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Message started by smokin_blue on 01/21/16 at 19:03:23

Title: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/21/16 at 19:03:23

Ok in my Purple Passion build link I said I would dedicate a thread to my adding a 4.2 gallon tank to the S-40 build. So here it is.

I searched many tanks trying to find one that would:
1. hold at least 4.0 gallons
2. fit over all the crap along the backbone
3. Still look like a cruiser
4. not really be much longer if any than the stock tank

I searched quite a few and finally settled on a V Star 650 tank. I was amazed at how hard they were to come by if you don't want one that is already bashed in. If they are clean they are pricey. I finally snagged a deal on one. So I will try to give all the details and answer any questions in case anyone decides they want to try the same.

Here is the stock bike.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/S40STOCKTANK.JPG

Now here it is with the V Star tank.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/S40VSTAR650TANK.JPG

For those that want to see the tanks side by side here are some views.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKCOMPTOP.JPG

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKCOMPBOTTOM.JPG

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKCOMPSIDE.JPG

To do this mod I wanted to limit the amount of modifications to the frame that I had to make. I got by with drilling one new hole and barely opening up two existing holes. I will point these out as I go forward with the mount details.

Total length difference as far as affecting the seat was only about 1-1.25".

Here is what the front of the seat looked like after I trimmed it to fit.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/SEATFIT.JPG

I will post more details on the mounts shortly.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 01/21/16 at 20:27:03

Looks great. The only thing I see that makes me wonder how it is gonna work out is how wide it is inside the bottom. Are you gonna be able to disguise that? It may look like a taco shell sitting on a coat hanger as you walk up from the front.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/22/16 at 03:30:29

Actually it is not bad. It is all right behind the forks and headlight. The horn fills up the left side and the right is not bad at all. Yes it is not as close as the stock tank but it does not look really wacked. I will be posting pictures of the mounts and then when I get the tank back on. I will try to post some pictures from the front.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Jer on 01/22/16 at 09:51:40

Wow! Looks good!

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by badwolf on 01/22/16 at 10:24:32

Smokin, What is that back wheel from? 15'' or 16''? It looks like it takes the stock rear brake? I used the rear from a 02' Murader and had to make a torque arm.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Rodger on 01/22/16 at 10:31:09

Looks good! No issues with lock-to-lock contact of forks to tank?

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/22/16 at 10:41:00

3230233D232139303823510 wrote:

Smokin, What is that back wheel from? 15'' or 16''? It looks like it takes the stock rear brake? I used the rear from a 02' Murader and had to make a torque arm.

_______________________________

See the Purple Passion build for details on that
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1453341892/0

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/22/16 at 10:43:09

535D4B4941474C240 wrote:

Looks good! No issues with lock-to-lock contact of forks to tank?

nope... the forks are fine what you have to watch is the back end of the turn signals but I checked and I have about an inch

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by stewmills on 01/22/16 at 12:24:53

Maybe it's partially camera angles being different, but the 2nd pic with the new tank just looks bada$$. If that ends up being a relatively simple install I would love to find a black one and do the same.

Will the tank speedo and lights work when you are done?

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Kris01 on 01/22/16 at 12:52:23

Is the stock petcock (or Raptor) gonna fit?

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Blade on 01/22/16 at 16:44:21

Totally transforms the look of the bike. Very nice.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by chzeckmate on 01/22/16 at 22:33:50

Wow! Looks like a much bigger bike. Looks cool!

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 09:15:43

update on the fork clearance. I decided to double check one more time. Forks are slightly closer than the turn signals by about 1/4". At least on this bike the turn to lock on the right is farther than the turn to the left so the right side is the closest. What comes the closest is the chrome bezel to the triple clamp at full lock to the right. However the tank can be adjusted forward and back pretty easily so sliding it back 1/8" goes from just kissing it to clearance.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 09:26:35

232435273D393C3C23500 wrote:

________________________________
Hard to say what exactly does it but I agree I do like the new look. In that second picture note that the following also changed.
Mag rear rim
No stock tail light
Seat has be shaved to a fast back style.

The speedo is geared the same. I ran them with my electric drill up to full drill speed and they both held right at 62-63 mph.

I want to run the speedo just to track miles so I have two choices.
1. I can have a new speedo cable made up 3" longer than stock and on a stock bike this should work.
2. Run a speedo cable down to the front rim and run off a standard wheel drive. That is the way the yamaha worked and that bike runs either a 130/90-16 or a 100/90-19 front. Tire diameter would be 25.2" and 26.0" respecitively which is a 3% difference or 1.8 mph at 60. I am guessing they didn't make different drives.

