General Question about Acerbis Tanks

[Ede-DE]

I couldn't resist and ordered last week. Today it arrived as the first part of some more to come.

 

 

[random1781]

1 hour ago, Ede-DE said:

I couldn't resist and ordered last week. Today it arrived as the first part of some more to come.

 

 

Awesome, keep us posted on your progress! What did you get for a vent?

[Robo]

1 hour ago, Ede-DE said:

I couldn't resist and ordered last week. Today it arrived as the first part of some more to come.

 

 

Self venting by the look of it yeah?

[Ede-DE]

The tank cap is not self vented. I've got plans to do the venting internally like in the original tank and will do some research how they solved it in there (any valves?). The rest is pure work at the lathe and milling machine. The sealing will be done with viton and not with cork. It's the only rubber that can withstand fuel permanently.

[random1781]

17 hours ago, Ede-DE said:

The tank cap is not self vented. I've got plans to do the venting internally like in the original tank and will do some research how they solved it in there (any valves?). The rest is pure work at the lathe and milling machine. The sealing will be done with viton and not with cork. It's the only rubber that can withstand fuel permanently.

What are you turning on the lathe?

[Rider 101]

18 hours ago, Ede-DE said:

The tank cap is not self vented. I've got plans to do the venting internally like in the original tank and will do some research how they solved it in there (any valves?). The rest is pure work at the lathe and milling machine. The sealing will be done with viton and not with cork. It's the only rubber that can withstand fuel permanently.

The OEM vent connects to the neck inside the filler hole.

I can't see any one way valves or similar.

I guess the best way is a nipple on top near the filler cap

[Ede-DE]

6 hours ago, random1781 said:

What are you turning on the lathe?

Aluminium. I was thinking of doing my own counterpart of the tank cap inside the tank. Make it a little thicker than the part (see picture) you can order from Newton. I don't like the open threads and like to drill dead end holes for the screws. And I could drill a vertical hole for fixing some kind of vent line. Probably made from CuNiFer (cuprum[copper], nickel, ferrum[iron]) you normally use for rust free brake lines on cars.  Between that "ring" and the tank must be another sealing. I ordered 3 sealings (2 to use, 1 as spare part) from a small business in my area. They cut it from 1.5mm Viton®.

After that order I thought to myself, hmm, maybe they can do an even thicker sealing (6-8mm) and machine a vertical hole in for the vent line. It would be squeesed tight when assemling the tank cap...

 

5 hours ago, Rider 101 said:

The OEM vent connects to the neck inside the filler hole.

I can't see any one way valves or similar.

I guess the best way is a nipple on top near the filler cap

Thanks! I was a little lazy to get my old tank from top of the rack in the storage.

 

The worst thing you can do is drilling a hole for a vent nipple near the filler cap. I could have ordered a vented tank cap, drop the bike and spill gas all over the engine and ground. And with normal use you smell the gas on warm weather. There are things I like more for sniffing instead of gas fumes 

[Rider 101]

I can't see an issue in drilling a hole in the top of the tank for a vent.

It isn't any different to a vented cap.

I still have the charcoal cannister and the vent line connects to it.

[Ede-DE]

Owning a vehicle in Germany is sometimes a challenge. Each 2 years you must have a general safety inspection for bikes, cars and small trucks. Bigger trucks must have that each year.

 

If they see an additional vent hole drilled into the tank you are doomed. Therefore the vent must be hidden in some place where they can't see it and if they must come to the conclusion that it is factory made, safe and street legal. In general the inspecting staff are real vehicle technicians or engineers.

[random1781]

1 hour ago, Ede-DE said:

Owning a vehicle in Germany is sometimes a challenge. Each 2 years you must have a general safety inspection for bikes, cars and small trucks. Bigger trucks must have that each year.

 

If they see an additional vent hole drilled into the tank you are doomed. Therefore the vent must be hidden in some place where they can't see it and if they must come to the conclusion that it is factory made, safe and street legal. In general the inspecting staff are real vehicle technicians or engineers.

Didn't even consider this. Just make sure to do a better job than Volkswagon did!

