A Little Husky Orphan...aka...The Magic Thumpa

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Filler Cap Mod_1

Issue:
Multiple reports have shown the tank filler cap to be vented to prevent pressure building up in the tank when hot.
The cap has a tiny valve mechanism to prevent fuel running out in case of a topple over/ bike is on its side.
The mechanism consists of a tiny plate/spring/ball which can get jammed in rougher terrain/ dust etc and locks the tank, spraying the user with fuel at the next fill-up when pressure is released suddenly by removing the filler cap.

HighFive over at ADV has done a write up with pics which I have used to do the mod on my bike.
No need to re-write his brilliant piece....just a straight copy+paste to add to the rest of the posts.

I contacted him for an ok ....original thread here:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=22407576&postcount=1695




While my Terra performed very well during this long trip, I did experience a serious problem early on that had to be resolved.

The first day on the road was a scorcher over 100 degrees F. Excessive pressure was building up in my fuel tank, terribly so. :huh Refueling became a worrisome event, as I couldn't believe the pressure inside my fuel tank. It was enough to turn my fuel cap into an RPG from a rocket launcher. :eek1 I would have to slowly bleed off the pressure, before I could safely remove the cap.

Clearly, the fuel tank was not able to properly vent to atmosphere. The magnitude of pressure buildup had me very concerned that a tank seam would burst. The problem had to be identified and resolved. So, I went to work on it in the motel parking lot during the very first evening on the road.

Took awhile, but I found the culprit. The whizmo gizmo hiding under the fuel cap was simply not venting properly. It took some brain surgery to locate the pesky culprits and extract them. But I solved this problem permanently. :deal

Now, you get the benefit of seeing how its done. I kept the parts in a zip-loc bag, and reconstructed the process step by step to share here, because this was such an important discovery. It could have been a real deal killer, had I pressed onward, ignoring the situation. Don't fall victim to the same issue.

Warning……lots of photos to follow, so that you don't lose your way. I got to do the whole thing twice, to be able to share so that you only have to do it once. There are several components with unique fitting parts. I lost my way at least twice…..ok maybe more. But nobody has a photo of HF lost!

Here we go:

Remove the fuel cap

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Stuff a clean rag in there so you don't drop something inside the fuel tank

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Remove the plastic cover (T25 - 4 bolts)

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Remove this fuel cap base ring….latch catch (Hex 3mm - 4 bolts; the only hex I've seen on the bike, I think).

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Now pay very close attention to details from this point forward as you work. Order of parts, direction they are facing, etc. But you'll have these photos to refer back to, if you get confused. You MUST reinstall every piece in the correct order and position.

Gently pull this ring and filler neck out of the tank. Probably a good idea to remove the vent hose from the red nipple even before you remove this assembly. I took it off later, because I didn't think of it sooner. It made reinstall much easier without wrestling the vent hose.

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Here's a looksee inside the tank, just because.

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Notice this hole…..it is your vent hole in the fuel tank. When you reinstall everything, remember "the holes must line up".

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Here, I've turned the assembly over so you can see the bottom side of the mating surface where the holes must align.

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The farthest hole from my finger will be the one that matches the vent hole in the tank. It will make sense when you are holding in your hand and looking at the placement. If you put everything back in order properly, it will line up correctly with no problems.

The filler neck snaps out with a gentle tug, and the gasket comes with it.

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Turning over this latch assembly you can see two more tiny bolts on the bottom of the tank vent connection. Note: its black on top and red on bottom. Remember that.

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Smallest Torx wrench I've used yet. Either a T10 or T15, I forget exactly.

Here was the "problem" hiding under this plastic red cover.

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A tiny check ball, spring, and orifice plate. They were laying loose like this when I opened up the cover, so I'm not exactly sure how they were originally set. It appears to be a spring loaded check-ball, to prevent fuel from spilling on the ground (out the vent hose) if you have a tip-over.

Not sure if the orifice got clogged, or the dumb thing just came out of joint. But some combination of these three tiny fellows was blocking my tank vent completely. I hate to think what it would be like, if the pressure had built to the point of a bursting explosion while I was riding at speed down the highway. My how the mind races…..

I'm not telling you what to do. Not recommending anything in particular. Just showing you what I did myself. And it went like this (with pleasure):

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Next up……the reassembly.

Taking things apart is always easier than putting them back together!

HF
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Filler Cap Mod _2

Part 2: Re-installation

Re-installation:

Notice the red cap thingy has a round black center on the bottom side.

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This goes back on facing the ring base. The top side is solid red, like this

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Again…..your vent hose should already be removed before disassembly. Not like you see here, on mine. That will make it easier to work with.

Here, I've placed the gasket onto the tank, so you can see the proper hole alignment for the vent.

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The gasket won't go on here yet. It gets attached to the latch ring assembly first, as you're about to see.

