Well... That was a whole year ago! Of course he's an eggspurt now.^^^^^^ This from the guy that started this train wreck!!!! Now he's some kinda authority on the subject!!! :lol:
1.3 Gallon Gas Tank Reserve
- Thread starter GeorgiaRoller
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GeorgiaRoller
Exit Stage Left
^^^^^^ This from the guy that started this train wreck!!!! Now he's some kinda authority on the subject!!! :lol:
Yeah its not rocket science!
Bout time you surly bastards come around to my way of thinking. j/kI brought home an '05 FJR w/ abs three weeks ago, and riding around with a flashing fuel gauge made me nervous. So after running down my 3rd tank of fuel, I stopped for gas with 3.7 miles on the reserve trip and she took 5.23 gallons. Im averaging 44mpg at 70mph indicated, so now I know that I can safely run about 40 miles on reserve.
This is a really sweet bike! My only 'complaint' is that I am instinctively shifting for a 6th gear that isnt there.
This is a really sweet bike! My only 'complaint' is that I am instinctively shifting for a 6th gear that isnt there.
Jim in Phoenix
Well-known member
I just got back from my Wednesday breakfast ride to the mountains of Northern Arizona - 245 miles and 47 MPG. The fill-up at the end of the ride was 5.2 Gal. so I had over 1 Gallon remaining in the tank - another 45 miles at least. YMMV
Candyman
Well-known member
I just modded the filler neck so I dont have to burp my tank anymore to get all the fuel in. I wont fill it to max running short hops around town, but wil be able to get more in it when on lomg road trips. There is still a little room for air at the top even maxed out.
SkooterG
Purveyor of Crooked Facts
GeorgiaRoller
Exit Stage Left
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LAF
Well-known member
+2
What they said.
I saw you mentioned it in "What I Did To The Girlfriend/Wife Today" thread.
You know it is OK to post pics, and 'splain yourself, right ?
What they said.
I saw you mentioned it in "What I Did To The Girlfriend/Wife Today" thread.
You know it is OK to post pics, and 'splain yourself, right ?
Yes, it is a sweet bike. And you'll get over that shift to 6th thing really quick.
One thing I've found that really makes a big difference in that regard is getting the throttle bodies properly balanced, to minimize the vibes at 4500-5500 rpms. When the bike is buzzing you really want to shift up to quiet the thing down. With good throttle balance you can run around at 5k rpm all the time and it's smooth like buttah! Take a look at my Really Definitely Completely Unauthorized TBS procedure. Many, many satisfied customers. Nobody has ever come back and told me that it didn't help.
I'm not sure this is a great idea. I mean, yeah... I'd like to stretch my range as much as the next guy. But... if you don't leave any air space in the tank, where is the cold gas that you pump up from underground going to expand to? Most likely it will gush out the overflow and wet your back tire. Do that in the rain and I'm thinking a low side is imminent.
Out of curiosity, how much additional fuel can you get in there with this mod?
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pcarnut
Well-known member
Candyman
Well-known member
I punched about 8 small holes inside the filler neck to allow air to vent when filling the tank. the fuel sender was trail and error. I have it now where the reserve light start flashing when I am right at 1 gallon of fuel left in the tank. I get nervous when the reserve kicks on, but feel it kicks on WAY too soon. I dont make a habit of running it low, but when I miss a station I hate sweating bullets only to pull in and put 5.5 gallon in till its full again.
After the tank mod I put 6.8 gallons in the tank from empty to full. As for the tank venting, there is still some air room in the otop of the tank from the design of the filler neck adn shape of the tank that you cant get fuel in, So it has some room to expand without venting on the rear tire. I ran the vent into a makeshift catch can for the fisrt tank. Ran it down from absolute full as I could get it till ahlf tank adn rode it for about 100 miles. Checked tha catch can adn nothign was in there so i am certain I am OK wiht my mod.
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GeorgiaRoller
Exit Stage Left
So you just added more venting holes up the filler neck which allows more gas to go into the tank...ie creating a smaller air pocket at the top of the tank?
Your saying that now you can get 6.8 gallons of gas in the 6.6 gallon OEM gas tank?...I'm slightly confused.
I was under the understanding that the tank was 6.6 gallons max and that when we filled it up we were prob. only putting in 6.4 gallons or so because of the air pocket at the top.
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No. I ran mine nearly dry at EOM last year, to the point that I had to shove the bike back and forth violently to slosh enough fuel around to catch in the fuel pump several times. Not something that oine wants to do on a regular basis since it is very hard on the fuel pump to run it dry and also have no fuel to cool the motor. But it was hot outside and I really didn't feel like pushing.
I pumped 6.5 gallons in at that time. If I had dumped whatever remnants that were left in the bottom of the tank out first I have no doubt that I could have got 6.6 gallons in. They are not all useable because of the bottom shape of the tank, not the top air space. The top air space is the limitation in the 6.6 gallons.
The OP said he had just cut holes on the filler neck, so one has to assume he dumped all of the fuel out first. So, the difference between 6.6 and 6.8 (0.2 gallons, less than a quart) is not worth taking a chance of having a fuel overflow and venting due to expansion, IMO. But as usual YMMV
Candyman
Well-known member
Yes i put 6.8 total from dry. Factory tank is advertised at 6.6 but I less empty space for air now .
HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
GR, last year, I ran my tank almost completely empty. It stalled out two or three times going up the freeway off ramp. If the gas station had been another 500 yards, I might have been pushing it for the last few.
Anyway, with the bike on the center stand, she took 6.7 gallons of fuel, and I'm sure there was still just a little sloshing around in the bottom when I pulled up to the pump. So if it had been bone dry, 6.8 may have gone in and I haven't drilled anything out of it. Don't waste your time.
