12 replies to this topic

[Hello Kitty]

I picked up a nice fuel cell yesterday from Vern Hauck. He had it nicely set up on his 07 FJR. All that I need to do now is plumb it. But since I couldn't wait for that, I wanted to put it on the bike and go for a ride. My friends here might be pleased to know that said ride was to the shooting range for a little fun with a Glock 33, Sig P220 and MP5!!! Oh man! What fun! I even donned my Gerlachfest 09 head gear!

My FJR is an 08, as I said before, Vern's is an 07. I had to remove the grab rail to get it on though.... Of course, I can't remember if Vern's had the grab rail on or not. He had a Givi plate mounted on the tail, so I couldn't see if the tail cover thingie was there or not. So I have two questions:

1) Is the 07 a little different in the, um, tail?

2) Removing the grab rails means removing the little cover of the tail and it's a little unsightly. On the GS, I wouldn't have given a shit, but the FJR is a little prettier. Is there some sort of rack or something I can get? I do want to eventually mount a top box, but would like to put something there now.

Thank you!

[fljab]

HK,

No difference between those yrs in that respect. I have a cell mounted on the pillion area behind me and had to remove the grab rail also to get it to fit.





Without the grab rail and rear rack, it's kinda bare and not easy to tie things down. I bought a plate/rack used off the forum here and mounted that on the tail. Here's a couple of pics you can see it and also a vendor link so you can see it better.





http://tinyurl.com/84fk4sj

Those buggers are kinda pricey and I was glad to pay $75 for a good used one here. I like fabbing things up but this is one item that it's hard to beat the aftermarket version unless you have some pretty good home shop equipment.

I was worried about mounting this plate directly on the tail without the grab rail rack mount, but I've had no issues with it and it's been to GBU last yr, the Void, and Taos. I'd think you could use something like a Givi mount back there also, but you will need something.

Hope this helps!

PS what are your plans for drilling the bottom of your main (factory) fuel tank to plumb the aux fuel in?

[Peter Murray]

Nancy, as noted the back of the bikes are the same. I use a rear mounting plate for the pelican case. I don't recall who makes if but it has FJR logo machined out of the plate. This plate was designed to acomodates the Givi top box.
Hope this helps.

Side view with pelican case.



Rear view

[SkooterG]

Hey Nancy! As noted above, the 'tails' of FJRs should be identical.

Also, if the grabrail is removed, you need to be very careful mounting anything on the rear as there have been several cracked/broken rear subframes from overloading. If the grabrail or a Givi mounting rack is on the bike, it gives the rear area several mounting locations to absorb the weight. Without either of those, all weight is being transferred to just the very rear of the subrame which not strong at all.

[101stpathfinder]

Nancy, as noted the back of the bikes are the same. I use a rear mounting plate for the pelican case. I don't recall who makes if but it has FJR logo machined out of the plate. This plate was designed to acomodates the Givi top box.
Hope this helps.

Nancy,
I believe this mounting plate of which Peter speaks is this one:


http://www.pca-one.c...A&bikeYear=2007

[Peter Murray]

Nancy, as noted the back of the bikes are the same. I use a rear mounting plate for the pelican case. I don't recall who makes if but it has FJR logo machined out of the plate. This plate was designed to acomodates the Givi top box.
Hope this helps.

Nancy,
I believe this mounting plate of which Peter speaks is this one:


http://www.pca-one.c...A&bikeYear=2007

That's it ,,Thanks Pathfinder !!

[Hello Kitty]

Nancy, as noted the back of the bikes are the same. I use a rear mounting plate for the pelican case. I don't recall who makes if but it has FJR logo machined out of the plate. This plate was designed to acomodates the Givi top box.
Hope this helps.

Nancy,
I believe this mounting plate of which Peter speaks is this one:


http://www.pca-one.c...A&bikeYear=2007

Oh that is perfect! Thanks Peter and PF!

Thank you for the warning, Skooter. I have a tendency to do this, so reminding me often is not a bad idea. That was another plus of the GS. The downside of that, of course, is that then you have a ton of shit to pick through before finding what you really need to find. Less is more.

Yeah, I think that tail plate will be perfect. Do ya'll have a rough idea of the weight I can safely put back there? If I keep it to a small bag with just some clothes, I imagine it will be fine, right? but knowing a weight to keep it under would be nice.

As for the drilling, Vern printed out a thread on here, I think, or maybe from Dale's site, with nice step by step on drilling the main tank. Haven't delved into it, but it looked like clear instructions. Drilling a hole in the tank is always terrifying. If there was ever a time to not fuck up, that would be it. Well, I suppose there are others, but that's a biggie in my little corner of the universe.