This is the point things can get confounding, if you're like me…..and take things apart as fast as humanly possible, so you can stand back and admire your conquest. I fumbled around with all these parts to follow, trying to fit them back together unsuccessfully on many attempts. Kind of felt like working on a Rubic's Cube.

Here is the answer key

Notice the filler neck has two extended tabs on it

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These protruding tabs snap into the two slots on the ring precisely sized for them like so

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Be careful here, it will snap onto the ring and spin around to lock in several other ways…..none of which will let you finish the job. Put the tabs into the "enclosed" grooves, not the open slot (so to speak).

The filler neck should be aligned with the vent nipple as shown

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Looking closely at the gasket, observe the raised o-ring, of sorts on one side. The other side is fairly even and flat.

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That raised O-ring portion fits tightly into this groove around the filler neck. Slide the gasket on such that you can press fit the gasket lip into this groove.

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Make certain the two small holes in the gasket are aligned with the ports in the vent assembly (see the two red spots peaking thru the gasket in photo above).

Very slowly and carefully turn over the assembly and insert it into the tank trying not to force or bump it while you align it with the mounting holes.

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If you bump it hard, the filler neck can pop out of the groove and you have to start all over. Yeah…..I got to practice at it several times. If you were good at that Parker Brothers game called "Operation", then you'll be an ace at this. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just disregard these comments. You'll figure it out on your own.

I probably make it sound harder than it is. Just take your time and go step by step. Its really not a complicated project. Just don't forget to reinstall the four mounting bolts to finish the re-assembly. Put your plastic cover back on, and then your fuel cap. Done!

My tank vent will never cause me a problem again. You can bank on that!

Cheers :freaky

HF :thumbup
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Front Sprocket Cover/ Oil Filter Access

Issue:
Modding the factory sprocket cover to gain access to the oil filter cover bolts without the need to remove the sprocket cover first.


After the first chop, grinding away about the left 1/3 of the cover, keeping the fixing lugs and cutting through part of the top edge for access to the oil-filter screw.


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Bolt is clear, that part's out of the way.



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Looking fine after "freeing up" the top locating lug


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Time for a good clean-up, de-burr, re-sealing those ground edges and cuts with an open flame and soldering iron to get the black colour and finish/ texture back, remove the paw-prints and try to cover that shallow scratch where the drill slipped with a rag soaked with some still-wet satin-black out of the rattle can.



Not bad for what started as a " I'll give it a quick whirl and see how it turns out" and finished up the usual "2hrs, 1 bandaid on the blood-blister and a burned lip from the hot tea affair" :doh::bs




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This, even skinnier version from TRZ-Charlie even allows access to the front sprocket retaining bolt. Sweet!





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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Rusted lower headstem bearing

Issue: Open/Unsealed steering-stem tube allows water into lower headstem-bearing.


Made from an old V-Strom handlebar-weight bolt and various rubbers, spacers, washers etc to principally make a rubber-"dowel"/ plug for the steering stem-tube that will be a mount for a tankbag at the same time.

The tankbag is an old Aprilia-Pegaso OEM jobbie, garage-orphaned for years...great quality bag, but not the right shape for the current D/S bikes.



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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Radiator and splash guards

Issue:
With the high mudguard in the front, the radiator cops a decent splatter of mud, stones and dust/ water etc.
The radiator itself barely weighs anything and is mounted via 2 plastic lugs only....adding a beefy CNC-cut alum guard doesn't make
much sense then.







Heavy alum fly-mesh from the hardware store and a bit of Polyprop sheeting (leftover stiffeners from some old soft-luggage bags) make for some radiator protection (bug screen + " first defence") , together with some mud/ spray guard for the lower portion.

Easily removable/ cleanable/ lightweight/ cheap/ ....and black! ;)


Top of the mesh us just cut and bend over the top of the radiator, using the 2- hanger-screws to hold it in place.

Bottom is semi-wrapped around the crash-bar crossbars and cable-tied.



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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
B+B Modded Bashplate

B+B bashplate:

Bought it cheap 2.hand on ADVrider.
Months before buying the bike :whistle:


The B+B's generally have one great advantage:
Hanger brackets and attachments are bolted, not welded, easy to work on. Like most B+B stuff it's totally over-specced and way too strong for the structure it'll get attached to.

Weigh-in:


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Jeez!! This is ALUM!!...not lead!



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The front mounting bracket is a COLOSSAL affair .


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Talking of design, the bashplate is mounted to its own bracket with speedclips and 2x8mm bolts near the upper edge. These 2 bolts are the weakest point of the actual front mount, making everything else totally over-specced and lardy.



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To me, a bashplate is the sacrificial part of the equation

Brackets will be cut down to half or less to become the "weak-spot" of the whole affair, the overall plate will be trimmed by around 35%, hopefully getting the whole thing down to the 2kg mark or less.


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The B+B front bracket...chopped to retain the upper half only.



