IMS Tank, Pegs and Shifter Tech

IMS Tank, Pegs and Shifter Tech

Member Since 1999

Installing the IMS 7 gallon desert tank. We keep going and going and going...

Story and photos by

Andy Cohen

In search of bigger and better has always been my motto and this rings true even when it comes to gas tanks. The bigger the tank the farther you go right? After having my bike in numerous pieces for the better part of a week while Big Gun fixed my pipe (nice job too by the way) and the excitement of new IMS pegs and shifter which paled in comparison to the chubby I got when I opened the box that contained my IMS Valdez tank I was having trouble containing myself.

I decided that while the tank was off I would also change the coolant to Cycle Logic's engine ice for the ride to Moab and give a nice long test of claims promising cooler temps. So I removed the stock tank and the fuel lines and the emission hoses and set the tank side by side for a comparison shot which can be seen below and set about the task of changing out the coolant and tank.

Let me begin by telling you all this process has to be thought out like a bank heist, I mean where the hell was the coolant going to go, the neighbors cat is only gonna drink so much and after that I have to get rid of it somehow.

Problem two, and this more of a statement than a question. There is no good way to drain one tank of gas into another. If you have ever heard the expression "monkey fucking a football" that is, I am sure what I looked like during what I first anticipated as being an easy day.

The rest of the job progressed into a natural state of being more difficult than I had imagined, another problem popped up as the container I had available to use as a coolant transport (so I could take I to the local auto parts store and dispose of it properly) wasn’t big enough and my wife wouldn’t let me use one of her pots (absolutely no sense of humor in that woman). Solution; Find more cats.

After hanging a bunch of cats from the fence like Boda's and filling them up with used coolant I was ready to flush the system and pour in the Cycle Logic engine ice. Here I find myself at impasse as I have no temporary fuel delivery system and in order to run the bike to check the coolant level the tank must be installed (albeit temporarily). With the tank installed however there is no good way to check the coolant level. Note to self; send hate mail to Kawasaki engineers.

Now at this time I have not installed the hardware from the old tank to the new tank because I have nowhere to put the fuel and my wife has padlocked the cupboards. So I turn the tank which by the way it almost full and begin to remove the petcock. The bolts that secure the petcock to the tank can only be removed by using a Phillips screwdriver even though they have a bolt head on them alas there is no room for a socket, another cruel twist perpetrated by the Japanese upon us Anglo fools (at least me anyway).

I finally get the damn thing apart, which included a bath in Arco's best 87 octane and after installing the petcock in the new tank I now have to talk my wife into holding the funnel so I can (carefully honey I promise) pour the gas into a jerry can so I can measure the amount. What I didn’t know was that the day before I paid for a manicure which included but was not limited to a new set of nails with polish and topcoat ($40) what I do know now is that nail polish and gasoline do not make good bedfellows. Note to self; a cheapo pot is less expensive than a full set of manicured nails.

I finally get the new tank on the bike, the coolant level just right, the new pegs installed and change the shifter (which I should have done before the tank as the gas I got all over myself would have washed away all the grease and shit from the swapping out the shifter, (but hey that’s why I writing this so you can learn from my mistakes) and decide to clean up and go for a ride to the gas station to top off the tank and see how much it holds.

After washing myself in the hose in the driveway (I’m not allowed in the house now because we have a gas stove and dinner is cooking) I don my new Shoei Syncrotech (shameless plug) and ride over to the Arco station where I proceed to go inside as the gas island machine doesn’t Fuckin’ work!!!!! The girl behind the counter must get aroused by my new O de Arco and asks if I have been drinking from the pump, she smiles showing only one good tooth. I flip her a twenty and head back to my bike to fill her up. As the sun is now setting and basks the parking lot in an orange glow I can see that I have vapors coming off my body (now I know how people in New Jersey feel).

Before I left the house I had transferred about 5 gallons in the tank and when I was done filling up I had added another 2.4 gals. Even through the gasoline was still burning my crotch I got a woody. When I questioned the IMS folks they said the black tank will shrink less than the green and clear tanks, it has something to do with the polymers in the darker color.