Thanks for the tips. She'll make he LD debut in Ely later this year

[BIODSL]

As for the drilling, Vern printed out a thread on here, I think, or maybe from Dale's site, with nice step by step on drilling the main tank. Haven't delved into it, but it looked like clear instructions. Drilling a hole in the tank is always terrifying. If there was ever a time to not fuck up, that would be it. Well, I suppose there are others, but that's a biggie in my little corner of the universe.

I'm totally with you Kitty. The thought of mucking up a $600 tank made me sick to my stomach. I sought help from DougC and it went off without a hitch. Just a few months I struck a deer and severely damaged the bike. The tank was fragged. I found a used one but again was faced with drilling it. With instructions in hand I did the job myself.

Really, it's easy-peasy. You absolutely need the Uni-bit to do the job, but other than that just take your time and follow the instructions in the thread. Also, a nice trick is to wrap electrical tape around the step/shoulder of the bit above the size of the hole you're drilling. This helps prevent you from "overshooting" and drilling the whole too large.

Alternatively, we could schedule a RTP (Ride to Plump) here in the Willamette Valley.

[Colin24]

As for the drilling, Vern printed out a thread on here, I think, or maybe from Dale's site, with nice step by step on drilling the main tank. Haven't delved into it, but it looked like clear instructions. Drilling a hole in the tank is always terrifying. If there was ever a time to not fuck up, that would be it. Well, I suppose there are others, but that's a biggie in my little corner of the universe.

I'm totally with you Kitty. The thought of mucking up a $600 tank made me sick to my stomach. I sought help from DougC and it went off without a hitch. Just a few months I struck a deer and severely damaged the bike. The tank was fragged. I found a used one but again was faced with drilling it. With instructions in hand I did the job myself.

Really, it's easy-peasy. You absolutely need the Uni-bit to do the job, but other than that just take your time and follow the instructions in the thread. Also, a nice trick is to wrap electrical tape around the step/shoulder of the bit above the size of the hole you're drilling. This helps prevent you from "overshooting" and drilling the whole too large.

Alternatively, we could schedule a RTP (Ride to Plump) here in the Willamette Valley.

When I installed the fuel cell on my 2005 I was lucky enough to find a local welder\fabricator that really knew his stuff and was quite familiar with working with motorcycle fuel tanks. Apparently alot of the repairs he does involves fixing tanks on Harleys where the vibration (go figure) has broken off the mounting tangs. But of course the mounts are very close to the edge where the fancy/shmancy paint jobs start. So he has become very good at welding the tanks and not damaging the paint.

So I Just took the tank off and brought it into him. He steamed the tank, drilled the hole and welded a 1\4NPT fitting on the bottom and then did a pressure check to ensure all was good. Perfect job, even though it was within a couple inched of the edge there was zero effect on the paint on the outside. And now I have a quality fitting that simply wont leak, ever. I think it only cost me $50 or so.

Just my $0.02 worth.
- Colin

[Hello Kitty]

Yep, that's the same thing Vern printed out! Though Walt is probably going to be in Portland soon right on the Willamette, the FJR will not be with him. So we'll have to muddle through, though an experienced hand is a comforting thought...

Walt did the cell on the GS and I have every confidence in him - Certainly not going to ride to Ontario, but that's a nice idea.

The cell is sitting on the bike unplumbed right now. But I think she'll have to come off for Walt to sit back there on Saturday. Bought him a VStrom for his B'day and we have about 120 miles to go to get it. He loves riding on the back of my bike.

[Go Far]

Hey Nancy-
I have an '06, read the drilling threads, and ended up laying it out and taping a socket and some wood sticks to route the aux fuel thru-hull and hose. Felt right to mock it up to make sure.
And, ended up with a fuel pump after sketchy fuel transfer in the '07 IBR.
AND- broke the rear subframe in the '07 AND '09 rallies
Like Skooter sez... added a Give rack and all was well after the '11 rally

[01VFR]

Hello Kitty,

2 simple comments:
Without using either the GIVI tail rack or standard factory grab rails, you will break your rear subframe. The only question is when it will happen. Packing just clothing will prolong it awhile but a laptop will be too much weight. For me it was going over some railroad tracks at a high rate of speed in Louisana during the 2009 NSR. New they are $400+. Luckily I was still under warranty at the time.

If you screw up the big drill, the simple solution is to get a weld in bung and have it done the right way. Or you can buy another gas tank, which I have (2) like new for a 2008, if you need one


Good Luck, Corey

[dcarver]

What, this makes you nervous?
Why?


Too late to stop now..


Kitty, I fixed the broken pix link on my site, some good stuff there...

like pix of getting that stupid fuel pump out of the hole..

Ok, here's the tip. The sending unit attachés to the fuel main with one 'tang'. Pry the tang downward, (see black horizontal mark) gently, with a small flat blade screwdriver, then push the sending assembly downward about 1/8". You will need good close up vision (not me) and nimble fingers (again, not me), but you *can do this*.

Have to say though, the weld job seems most excellent ASSuming your welder does it right...