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Due to the SWM crashbars, the bracket needs further modding, like reversing the speed-clips and various cut-outs/ trimming.
Mounted with the crashbars:



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Trimming the rear B+B mount, 2 new holes marked inside the mounting arms.



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Most of the weight-savings.




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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Custom Screens

A couple of locally made screens

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Some spacers of various length out of some cheap high-density PolyEthylene rod for different rakes and stand-offs (similar to the Madstad bracket idea for the V-Stroms).


One screen for playing ...the other as a backup if/ when I goof up.


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Seat Mods

Some small seat-mods.

Shifting the "lip" of the pillion-step ~35mm backwards with a straight line rather than convex, extending the rider-spot for a bit more backwards-room.

Narrowing the crown in the front and rounding off the sharp-ish angle to get better "tank"-grip and adding a small wedge of 12-15mm foam to flatten out the front in order to remove that vague "sliding-into-the-tank" feel.

(NOTHING like the BMW 12GS, but still noticeable)




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The white-ish areas show the worked areas.



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Ready for the cover to go back on



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Done, changes are undetectable


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Quicklock Tankbag Mods

Being one of the dying breed of the "Ancients".... the no-Spot, no-GPS, no-Ipod, paper-map fossil...a big map-pocket is important to me.


None better and less complicated than the SW-MoTech Bags Connection Quicklock Tankbag type with the optional clip-on map pocket.


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But the Husky doesn't make the fitting easy....this will have to be a home-cooked job.


Checking the little top-panel for rigidity, I'm pretty sure that the fairly complex profile of the PolyPropylene-panel provides enough strength to carry a tankbag...after all, much of the weight of the bag will rest on the top part of the seat and the bag will only carry a handful of bits, the heaviest and biggest being a P+S camera.


After years of playing in the "bike-cave", there are plenty of leftover bits...

The tankring mounted to the V-Strom tank is the Suzuki version with the wider legs to suit the Zook's filler cap stud pattern.

Having a spare of those proved, that the Husky's filler cap is slightly bigger and those "legs" have to be thinned down. (just found out yesterday that there's a perfectly fitting tank ring for the BMW GS1150 GSA around....fitting in ID and OD that is....the bolt-holes might still have to be plugged before re-drilling in the correct position for the Husky).


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Roughed the flip-side, plastic bracing of the ring, then filled every nook and cranny with JB-Weld epoxy to make this a solid affair and allow me to place holes anywhere they're needed.





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Smoothed the bottom and dremel-ed/ filed away the extra material to narrow the "legs" to a uniform thickness to comply with the size+shape of the tank cap.


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Now for the tricky bit of fabbing a spacer to comply with the weird "teardrop" shaped raised bit around the filler cap/neck of the Husky panel.

Some 15/20mm (5/8- 3/4") high-density EVA sheeting (see your shoe-repairer for a piece of that) is perfect for it. Super-light, very firm but not hard or brittle, waterproof and chemically impervious, machinable, drill-able etc etc.


Pre-shaped it, then contact-glued it to the tank-ring for a final skim and trim.


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As the pics show, there isn't much "wall"-material at the bottom seat to drill a hole through...

and the position of the 4x 4mm SS countersunk bolts has to be checked very carefully to make sure that the nyloc-nuts protruding out the bottom of the panel do NOT sit on top or touch the tank/airbox material, as well as staying clear of the hose-connection at the filler neck.


Thankfully there's a recess in the tank-shape which gives some leeway regarding depth and clearance.


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A bit of double sided tape to trial fit and mark out.




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Yo, happy with that



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Drilled and fitted...if there's any doubt about stability/ strength, fabricate a thin (1/16th) alum ring to spread the load of the 4 screws to the overall area around the neck. I can't see the need unless a BIG and/ or heavy tankbag is used.



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The most crucial bolt of the 4...NO touching anywhere!

Countersunk heads to keep the surface flush and not interfere with the counterpart-ring that's part of the tankbag and slides over the top.


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Quicklock Tankbag Mods_2

An old "City" model bag that's given up the ghost years ago, provides the system parts for the bag-side of the equation.

A thin piece of plastic sheeting as a floor stiffener added to just about any brand/ model bag out there can be used to complete the "Quicklock" bag idea.

AFAIK, SW has now decided to sell those rings separately as well, making it possible to convert most tankbags out there to the Quicklock system.




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Like this...
An Oxford X4 tankbag seems a good choice and comes with a removable pouch full of magnets inserted between the zipped inner and outer 'floors' of the bag.
Replaced the magnet- pouch with a piece of trimmed, stiffener sheeting (poly-prop) from an old soft-luggage tail-bag to use as a solid mounting base for the Quicklock mount.

Drilled a few 5mm holes...and it all "clicks" now.



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The added SW-Motech Quicklock tankkbag map-pocket also acts as a rain/ drizzle cover, until the build-in rain cover is needed.




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