I've been communicating with a gentleman who builds add-on gas tanks for Valkyries. http://www.rmworksinc.com/index.html The nice thing about his tank is that it fills through the existing tank, then pumps gas to the carburetors from the lower tank. As the lower tank empties, the top tank drains into it. No valves or hoses to mess with and your reserve still works properly.
Unfortunately, my subframe interferes with his standard fuel tank. Although he has offered to custom make one for me, I think it would make sense to do one for the sidecar frame instead. I suggested I would post something over here to see if there is any interest from others. I expect a tank made for my Ural would also fit Dneprs and Changs, possibly others. What say you?
sounds like it will take half a day to fill the lower tank thru the upper one if the gas goes thru the petcocks into the lower one..small dribble.will also need a fuel pump running constantly from the lower tanks to the carbs.much simpler with a gravity fed tank and a line to the carbs.
Rather than paying big $$$ for a one off, maybe the Tour Tank would be the thing. You can get a look at them, www.tourtank.com. Think that I might have seen them or a similar item on e-bay recently, but I just stumbled across it, couldn't tell you exactly where to look. I remember the description offfered a low price as the vendor wanted to generate interest in the product. Hope this helps,
Steve
Oops,
I'm delinquent on my reading ... you probably already knew that ... sorry to restate the obvious.
Steve
I just installed a 3.5 tourtank on my back seat area..super! http://tinyurl.com/bh7a6
I don't really want a gas tank on my luggage rack, or in the sidecar. But wherever it goes, if I have to stop to move gas from one tank to another, I might as well just hang a gas can off the side of the hack. I'm looking for a solution that will allow me to run three hours between stops.
Mike,
not to push mounting the tank on the back seat area, but have you ever heard of fuel shutoff valves? I can run my bike on the standard tank...6 gals, then on the fly,[highway] turn on the valve for the aux tank below the seat edge, and get another 3.5 from there, without stopping.saving some for reserve, of course.
9.5 gal of gas non-stop if your butt is up to it. or more if you put a larger tank on the back, like Gust has. 5 gal . I think.
having the tank on the rear of the seat isnt anymore dangerous than having it between your legs, or as some put it, hanging on the rear of their SC's.
Originally written by Bob in Wis on 1/12/2006 2:36 PM
Mike,
not to push mounting the tank on the back seat area, but have you ever heard of fuel shutoff valves? I can run my bike on the standard tank...6 gals, then on the fly,[highway] turn on the valve for the aux tank below the seat edge, and get another 3.5 from there, without stopping.saving some for reserve, of course.
9.5 gal of gas non-stop if your butt is up to it. or more if you put a larger tank on the back, like Gust has. 5 gal . I think.
having the tank on the rear of the seat isnt anymore dangerous than having it between your legs, or as some put it, hanging on the rear of their SC's.
I never said anything about danger. I have luggage that is designed to be easily accessible and mounts on the passenger seat and I have a Givi bag that will be mounted on the luggage rack. To repeat, I am simply looking for an option that does not mount on the seat, luggage rack, or inside the sidecar.
This whole thread started because I wanted to see if there was enough interest in an under sidecar tank to justify this business designing one.
I'm not trying to argue with you about the choice you made.
Tanks below the sidecar or integrated into the sidecar frame have been done in the past. I think the Dauntless site may still have some pics of on ethey did . Hannigan in the early sidecar years stored fuel inside the sidecar frame. (be carful welding on any of these..lol.)
Some have put tanks between the sidecar and bike. This works well if you are going to have one custom made. Long and skinny is th ekey here on most setups.
Running off an auxillary tank that your bike tank just feeds into is possible but it must be setup carfully. If the extra tank is lower than the bike tank it can overflow if not sealed properly. Venting also needs to be addressed as you do not want gas coming out of the lower tank's vent. Also, as Bob alluded to, filling up will take a long time is thE lines are not sufficient in size or if you have not rigged up a shut off valve so you could fill the auxillary tank seperatly and then reseal it.
I just purchased a 10 gallon spun aluminum tank from Dans Performance Parts for a project i am doing. Do a google search and check them oUT. They cater to the dune buggy crowd.Compare pricing closely with the Tour Tank brand which is popular today in the bike world. When comparing be sure to see what hardware comes with each unit and if it is stuff you will be using. You can also get nice tanks of this kind at speedwaymotors.com for a good price.
Beer Kegs, soda dispensers and other things can be used to make decent tanks. Fuel cells ,of course, are also a nice option. JAZ is usually the best priced.
If a bike has a fuel pump it takes some of the concern away. The idea of installing a fuel pump on a gravity fed fuel system must be looked at closely. There are fuel pressure regulators that can be installed in the lines and some pumps are adjustable. You do not want to overpower the needle and seat in a conventional gravity fed carburated system.
The project, mentioned earlier, I am working on now may work out for a gravity feed even though the tank is on the sidecar. It is a rig based on a bmw gs and the sidecar is a built from scratch off road type rig. If it does not pan out this way I think we may have to end up using some check valves in the system to keep the fuel where we want it. Time will tell.
Mike
Does your Honda have a fuel pump on the engine? The reason I ask, my GL1100 has a fuel pump, which pumps the gas from the bike tank. Evidently the carburetors require a specific fuel pressure, greater than gravity feed, which the fuel pump provides.
I custom built a tank on the sidecar frame, and the engine fuel pump will pump the gas from the auxiliary tank direct to the motor. When I was setting up the system, I wasn't sure the fuel pump would do the job. Happily, it does the job. When the auxiliary tank empties, I switch to the main tank.
I understand the reasoning behind your initial mailing for the fabrication of the system you're interested in. Having the extra fuel is nice. I have a 97 1500 with a Friendship II. My mileage reduced significantly with its addition (Ya think?) so I put together a system with parts purchased through SUMMIT RACING. It consists of a 4 gallon aluminum fuel cell that I mounted in the trunk of the bike. The supply line routes through the floor of the trunk, under the seat and directly into the fuel pump mounting plate on the top of the main tank. Fuel feeds out of the aux by gravity to the main, venting is from the aux out through the trunk floor and to the bottom of the rear fender. Now my gas gauge sits on full until the aux is empty. It took some trial and error to get the fittings set up right, but once completed worked really good on my cross-country. I can get 250-275 miles per fuel load at a cruise speed of 67MPH (3000 RPM). This gives me the best compromise of speed, fuel economy and road time. Three hours is about as long as my dog Genghis likes to go without a stretch, and me for a bladder stop.
If anyone would like details, I can email part numbers and digital pictures of what I did.
Mark, that sounds like a cool setup. similar to mine bu I have no foul pump...gravity feed to tank or direct to carbs.
