Aftermarket 4.3 gal Monster fuel tank ready for Carb'd models

[krista]

Thanks for the welcoming responses, everyone!

And thanks Mark, your praise carries some serious weight!

About the painting... cross linked poly allows fuel vapor to leak out. While the permeability of the tanks is acceptable to air standards, paint won't like it. Nylon isn't permeable (or barely so), so it can be painted. The thing is, nylon absorbs gasoline and can grow, which is a symptom some OEM nylon tanks are having. I have been told by another company that it could be painted and that the tank needs a wipe-down with acetone and then gets flamed. If you're interested in testing this, I can get you a tank that's mostly sealed that you can paint and fill with gasoline. Here's a case where I would love to be proven wrong.    I believe if the tanks are paintable, there would be many more options for the end solution and more customers might want them.

There will be white; however, it will be a plain and boring white and not with pearl in it. I'm actually quite thankful for my current sales rep, as his position about having fuel in the plastic parts he makes for me is more conservative than others I have dealt with. The last gentleman I worked with would throw anything together to try and get me happy. The current rep said he is ok for doing that with anything but gasoline. To get the other colors, they would mix in colored poly with the natural ones but the result is that not all colors bond well to the poly and you can have an inconsistent material. It has to do with the "cross linking" process -- and until the custom blends show up, we're limited to black, white, blue, and natural.

I haven't done any/many pics of the tank on the bike for a few reasons... the red and yellow sample tanks appear very wrong on a Ducati (so we're having custom poly made for us) and the black tanks are not representative of the end product. Once the mold is polished, the tank should have quite the shiny appearance. And I will experiment with post-production surface treatments: maybe we can have the outside bead blasted to create a "dark" version.

Depending on a mileage, 4.3 gallons should be good for up to 150 miles without a problem. If you regularly get 40mpg or greater, then 160+ miles. The bottom of the tank will have a few versions at the back of the tank. In the middle, I had to add metal to the mold to allow clearance for the tallest bits on my S2R.

Thanks -- I'm so excited about this & hope we can be shipping parts by the end of the month.
Thanks,
Chris

[ducpainter]

That explains the adhesion problem.

I learned something. 

[bigiain]

The difference between one-off items and true production manufactured items is in the tooling created to make them.  You definitely stepped big time up to the plate on this one!  Even with the headaches, vendor problems, re-engineering, etc -- you have obviously persevered in getting your vision of the product finished and to the marketplace shortly.  It should be a good selling product once the publicity is out there making everyone aware of it being "for sale" and at a more than reasonable price. (less than 1/3 the price of a factory tank!)

Congrats for a job well done. 

+1

much respect from me for this!

A couple of questions/comments:

I assume this's got the post 2000 seat cutout shape? So a pre-2000 bike would be able to use it but would need a post-2000 seat as well? What's the range of plumbing options? Is it an easy thing to switch hoses for carbs as well as FI bikes? Are the hinge and keylock areas compatible through the whole Monster range? Even the new bikes (696s and 1100s?)

curious-big

[onederer]

Nice to see it coming to market!

But, I had hoped for the original 5 gallon tank.

Still 

[fasterblkduc]

+1

much respect from me for this!

A couple of questions/comments:

I assume this's got the post 2000 seat cutout shape? So a pre-2000 bike would be able to use it but would need a post-2000 seat as well? What's the range of plumbing options? Is it an easy thing to switch hoses for carbs as well as FI bikes? Are the hinge and keylock areas compatible through the whole Monster range? Even the new bikes (696s and 1100s?)

curious-big

One more question ...What is the weight difference between this tank, and the current S2r plastic tanks?

[ute]

thanks Chris for thinking of the Dark option


hopefully there won't be a problem shipping to Canada

[NAKID]

Hey Chris, weren't you originally shooting for 5G?

[He Man]

Hey Chris, weren't you originally shooting for 5G?

Did chris take into account the fuel pump already in the 4.3gal?

[LA]

4.3 gal is .5 gal more or 17.5 miles than the OEM tank on a RS model. 

Does this design take advantage of the space freed up from having the top of the air filter off?

