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Every once in a while, a product comes along that is so poorly made, it HAS
to be "reviewed". :)
I am assuming that V-Twin is the maker of the tank as well as the dash kit that it comes with. If I am wrong, my apologies to the tank maker for not giving him/her his or her due for making such delightful junk. My particular kit is for an early ironhead Sportster. Mine's a 72. As the instructions (and everything I ever read about aftermarket tanks) said, I pressure tested the tank. I made my own little test kit with rubber automotive freeze plugs that have a nut which you tighten to expand the plug. I installed two of these, one in each filler hole. The fit was tight, and it took some effort to press them in. Getting them out was equally difficult, but a small pry bar and a block of wood got the job done. I figure better too tight than too loose. I purchased a dial type pressure gauge from the auto parts store and added a vacuum line type fitting on the end. I installed a short length of fuel line and hose clamped it, and then attached it to one of the crossover nipples on the tank and clamped that as well. I then took a tubeless tire valve, stripped it of it's rubber and clamped it into another piece of hose. That piece I installed on the other crossover nipple. I then installed the petcock from my peanut tank, and was ready to go. I slowly and carefully pressurized the tank. First to 5lbs. Then to 10 lbs, listening for tell tale signs of stress. So far so good, so I went to 15, figuring that should be enough to chase out any leaks. I kept the top side of the tank facing down into a cardboard barrel in case one of the freeze plugs should let go. Here's where the product review begins: I sprayed soapy mixture of water on all of the welded seams. It didn't take long to find my first leak. And not much longer to find the last 3 leaks. :) Since I have heard from anyone that has ever used these tanks that they all leak, I took it Canaan Custom Machine and had Dave heli arc the leaks, instead of returning it for another leaky tank. In short order that problem was solved. Next, the instructions say you should test fit it to the bike. Sounds easy enough to me. Did I say easy? hehehe First problem. Rear mount has 1 inch long studs on each side and it saddles the top rail on the frame and bolts through the existing hole in the frame. So far it sure seems easy. That fits ok. Now, you take these steel thingies that the rubber bushings fit onto, and you screw them onto those studs. Yup, I can handle that. One turn, ok.... two turns... hmmmm that's tight... What's up here? dang, that looks like a fine thread on the metal thingies... but those studs are coarse. Poo poo! What to do? drill, tap and heli coil? nah, too much work. Lets just run a coarse tap through it. Yeah, that works. Screw the thingies on, all is well. OK, tank fits. next step. Paint. Well, you guys know that story. Next step. Assemble the dash and see how it looks with the new, custom, homemade, and absolutely gorgeous flame job. Looks like the first step is to install the dash cover mounting stud in the base plate. Hmmmm The hole is too small in the plate for the stud. Drill to proper size. Mount stud. Next I'll mount the ignition switch. Hmmmmm... holes don't line up. Open up holes on switch to allow for some fudge factor. Mount ignition switch. How about throwing those dash light lenses in the dash cover. Wow, what a loose fit. Those will be rattling my brains out. It would take a while to describe just how cheesy the lenses really are. Gonna have to find something better to replace those. Now, I'm going to try and fit the base plate to the tank. Front hole looks good, but hey, what's this? The rear two holes are off by about 1/4 inch?! Dang! Damned Taiwanese! Oh, did I mention that the kit is made in Taiwan? Well at least it's not communist china. Elongate the holes into slots. There, now the bolts should go in. Or will they? They go in most of the way, but bottom out 1/4 inch short of tight. Bolts too long. Add two bolts to shopping list. (added 5/22/02: discovered that kit comes with a stack of shims to adjust the dash board fit to tank. I wondered what they were for. Well, they get used to raise the dash mounting plate higher of the mounting points on the tank if the mounting points are too low. Using the entire stack of shims above the mounting plate used up all of the extra bolt, so no new bolts were needed. I know, a cheesy fix, but a fix without a trip to the hardware store.) Attach little rubber iso bushings to speedo mount. hey! It worked! Celebrate! Have a beer! Lay speedo onto mounting plate and insert mounting pins through iso bushings. I'm going to leave of the C clips for this test fitting. OK, lets lay the dash on. Hmmmm... it sits 1/4 above the tank. It has to go on farther, no? Oh, I see, the ignition is locked and that little pin thingie is sticking out. Unlock ignition. That's a little better but still not flush. Grrrrrrrrrrrr push push push. What a tight fit around that ignition switch... but there it goes. Now will the switch turn? It's tight. Really tight. a few dozen turns and she's a starting to get loose! yes! Cover mounting stud not aligned with hole in cover. Remove mounting base, elongate hole in base, move stud over 1/8 inch to right. reinstall base, reinstall cover, install nut. Well there it is. Looks good, but lots of work. If you want something that is easy to assemble this isn't the kit for you. If you don't mind, or even enjoy fiddling around making parts fit, then have at it!
All in all, I'm tickled pink with the end result. The tank looks fantastic on my bike. But that is more a testament to my perseverence and craftmaship than to V-Twin's quality. :) Jim aka Critter |
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