Now I am running a 16" mag on the back with a chain conversion with a total gearing (sprockets and wheel) change of about 9%. That said coming off the engine will have some error for me. If I come off the front wheel being a 19" mag I should be able to be accurate. I just need to try it and see if the old GS speed drives were geared the same as the yamaha.

Ultimately my wife runs a Vapor for speed and tripmeter so it would be more of an odometer and indicator lights, which she rarely uses. I wanted to just make them functional and keep the total miles as current as possible. Ultimately the bike would have more miles than shown by the 9% but as far as engine wear the revs would be the same. Either way I am not sure which way I will try first and I am not going to worry about the error. As for the lights I will have to make a pig tail jumper or rewire the speedo with a suzuki connector.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 09:31:09

467F647E3D3C0D0 wrote:

Is the stock petcock (or Raptor) gonna fit?

____________________________

The petcock on this tank is way forward compared to the S-40. The stock petcock does not fit because the diaphragm part of the petcock hits. I was planning on using the stock yamaha petcock that came with the tank but it is made for 6mm fuel line not 8mm. I bought a raptor petcock for that reason and it bolts up fine and the reserve point is identical to the stock v star. The only difference is the petcock hangs down 3/4" lower than the stock V star which was very tight to the tank.

all that said since then I have found the brass spigot can be pulled out of the v-star petcock so I could just replace that with an 8mm piece if I wanted. The fit diameter is the same it is the hose portion that is different between them.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by 12Bravo on 01/23/16 at 09:44:25

I'm very interested in how you are going to mount the tank to the bike. Please give us details and pictures on how you do it

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 10:26:50

Ok some details about the mounts.

I started with 7/16" bolts and 1-1/4" angle (0.112" thick) shown below. The silver cylinders I spun up on the lathe to fit the yamaha tank rubbers.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNT1.JPG

My plan was to use the holes that are located on each side of the frame that come stock with a small plastic plug in them. See the hole by the yellow arrow below. These holes can be drilled out for a 6mm thru bolt. I actually tapped them for 6mm first for temporary mount work but the wall is too thin for that to ever to be tightened down.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTHOLE.JPG

Then I added flats and cut the bolts to length.

I needed to look for a hole that was lower for the second mount hole. On the left side the rear horn mount is a perfect location. The right side does NOT have a matching hole.

I set the tank in place held up where I wanted it with shims. From here I put the posts in place with the aluminum cylinders and tank rubbers but without the angle plates. Once I had them aligned, I clamped the angle plates in place and marked one for post location and from there struck the side angles. I angled the one edge of the angle plates. and now they are ready for welding.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNT2.JPG

Once I had them welded up I taped the frame and struck lines so I knew the centers of the holes but out beyond the angle plates so I could see where things would line up. I located the holes on one plate and drilled both of them together so they matched.

Here is how the left side fits. Note the horn is hanging just out of the left side of the picture. The open hole showing in the pic is the second horn mount that I won't be using for the tank. the tank has just enough width that I can still put the horn back in place once I make a shim the same thickness as the tank mount.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTLEFT.JPG

From there I clamped a straight piece to my bolts so I had everything in full alignment. I then center punched that lower hole so I could drill the one new hole in the frame to match with the horn mount hole on the other side.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTRIGHT.JPG

Now the plan is that I will use 6mm thru bolts with nuts to hold the mounts. I will insert them from the left so the lower one pulls the internal nut on the horn mount towards the frame wall and not off it. I will tighten that one and then nut the right side on both of them. I still need to do some shaping to the angle plates so they look nicer.

The threaded section of the bolts with the aluminum cylinders allow me to dial in the width of the mount. All of it will be painted black when it is done.

What I really like about this mount is it only needs one new 6mm hole in the frame and it does not interfere with any of the solenoids or relays under the tank. Nothing had to be relocated.

As far as the rear mount for that I wanted something adjustable so I could get it placed right. I went with the stock rubber pad and mounting from the Vstar and made an aluminum angle that you can see in the pictures below. They have an inverted U shape piece that the aluminum replaces.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTREAR2.JPG

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTREAR.JPG

For the lower half then I went with an angle again this time 3/16" thick. and replaced the rubber stock S-40 mounts with aluminum spacers. I slotted the angle so it could be slid forward or back to match the tank during bolt up. I went with 3/16" so I could tap holes and have enough threads that I don't need nuts up under the tank.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNT%20REARFRAME.JPG

Here it is on the frame

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTFRAME2.JPG

Here it is looking under the tank to see the two bolts I put in to secure the back of the tank.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTREAR4.JPG

I plan to trim up the aluminum angle because right now I have it trapped between the aluminum spacers and the angle. I want just a little more rearward adjustment out of it.

