Fuel tank punch mod.

[Wintersdark]

On 10/22/2020 at 11:23 AM, Dodgy Knees said:

Another thing to bear in mind, I'd only had the tracer a few weeks,  was filling up on sidestand not paying full attention (sexy lady near-by ) and the pump didn't auto shut off. Petrol everywhere,  I got pump back and got out of the way, not being sure of how the petrol and hot engine/exhaust  would get on. Luckily, no fire. Told the attendent what I thought of his pump, straight home and a good wash down. Luckily,  all good, but I would never fill up sat on bike. However,  my mate does it all the time and he's an ex mod bike cop. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The autoignition temperature of gasoline is around 280C/500F in a lab.  With a watercooled engine turned off, there shouldn't be anything exposed even close to those temps - and splashing fuel is going to cool stuff very fast.  Hell, you can touch anything on the bike except the exhaust headers without risk of burns while it's running.  Tests, such as here: 

Fuels > Autoignition Temperatures Detailed Results

show a failure of pump gas to autoignite even over 1200F on exhaust.  So, the risk of fire is basically nonexistent.  

In a somewhat related note, had a local riding buddy recently have one of his fuel injectors (or at least the the connection to the throttle body) *fall out* while riding his GSX750.  Sprayed gas everywhere at highway speeds, shooting it forwards up into the console where wind blew it back across the top of the tank, soaking him.  Not exactly what you want to have happen at speed; bike suddenly barely running, gas all over you.  Be so damn surprising and terrifying.

 

In an otherwise somewhat related note, not paying attention due to the presence of a sexy lady near by is also how I managed to get in my first motorcycle accident.  Turn - all full of 16 year old guy on his new bike hormones - wave to the pretty girl...... and rear-end a stopped Jetta at 50.  Good times!  

Edited October 23, 2020 by Wintersdark

[BBB]

You can put out a cigarette in petrol apparently. It’s the air/petrol vapour mix at certain ratios that is explosive.

The Vapors

---

Every work site has flammable and combustible liquids. A flammable liquid...

 

[1moreroad]

1 minute ago, BBB said:

You can put out a cigarette in petrol apparently. It’s the air/petrol vapour mix at certain ratios that is explosive.

The Vapors

---

Every work site has flammable and combustible liquids. A flammable liquid...

 

If the vapors don't blow up before the cigarette ever gets to the liquid fuel. The vapors usually ignite first. Gasoline is so dangerous in part because of it's volatility. 

If you spill fuel around a recently running bike please step away until it dries. It won't take long to dry. 

Please be safe. 

[peteinpa]

16 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

A direct violation of what?  

It's a half joke. It is in the manual to not fuel seated on the bike.

[CrockettJosh]

On 10/21/2020 at 6:41 AM, peteinpa said:

Heard of this awhile ago, now thinking of doing it. This comes up every time here when you can't get the amount of fuel into the tank you should.

IF you take your time, have a pump that can fill slowly, Cali. with your evap. tube forget it, Nobody waiting on your pump, etc. Fill past the bottom holes to the lip of the tank and it will drop down. it will do this MANY times. This will get you 1/2 US gallon more in the tank. If you typically fill till the pump shuts off with the nozzle deep in the tank, and don't keep squeezing more in, you are probably missing a gallon of capacity.

This answers all the questions of "I ran out of gas and only put in 4 gallons."

Now onto the mod. Do a search and it's been done on many types and makes of bikes. You need to make a punch hole high up in the filler neck to let this trapped air out to completely fill with gas. The FZ-09 guys know about and some have done it. Then you can fill all the way with out the long wait. 

Don't fill this way or do the mod and then park the bike.  If you fuel up and ride 10 or more miles it's fine.

Still deciding if I want to punch a hole or not.

Feel free to comment.

 

Super interesting! I have a CA model and was pretty shocked to find that after running the tank completely dry (my bad) I was only able to fill about 4.5 gallons. 

When you say "Cali. with your evap tube forget it." I'm assuming you mean that if I try to squeeze in more gas, I'm just going to fill up the evap canister? I've been afraid to try the fill and settle method on the bike for this very reason. I've dealt with the effects of a saturated evap canister in my old Jeep and it did not make for a fun day.