Back in the day my old beemer held 6.4 gal.  Now that's enough gas to make you appreciate a rest stop.

The tank looks great and the price is right.

LA

[krista]

A couple of questions/comments:

I assume this's got the post 2000 seat cutout shape? So a pre-2000 bike would be able to use it but would need a post-2000 seat as well? What's the range of plumbing options? Is it an easy thing to switch hoses for carbs as well as FI bikes? Are the hinge and keylock areas compatible through the whole Monster range? Even the new bikes (696s and 1100s?)

Actually, the seat / tank interface was designed to work with both carby and efi seats. This is possible because the tank is smooth above the seat & doesn't try to fit to the seat. The area at the front of the tank has 3 holes for the hinges, as there are 2 different kinds of hinges across the original Monster family. Under the tank, there are going to be 2 distinct flavors of the tank... the carb'd version and the EFI version. Technically, someone could buy the EFI version and the adaptor plate we are developing (which is intended for the metal tank'd efi bikes) and use the tank for carb'd OR efi.

The carb'd version has a closed off bottom with a 1/4" NPT female fitting and the big M30 fitting for the fuel sender to go in. The EFI version of the tank has a huge hole (roughly 4" across) and the 6 holes for the bolts. The EFI version of the tank will be immediately compatible with the S2R and other nylon tank'd monsters. The adaptor plate we're making will have the big M30 fitting and 2 1/4" NPT fittings, which will enable us to fit a fuel pump to. A carb'd bike can simply plug off the unused NPT fitting and it is done. The adaptor plate is going to be at least $100. We'll see what we can do to get the cost down on that, but until these tanks are really flying off the shelf, production of the adaptor flange is going to be done in expensively small lots.

The hinge area is compatible with the S2R, so for the carby tank models and the adaptor plate, we will include the proper mount.

The 696 and 1100 have internal tanks that are completely dissimilar to the classic monsters. They are like the HM1100 or MH900e and have a rotomolded tank underneath plastic covers.

Hey Chris, weren't you originally shooting for 5G?

But, I had hoped for the original 5 gallon tank.

Yeah, we had hopes it would be 5 gallons. Looks are deceiving.

Did chris take into account the fuel pump already in the 4.3gal?

No, but you can fill up something and drop in a fuel pump & measure the volume it displaces. Probably less than 8 ounces...

Nice to see it coming to market!
Still 

Thanks!

thanks Chris for thinking of the Dark option
hopefully there won't be a problem shipping to Canada

You're welcome! No problems shipping this tank. I recall the box we are using is accommodated by the post service.

One more question ...What is the weight difference between this tank, and the current S2r plastic tanks?

MTT43: 8.35 lb, Ducati nylon tank: 13.20 lb, the difference is 4.85 lb.

Also, the MTT43 has shown not to touch the pavement in a low speed crash. (Yes, has already been crash tested)

Chris

[Buckethead]

Also, the MTT43 has shown not to touch the pavement in a low speed crash. (Yes, has already been crash tested)

Chris

Now that's dedication to your customers right there. 

[Chchadder]

Was Spidey involved in the crash testing since he's the official crash test dummy of the DMF?

[Smitty]

Chris:

Will it fit with a stock airbox? Or is it mainly designed for track use (open bellmouths).

Thanks Tim

[krista]

4.3 gal is .5 gal more or 17.5 miles than the OEM tank on a RS model. 

Does this design take advantage of the space freed up from having the top of the air filter off?

Back in the day my old beemer held 6.4 gal.  Now that's enough gas to make you appreciate a rest stop.

The tank looks great and the price is right.

LA

Hi LA,

Thanks for writing back. This tank is compatible with the airbox having its lid -- my intention was to not eliminate folks keeping the airbox. It is theoretically possible that I could cut and reweld the mold to cut that corner, but let's focus on what I've got now first. To come up with 4.3 gallons, we actually poured water into one of the tanks from a milk jug until it was obviously close ... and then we got another 40 oz pouring from a metered cup. I wonder what would happen if I did that to the stock nylon tank.

Thanks,
Chris

[sleepyhead]

Will this work for my 07' S4RS?  I was under the impression that the fuel pump was a different shape.  Thanks