[Ede-DE]

I'll promise. No software just hardware!

[Hollybrook]

I think @Engineer had an elegant venting solution with the fitting on the bottom of the tank and a stand-pipe inside. 

[sirhub]

On 3/23/2023 at 5:09 PM, eddylindenstein said:

Yeah, if you're using the locking cap because it's self-venting.  I just have the stock black piece tucked behind the metal bracket that's right there in case for some reason I went back to a stock tank.  It's connected to the charcoal canister because there's where the stock tank would breathe to, but since the Acerbis locking cap vents up top, it has no need for that piece on the bottom.

I just installed the Acerbis tank (with locking vented cap) this afternoon and covered the stock gas tank vent hose with a soft plastic cap and used the stock clamp to secure it tightly.  I didn't want an empty hose collecting dirt and also didn't want to rip out the entire cannister and have to plug the throttle body holes, so this was my solution.  I tucked the plugged tube back under the tank where it wasn't rubbing on anything.  I assume the bike will run fine with this configuration.

[Ede-DE]

Did a little work on the internal breather. Tube bending, welding & pre fixing. The next steps are smoothing the edges of the tank at the filler cap, sealing and pressure testing. The rubber gaskets are viton. There's another one between cap and tank.

I found out that the original breather has at it's top end a little nozzle with a hole about 1.5 to 2 mm and no valve anywhere. I did the same with my breather and will get rid of the Acerbis valve.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24 by Ede-DE

[Ede-DE]

Done! 

 

Pressure test w/o leaks. Sealing fluid as an addition to the viton is Hylomar M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to @Engineer for showing what's possible!

Edited March 25 by Ede-DE

[rhicks]

I'm thinking about adding the Acerbis tank for the extra fuel but also to hopefully get rid of hot start issues.  Originally I had planned on bypassing the charcoal canister and using the self venting cap but not sure about that after reading this thread.   So questions for those who have purchased the tank in the past year if you don't mind.

 

) Any fitment issues or is everything lining up as expected?

) Any issues with hot starts with the supplied hose going to the charcoal canister? 

) After you installed the tank and confirmed everything was good did you have any leaking issues later?

) I read somewhere about clips on the body fairing breaking off due to rubbing.  Any issues with any body work breaking off or being damaged with normal riding?

 

Thanks,

Robert

[SXXP]

1 hour ago, rhicks said:

I'm thinking about adding the Acerbis tank for the extra fuel but also to hopefully get rid of hot start issues.  Originally I had planned on bypassing the charcoal canister and using the self venting cap but not sure about that after reading this thread.   So questions for those who have purchased the tank in the past year if you don't mind.

 

) Any fitment issues or is everything lining up as expected?

) Any issues with hot starts with the supplied hose going to the charcoal canister? 

) After you installed the tank and confirmed everything was good did you have any leaking issues later?

) I read somewhere about clips on the body fairing breaking off due to rubbing.  Any issues with any body work breaking off or being damaged with normal riding?

 

Thanks,

Robert

 

Negative on all counts.  I'm using the supplied screw on cap that came with the Acerbis tank with a 90 deg rubber/hard plastic elbow plugged in to the vent nipple on the cap and  an inline one-way valve on the vent hose.  I've plumbed the end of the vent hose into the stock hose going into the charcoal cannister that's in @sirhub picture above with the yellow cap.   Approximately 1000 miles on the bike now in this configuration with none of the problems you've listed above. 

 

At some point, when I have everything apart, and can remove the "rubber band" holding the charcoal canister in place without cutting it, I intend to eliminate the  canister and leave the vent hose free standing.  Maybe at the first spark plug change interval.

Edited May 8 by SXXP

[jdub53]

3 hours ago, rhicks said:

I'm thinking about adding the Acerbis tank for the extra fuel but also to hopefully get rid of hot start issues.  Originally I had planned on bypassing the charcoal canister and using the self venting cap but not sure about that after reading this thread.   So questions for those who have purchased the tank in the past year if you don't mind.