So I now have close to 7.5 gallons in my tank and it’s already been Line-X'd over the fluorinated protective seal so it weighs a bit more now. In my infinite wisdom I whack open the throttle leaving the toothless wonder and head across toward the intersection of 40th and Waterman, otherwise known as the jump of doom. 40th and Waterman is in a direct line from the base of the San Bernardino mountains and sees a lot of heavy water run off when the snow melts so it looks very much like the grand canyon, it is four lanes wide and I have hit this intersection at high speeds before and cleared the entire intersection in both my Ranger Prerunner and my KLR.

Let me tell you all about how heavy gasoline is, 8 pounds per gallon on the average. Hmnn, 60 pounds of fuel and the tank is no slouch either, in its pure form about the same as the steel version but the line-x is an addition you will notice and puts on about another 2.5 pounds.

Time for a math lesson, my fat ass + 60 pounds of fuel + 2.5 pounds of line-x = 335 pounds!

I remember a little while ago we were all discussing where the term Squid rider comes from, the consensus is anyone riding totally out of control on their bike with their arms and legs flappin’ in the breeze is a Squid. I am now Squid.

I hit the intersection in third gear, standing on the pegs with all my weight as far back as I could get it and it didn’t matter a lick. For the first time in about 2 years I saw my whole life flash before my eyes, my feet came off the pegs so high I thought I was gonna kick my own ass. So here I am doing the squid version of a superman through the intersection pissing my pants and looking straight over the tall Rifle screen at the front of the tire and the bike starts to come out of the stratosphere with me still not on the pegs.

This is very bad I think to myself. I found the pegs about the same time as I landed and I think that was purely by default, as I needed something to take the weight off my flattened balls, I couldn’t even scream the pain was so bad and now it was becoming more difficult to breathe. I figured it couldn’t get any worse until the bike bounced again and started heading for the next lane and some lady in a Honda Civic. The look on her face was almost as terrified as mine as my eyeballs were pressed against the visor I am sure she got a good look at them. By some stroke of good fortune I was able to regain control of the black missile and stopped in time for the next light.

I tried to look cool with a wet spot on my pants when she pulled up next to me and shot me a look of disapproval.

So what did I learn? Too much weight that far forward on the bike is not conducive to jumping, I can do a perfect squid impersonation and cats hold a lot of coolant.

But in retrospect I can go a lot farther now, if I can remember to be smart enough to live through it.

Andy

The stock tank is big, 6.1 gallons big...but I have a better idea.

The front view of the stocker.

Rider's eye view.

Side shot.

You have two choices, one of them is to discard the emissions. Not for me, I wanted to be able to sell this to law enforcement remember? IMS has a provision for the emission system when you upgrade to the new tank.

WOW! Even the stock Kawi tank looks small next to the Valdez series from IMS.

This tank had the fluorinated option which keeps fuel from leaching through the plastic.

As you can see from the pics the tank has also been Line-X'd which will also seal the tank. Line-X is impervious to many liquids, one of them is gasoline.

There is considerable heft to the new IMS tank.

Here is the new tank installed.

And a frontal look.

And the rider view.

IMS includes these really neat swiveling mounts for the side skirts. They are fully adjustable so you can tailor the way the skirts fit. Cool.

See that hose coming out of the tank cap? It runs down under the tank and has a tee fitting so you tie the two emission hoses in the system.

The offending petcock.

The longer of the two tubes is the standard fuel pickup, the smaller one is the reserve pickup.

These two screw/bolts hold the fuel petcock in position. notice the sheen on my arm? That's 87 octane Arco.

The new IMS shifter is much stronger than stock and was relatively easy to install.

It is my opinion that the new shifter offers a better shift because of the fact it isn't flexing like the stock one. I haven't hit neutral inadvertently yet.

The new IMS pegs are Stainless Steel and powdercoated black. I have heard from some that they do not fit well into the stock location, that is because the powdercoat does take up a little extra space, be patient and once they wear a bit they will move freely.

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