Here is a pic with the aluminum piece in place but the tank removed.

http://www.street-unique.com/PurplePassion/Photos/TANKMOUNTFRAME3.JPG

Now you could look at that and say why didn't you just make one Z shaped piece and be done? The answer? now I could but there were two reasons I didn't. When I was working through this I wanted to be able to fit and adjust and align things the way I wanted and needed to get the right fit. Secondly that then forces you to remove the two bolts that hold the seat tang catch each time you want to remove the tank just like you do today on the S-40. That was actually my original plan but I realized it would be a pain working with those as they were tucked under the tank and you could only get a wrench in there and not a ratchet and you would have limited height above the bolts. (see the under tank pic above). I found it easier to install and remove the two bolts as shown above that hold the aluminum angle to the steel.

The process then becomes to bolt the aluminum piece to the tank with the rubber mounts and that is one unit. Place the tank on the front mounts and drop the rear down just as you do on an S-40. Have the rear mount in place but loose so that you can slide the steel angle forward or back to meet the aluminum angle. (note the slots in the steel angle). Then put the two bolts in that hold the aluminum plate to the steel and tighten them up and then tighten the two bolts that hold the seat tang catch. That locates the steel angle correctly and you never need to adjust it. Now it becomes just the two bolts that hold the aluminum angle to to the steel that ever get removed for tank removal.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 10:33:00

I will detail the seat trimming mods in the Purple Passion build thread at

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1453341892

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by KennyG on 01/23/16 at 17:03:48

Blue,

That is a great piece of engineering, you should be a technical writer.

Kenny G

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 17:49:13

I am an engineer (by day...builder by night) ::)

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Kris01 on 01/23/16 at 19:46:28

I'll give you a dollar to build me a mount ($5 if you throw in the tank)! ;D

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by KennyG on 01/23/16 at 20:22:57

blue,

I was pretty much on the money when I said you should be a design engineer.

Kenny G

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/23/16 at 21:08:20

Yup you nailed it. I am a product development engineer. I design and develop products for a living.

I grew up the son of a shop teacher so I have lived in a shop all my life. It is my place of refuge. :)

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by KennyG on 01/23/16 at 21:13:17

Blue,

I really miss having a shop. Most of my life I had a Bridgeport, an Atlas Lathe, a couple of drill presses and a stationary belt sander.

I could make anything for motorcycles and guns that I could dream up. Living in a retirement community has it's disadvantages when it comes to making stuff.

Kenny G

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by badwolf on 01/24/16 at 06:35:36

Hey Smokin, Did you say the stock speedo is geared the same as the Yamaha that runs off the front wheel? So if I run the stock one off my front wheel it should be close to right? (100/90 19 tire) With my Kaw pulleys & big tire (150/90 15), mine is now 22-23% off. I'm putting the same wheel on the front as you so I can go tubeless and getting the speedo drive should not be too hard.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 01/24/16 at 14:02:12

Yes there is a possibility that will work. we need to see what the drive gearing is on the GS front speedo pickup is compared to the Vstar. If they are the same one of them should work.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Kris01 on 01/24/16 at 19:41:51

I think pretty much all Japanese motorcycles use a 60/2240 speedo ratio.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by MMRanch on 06/18/17 at 20:33:04

Smokin

Don't understand why you didn't go with the 25 tooth Kawasaki front pulley , but the rest of the bike makes me DRUELL ! :)

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 06/19/17 at 03:40:38

Thanks MM ranch. Ultimately I was sick of the belt squawking she was getting on her other bike and I wanted much better control of what gearing I ran.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by Steve H on 06/19/17 at 15:03:53

Very nice work. The big tank looks good on there.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by JD64K on 06/27/19 at 15:59:03

Hi,Just came across this thread on the fuel tank swap do you have the length and width of the new tank I doing a build over on Road Star Clinic under JD64k and have been looking for a tank like yours thought it would be a good fit, if you can could you post the dimensions.
Thanks

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by smokin_blue on 06/27/19 at 19:05:50

As best I can measure it is 21 inches long by 17.5 wide.

Title: Re: 4 gallon tank on Purple Passion
Post by JD64K on 06/28/19 at 04:16:42

Thank you. Also your doing a nice build. I found a tank on ebay and ordered it be here Monday I had a tank already on my build but just didn't like it looked to small and didn't flow with the look i'm after I think this will work from what I see in your pictures.