 

) Any fitment issues or is everything lining up as expected?

) Any issues with hot starts with the supplied hose going to the charcoal canister? 

) After you installed the tank and confirmed everything was good did you have any leaking issues later?

) I read somewhere about clips on the body fairing breaking off due to rubbing.  Any issues with any body work breaking off or being damaged with normal riding?

 

Thanks,

Robert

 

1. No real fitment issues with my Acerbis, although I believe I asked here and was told to leave a piece of OEM foam strip off of the fairing panels with the Acerbis installation so I did.

2. I removed the charcoal canister and associated hardware during my tank install, and the bike runs as well as it did before with no issues.

3. The only leak encountered was when I stupidly completely filled the tank on a hot day with a hot engine, then went inside the store for a few minutes. The fuel expanded and some leak past/through the locking Acerbis cap I was using in conjunction with my Giant Loop tankbag but no harm done.

4. Weeks or months after my tank installation, I noticed a small piece broken/missing from a fairing panel which was a complete mystery to me (pic below). Several weeks later, I noticed a corresponding piece missing on the other side's panel. Something to do with the Acerbis tank installation is all I can figure, and it's just a small cosmetic item that doesn't bother me.

 

  

[Ede-DE]

To avoid that damage it's necessary to modify the position of the inner panels. The Acerbis tank is a little wider where the fairings are fixed to the tank.

I took some washers and placed them at the bolts of the inner panels like shown in the pictures. There's still a little missalignment for the little tongues but it's a lot less stress with these modification.

The Camel fairings (Material is PP) solve that problem because these fairings are a LOT more flexible compared to the Yamaha ones that are made of ABS.

 

In the pictures you see that I placed 3 washers at both sides of the 2 inner panels. The exact position is on the 3rd picture at position 19 and 20. With these washers the inner panel is placed a little more to the outside. It's not perfect but even the original side fairings didn't break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9 by Ede-DE

[rhicks]

@SXXP, @jdub53, @Ede-DE  Thank you very much!  This tells me what I need to know. 

[GabbyMikka]

@eddylindenstein did your tank ever stop out gassing?

 

@Ede-DE this is the solution Acrebis should have started with.

[Baramon]

After reading about these smelling issues, it looks like Armadillo or Rotopax is a safer bet, or I'm missing something?

[Bruincounselor]

On 6/3/2024 at 6:09 AM, Baramon said:

After reading about these smelling issues, it looks like Armadillo or Rotopax is a safer bet, or I'm missing something?

 

The tank itself does not off gas any more than other factory plastic tanks; Acerbis makes OEM tanks for some manufacturers. I store my Tenere in a single stall garage 5 months in the winter (along with a plastic tank Beta, a BMW, and a classic goldwing), where it's sealed up tight as my winter workshop. No discernable gas fumes.

 

The issue is how you choose to vent the tank:

Some choose to use the "Internally" vented locking cap; which is a misnomer, because it vents at site of installation. The check valve mechanism doesn't work and Acerbis wants you to poke holes in it. Folks often go this route to run a tankbag.

 

Others use the factory vent hose; routing it to the cannister or the ground. I'm not a tankbag fan so I use the factory hose route.

 

Still others go with other, more fancy way to manage the fumes; see above in this thread. Good on 'em

 

I'm big fan of the tank: less weight, more gas when I need it, and clear so I have visual on gas level. Win, win, and win. No negatives in the 2 seasons I've had it. Anyone who says it raises the center of gravity isn't living in the real world (I posted the actual numbers in another thread here)

 

Edited June 7 by Bruincounselor

[Ede-DE]

I'm working on a solution to get rid of the ACERBIS logo plate on the tank (and elsewhere) and replace it with a TENERE logo. Is anybody else interested?

If I order a bigger amount of logo stickers the price will decrease drastically per unit. (I don't want to make any profit from that!)

This is the design it could look like. I did that yesterday on a boring Friday afternoon 

 

 

[GreatWhiteBuff]

@Ede-DE I would be interested in going in on the sticker purchase but I'm in the states - unsure of how that would work out price-wise.