of the tank (make sure the gasket is against the inside tank wall), and tighten the nut on the outside of the tank." |
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| We looked at tapping into the fuel pump plate at the bottom of the tank as done by another VFR aux tank installer. We checked for clearance by stacking up 3 hardware store magnets to simulate the bulkhead and hose fitting and found just the right location. When we removed the plate, the rubber flap on the other side pretty much ruled it out as it may have obstructed the flow of fuel. |
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| Instead, we used the magnet trick again to locate a suitable place to drill the main tank. Good thing we did this as our first choice on the left side would have put the bulkhead fitting squarely in the way of the valve cover. This is the final location we chose. The Stat-O-Seal is there to give us an idea of the clearance we'd need on the inside of the tank. We didn't want that thing in the middle of an inside curve. As you can see, it's close. |
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| The bulkhead fitting and Stat-O-Seals just before going into the tank. |
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The worst part was drilling the tank. (Use a step drill). The drilling was easy;
it was the horrible possibility of doing the deed in the wrong place. As it
turned out, it was a near perfect location. "Near" because the gas
gauge float land right smack on top of the outlet ( inside the tank.) Not a big
deal.
Orient the outlet to about the 4:00 position when looking down from above with the tank back on the bike. ( That's back and a bit to the right.) |
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Connecting It All Together |
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| I'll bet you wondered like
I did, about how you were going to get your tank off without spilling
any gas. These fuel line quick disconnects also come from Sampson.
A quick Google and these were the only metal ones I found. Not sure if
they're any better or not than the usual plastic models.
As it turns out, we never installed this. If the main tank needs to be removed, it's an easy job to disconnect the fuel line at the fuel filter ( next photo ), plug the end, and slide the fuel line out. One less connection, one less possibility for leaks. |
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| Although the Pingel petcock has a very nice, fine screen in place, you may want an inline fuel filter or two as well. Carry a spare. If it clogs up, you may be hooped until you find another one. Or get one of those fancy dancy aluminum body models that you can clean all the schmegma out of. Remember to be sure that you orient the filter to the proper flow direction. There's usually an arrow on the casing. | 
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| The fuel line was routed just above the exhaust heat shield. It's hard to see but there's about a 1/4" gap between the fuel line and the heat shield. | 
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A long way from Washington State. |
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| Post Script: on the way home from
Labrador, one of the mounting brackets broke. I suspect a couple of items
contributed to this. First, we forgot to Locktite the mount to bike
mounting screws. A couple came out on one side and the other side of the
mount ended up carrying most / all of the weight. Some really nasty
construction zones gave the whole bike a real pounding. When we remount
the aux tank, I am going to have some extra bracing welded to the mounting
rails.
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| Questions ? - drop me (David Morrow) a note | Updated November 11, 2008 |
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