Concours 14 Fuel Cell Components Help

[Pirate Gonzo]

I know there are at least two Concours guys with fuel cells here that might be able to help me. I have a fuel cell for my bike and I have an idea of how I would like to mount it, what I don't know is what I need to get from the fuel cell to the tank.
I would like to do a gravity feed and maybe add a pump later on if the gravity feed doesn't work out.

Bungs, fuel line, quick connects, shut off valves, there are a hundred of each out there and I have never worked with any of it before. Could someone point me in the right direction, maybe share what you used? Links to the items would be awesome!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Steve

[Lapchik]

Check out my YouTube page kory's rides, the Concours build playlist. I can help more when I'm home with my laptop rather than at work with my phone

[LSGiant]

I will show you mine when I am at the Buffalo. I believe I bought everything from JEGS I will see if they saved my order. Mine is gravity. You get to drill a whole in your nice fuel tank.

[Cruzin]

(09-01-2016 12:35 PM)LSGiant Wrote:  You get to drill a whole in your nice fuel tank.

That's the hard part

Everything else is a breeze.

I would recommend doing the gravity, one less thing to break. Will it be custom made aluminum tank? If so I think I have a couple of bungs left over from when I put one on the FJR.

[Pirate Gonzo]

(09-01-2016 09:32 AM)Lapchik Wrote:  Check out my YouTube page kory's rides, the Concours build playlist. I can help more when I'm home with my laptop rather than at work with my phone

I actually did watch them a couple times.

(09-01-2016 12:35 PM)LSGiant Wrote:  I will show you mine when I am at the Buffalo. I believe I bought everything from JEGS I will see if they saved my order. Mine is gravity. You get to drill a whole in your nice fuel tank.

Unfortunately I will not be at the Buffalo, my wife is due at the end of this month but it seems like she could go any day now.

I look forward to drilling the hole in my tank... haha, so I keep telling myself.

That would be great if you had the part numbers or something for me to reference, I just know how these things go for me... order 75 parts and use 5 of them. The rest go in a bin that I will use "later".

(09-01-2016 01:17 PM)Cruzin Wrote:  I would recommend doing the gravity, one less thing to break. Will it be custom made aluminum tank? If so I think I have a couple of bungs left over from when I put one on the FJR.

That is what I figured, the less components the less that can go wrong.

It is just a 4 gallon fuel cell I picked up on ebay. It has a few too many ports on it so I am going to remove those and add some tabs on the side to mount to.

I am planning on mounting it with RAM Mounts, got the idea off a picture I seen from the last IBR. Easy on, easy off.

[Lapchik]

Just make sure that those RAM mounts count as "securely fastened" by whatever club/organization you will be participating in events with. Hate to see all that work go into a system and have it not pass tech inspection.

[LSGiant]

Here is the part number for the fitting I put in the tank. I bought the AN fittings from someplace cheaper than Jegs. Street elbow by hose on this fitting. I drilled the hole on the lower right side of the tank. Then braided hose up to the frame then a union fitting there so I can remove the fuel cell and cap the fitting. Hose fits out between the seat and body. I have a valve on the cell with a cable that I pull when i want to fill the tank. My procedure is to run the tank almost empty then pull the valve. You then have to wait for gravity to do its thing. It never failed me but it is nerve wracking waiting for the tank to fill. I had to have my wife help me with the tank fitting as my hand was to large to fit inside the tank. I will take some some picks when I get to Iowa.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/se...tYmm=false

[MikeH]

http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=126...#msg154856

I used a 90 degree buckhead fitting in the bottom of the tank. Drill a pilot hole before using the step drill. I also marked the next size smaller on the step drill as a last resort double check. -6AN fittings all around, quick connect and valve.
I had flow issues with my bike so I ended up with a pump, I might dig back into it again and try to make gravity work. My gs is gravity and it is so much nicer than a pump.

[Pirate Gonzo]

(09-01-2016 07:16 PM)Lapchik Wrote:  Just make sure that those RAM mounts count as "securely fastened" by whatever club/organization you will be participating in events with. Hate to see all that work go into a system and have it not pass tech inspection.

I originally saw the RAM mount idea on Jim Owen's bike in the 2015 IBR so I figure if it is good enough for the IBR it should be good enough for anyone. I was kind of surprised they allowed for the hose clamps, I am planning on getting bar clamps from RAM.

(09-01-2016 08:21 PM)LSGiant Wrote:  Here is the part number for the fitting I put in the tank. I bought the AN fittings from someplace cheaper than Jegs. Street elbow by hose on this fitting. I drilled the hole on the lower right side of the tank. Then braided hose up to the frame then a union fitting there so I can remove the fuel cell and cap the fitting. Hose fits out between the seat and body. I have a valve on the cell with a cable that I pull when i want to fill the tank. My procedure is to run the tank almost empty then pull the valve. You then have to wait for gravity to do its thing. It never failed me but it is nerve wracking waiting for the tank to fill. I had to have my wife help me with the tank fitting as my hand was to large to fit inside the tank. I will take some some picks when I get to Iowa.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/se...tYmm=false

Thanks for the write up and the link, I am hoping to start ordering parts in the next few weeks but don't want to tear into it till the riding season slows down.

(09-02-2016 06:11 AM)MikeH Wrote:  http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=126...#msg154856

I used a 90 degree buckhead fitting in the bottom of the tank. Drill a pilot hole before using the step drill. I also marked the next size smaller on the step drill as a last resort double check. -6AN fittings all around, quick connect and valve.
I had flow issues with my bike so I ended up with a pump, I might dig back into it again and try to make gravity work. My gs is gravity and it is so much nicer than a pump.

Yeah, I would like to avoid a pump if possible. Do you think the 90 bulkhead fitting gives you better flow?

[LSGiant]

The bulkhead will not be your restriction. It will be a valve, or filter. But the most likely the reason a gravity system does not work is related to venting. I am sure you have noticed a lot of the times you open the tank to fill you hear air whoosh out. For the tank to fill the auxiliary has to exceed that pressure. It would sometimes take as long as 60 miles for my fuel light to go back out and even more for the tank to fill. As I mentioned before I never ran out of fuel but it is nerve wracking waiting. I did not run the required IBA tip over vent protection this may be why I did not have an issue. I suspect that air was venting all the way through my auxiliary before the main tank would fill. Pay close attention as to how your auxiliary tank will vent before you start your project. You may have to tap into the existing venting system to get it to work.

[Sleddog]

It may be worth a try to use vacuum like Camel Tank does. They use the vent hose from the original tank to the aux tank. No valve or tapping into the original tank. Vacuum transfers fuel until the aux tank is empty, then it becomes the vent.
I talked to three guys using them & they say it works.

[Pirate Gonzo]

Here is the fuel cell I am using, I am planning on removing the left fuel outlet and the right vent/fuel return on the top and adding foot pads for mounting. Any opinions or concerns?

[Lapchik]

Welding aluminum always concerns me. But I'm not very good at it, and only have a DC TIG machine. So I have to use helium. Then you end up breathing it. Maybe the welds look dirty because I'm getting light headed and can't weld right and not because I really should be using AC instead.

Actual advice: Don't single shear mount the tabs; use a gusset of some sort. Lots of vibration on motorcycles, breaks welds. I would isolate it in rubber too. Maybe run a small grounding wire around the isolators if you are really safety conscious.

These are steel, but good to look at for ideas. http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/fab-parts/...1&top=136&

[MikeH]

unless you're mounting directly to the engine or its a Harley, I wouldn't worry about the vibration.