Anyway, with the bike on the center stand, she took 6.7 gallons of fuel, and I'm sure there was still just a little sloshing around in the bottom when I pulled up to the pump. So if it had been bone dry, 6.8 may have gone in and I haven't drilled anything out of it. Don't waste your time.
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Candyman
Well-known member
I have gotten a tad over 6.6 several times after draining the tank to clean it, I am guessing if I try I can get a little more than 6.8 in it as it is now. I am planning a run with a small fuel can to see how far i can run on reserve, and how much it takes to fill it up once its out fo fuel. I have to know. this going on reserve with 1.6 gallons left was crap.
SkooterG
Purveyor of Crooked Facts
radiummadman
Well-known member
Jesus pleaseus, 2/10 gal fuel @ 40 mpg is a whole 8 miles. You all need to get a life, or do you stay up all
night trying to figure out how to get ANOTHER 1/10 gal. of fuel in that thing. Sounds like a bunch of
OCD engineer wannabes to me.
night trying to figure out how to get ANOTHER 1/10 gal. of fuel in that thing. Sounds like a bunch of
OCD engineer wannabes to me.
Here's the rub. This issue keeps coming up because the fuel level indicator on the FJR is confusing when it goes into reserve. The idea to count miles while into reserve is unusual too. Haven't seen any vehicle indicate this way. More helpful is to know know how many miles or how much gas remains.
The calibration of the guage is also suspect and seems variable between bikes.. I go onto reserve, refill and only put in 4 gallons. Now we know this is a 6.6 gallon tank but what I don't know is how much is useable. But let's say 6 Gal is usable. That means when I go into reserve I got about 2 gallons/90 miles remaining. Well great but out in the middle of the California/Arizona deserts that flashing on reserve is worrysome and I usually make a premature fuel stop. If the FJR had a reliable fuel guage consistent between other FJR's these discussions would not keep reoccuring. I've read many different values on threads about how much gas is put in when just going into reserve.
Actually it's more of a minor irritant than anything significant, but I'm attempting to explain why these questions keep coming up. Bill
The calibration of the guage is also suspect and seems variable between bikes.. I go onto reserve, refill and only put in 4 gallons. Now we know this is a 6.6 gallon tank but what I don't know is how much is useable. But let's say 6 Gal is usable. That means when I go into reserve I got about 2 gallons/90 miles remaining. Well great but out in the middle of the California/Arizona deserts that flashing on reserve is worrysome and I usually make a premature fuel stop. If the FJR had a reliable fuel guage consistent between other FJR's these discussions would not keep reoccuring. I've read many different values on threads about how much gas is put in when just going into reserve.
Actually it's more of a minor irritant than anything significant, but I'm attempting to explain why these questions keep coming up. Bill
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Sorry, I have to side with radiummadman on this one (and I am an OCD engineer type).
There is nothing particularly crappy about the FJR Fuel gauge IMO. It is highly repeatable, from my experience over the past 6 years. The reserve function and count down starts when I can fit between 5 and 5.2 gallons into the tank (with some variation allowed for the pump shutoff and how willing I am to burp the tank), which leaves me with 1.4 to 1.6 gallons of fuel in the tank. Since I know that I can get 40+mpg (as long as I'm not whipping it hard) that tells me exactly what the range on reserve is, and is helpful in estimating how far ahead I can look for a fuel station before I'd be walking.
It sounds to me like those who think this is a crappy setup aren't willing to do that math in their heads and want the instrument gauge to do a miles "count down" to empty instead of a count-up. If you can't do that simple math, then... well yeah I guess it's the gauge that is crappy.
As for determining experimentally how far you can go on reserve, don't bother. There are too many variables involved that would effect that number to be completely accurate. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, it's not a great idea to do that to your fuel pump on a regular basis anyway, so why abuse the pump intentionally? Besides, knowing the total capacity of the tank, calculating what's left in the tank at each fill-up by what it takes to fill it, and knowing your mpgs, you can calculate how many miles are left on that tank as many times as you want with no risk to the pump.
If you will be travelling somewhere that you cannot stop every 250 miles or so, you'd be smart to expand your fuel carrying capacity by a lot more than 25 fluid ounces.
There is nothing particularly crappy about the FJR Fuel gauge IMO. It is highly repeatable, from my experience over the past 6 years. The reserve function and count down starts when I can fit between 5 and 5.2 gallons into the tank (with some variation allowed for the pump shutoff and how willing I am to burp the tank), which leaves me with 1.4 to 1.6 gallons of fuel in the tank. Since I know that I can get 40+mpg (as long as I'm not whipping it hard) that tells me exactly what the range on reserve is, and is helpful in estimating how far ahead I can look for a fuel station before I'd be walking.
It sounds to me like those who think this is a crappy setup aren't willing to do that math in their heads and want the instrument gauge to do a miles "count down" to empty instead of a count-up. If you can't do that simple math, then... well yeah I guess it's the gauge that is crappy.
As for determining experimentally how far you can go on reserve, don't bother. There are too many variables involved that would effect that number to be completely accurate. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, it's not a great idea to do that to your fuel pump on a regular basis anyway, so why abuse the pump intentionally? Besides, knowing the total capacity of the tank, calculating what's left in the tank at each fill-up by what it takes to fill it, and knowing your mpgs, you can calculate how many miles are left on that tank as many times as you want with no risk to the pump.
If you will be travelling somewhere that you cannot stop every 250 miles or so, you'd be smart to expand your fuel carrying capacity by a lot more than 25 fluid ounces.
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