Fred in the shed

Dear all I have made a slight balls up with Lees email address you will need to re send any inquiries and add a w leewcarey@btinternet.com Sorry about that!

Are the alloy tanks lighter than stock items? Well in the famous words of Vicky Pollard.....Yeah but ....no ...but yeah? empty..... I recon 20% to 25% at least lighter, however as a plus the first tank made has a capacity of 30 ltr or just over 6 Gallons in real money if I recall but check on this standard tank is just under 24 Ltr ? so it depends on how much juice you put in, the 2nd tank I have not yet measured capacity but would think about the same

bbolesaz, I have a picture of the underside of the first tank Lee made for my 2001 Le Mans with the external petcock and pressure valve so you can see how it all fits and how he placed everything in the same locations as the original plastic tank, if I send it to Dave perhaps he can post it on the forum as I am having a bit of a problem posting pics on the site

Lee has made 2 tanks for me the new unpainted is for the Rosso Corsa (internal pump) and the Black painted Le Mans (pictured) is the external pump same as yours only differance is Mk1 V11 has 3 holes in bottom of Tank and later Mk2 tank v11 has just one bloody big one, he built both tanks for me with bikes in situ I suspect (Arizona =Az?) to Essex my be further than you would be willing to travel? but he may be prepared to make without bike especialy if he is doing another in workshop at this time worth a try leecarey@btinternet.com

I thought it would be of interest to members of the V11 forum if you are in the UK maybe even Europe have a knackered Ethanol damaged tank and want a really nice alloy one made thats faithful to the original then the guy to go to is Lee Carey at MCS Engineering, Unit 6 Shipyard Industrial Estate, Brightlingsea, Essex , CO7 0AR, leecarey@btinternet.com he has now made two for me a 2001 Le Mans & 2004 Rosso Corsa his work is absolutley cracking stuff, I was unable to post pictures on site as the files were to big but would be happy to email anyone who is interested. j.nicholas849@btinternet.com

Thanks for the info - my tank has just started to bubble, so I've dropped them an email. Do you have any photos of yours? Hello Trevini , these tanks start with a bit of distortion if you have found the tank becomes a bit of a pig to get on and off? then out of the blue the bubbles as the tank becomes pourous pop the bubbles and theres petrol, sort of fuel tank measles! I have tried to post some pics on site but must be doing something wrong but if if you ping me an email j.nicholas849@btinternet.com I am quite happy to send you some, I originally thought about replacing with an other Plastic tank but if your going to keep the bike its only going to come back and bite you again in a year or so anyway , there are so called treatments for the insides of the plastic tanks but consensus on the net is mostly they eventually fall off turn to sludge and block your injectors! lastly the Ethanol content that has done this to our tanks is currently 5% and it going up to 10%, I have spoken to a dealer who mentioned that even steel tanks are being affected because if you dont use your bike much during the winter for instance the higher water content in the new ethanol fuels separates over a few months sits on the bottom of the tank and rots the bottom out of the steel tanks! Regards Fred

Yep I did make contact with the Tank Shop some time back and I have seen his tanks which are top notch, However it was a year wait at the time and you had to get the bike up to Scotland so for anyone in England (Wales) going to Essex would be better option and a quicker delivery 8 -10 weeks

To all who may still be interested or now have a buggered up tank due to Ethanol I adopted two separate options my Rosso Corsa I shot blasted the tank and had a box alloy tank built that now fits inside the original the down side with this is Im down to 4.4 Imperial Gallons and you loose the air box but as it my Sunday afternoon bike no big sacrifice. My other le man which I use for Touring I ve now had an alloy tank made, the difficulty in getting someone to make a Tank in the UK now is unbelievable all the people I spoke to who make Tanks just want to make what they have always made and are a waste of time however if you wish to get a new alloy tank for your V11 try Lee Cary at MCS Engineering (Colchester) info@mcs-engineering.co.uk a very talented guy and the the template frame is ready to make further tanks

Andy , Just took a picture to send to Moto Mecca infact, if you let me have your email I will send you one, cost wise my mate made it for me but I have to repaint it and the grahics are a 100 quid so it looks to be about £500 ish time Ive finished, not cheap but what is these days.....as they say If its got Tits or Wheels it"ll cost you Money!! Fred

To all who may have been following the saga of ethenol ate my tank /steel replacement ? things have moved on ! slight change of plan as you may recall I was going to make a steel tank to sit inside the old plastic tank well this has now been done but have used alloy instead and I now have an approx 20L or 4 gallon tank that sits inside the old un quite snug, have had to do away with the airbox with K&Ns and also the standard fuel filler cap replaced with a nice alloy external that looks rather classic , next stage is to get painted, fingers crossed this will be the long term answer to the plastic tank problem, I will try and post photos when completed

I bought an Odyssey had it just over 2 years and it packed up they give 3 year warranty in US and 2 in Europe! didnt get replaced under warranty so in my book Junk wouldnt buy another

Tikkenen, Thanks, I have just sent an email to kaffee mashine on your recommendation so will see what comes back from them?, I have now gutted the underside of my old tank and made a cardboard tank to fit (not the intended long term solution!) but I can now get some idea of how easy or otherwise it will to construct in steel,The airbox will be junked if I go ahead and brackets made to support the side panels and injectors with conical K & Ns semi hidden by the side panels so externally every thing will look pretty standard but lets see how it works out ? I do have a plan "B" and "C" if it comes to it, I have got hold of a 2nd hand as yet undamaged original tank to put back on, the air box could go back on but I think it just kicks the can down the road a bit even if treated with some of these anti Ethanol sealers I have doubts about how good they will be as you cannot prep the inside of your tank I think to the standard to be effective, Plan "C" is the alloy route but as already mentioned its just the problem of getting someone to make it within a reasonable time frame or giving them the bike for a year! A week in Sunny Italy sounds good to me just change the wine to beer!

Soren, I spoke to him about a week ago or so and he said he needed pictures of the tank then the bike to be left with him if he took the job on this given other comments here about time to get it made puts the bike out of action for a year!, He has obviously made a few of these tanks now and (very nice to) so you would think he had a template or such to work from if that is possible for an Alloy tank but apprently not!? Fred

Thanks for your thoughts Skeeve and Bjor yes I got in touch with the tank shop and I have to send him some pictures of bike and tank and could be the route to go with my V11 that I use for touring funnily enough this bike is a 2001 and as yet damage to this tank is only 2 small bubbles yet the Rosso Corsa is 2004 and was plastered!, Re the experiment with the steel tank as I said the old tank is now been shot blasted and the bottom cut out, my mate and I ( a pucker engineer unlike myself!) are starting on Monday first to make a cardboard mock up to get the idea of shape fit etc ,It currently looks like the bulk of the air box will be removed so as to retain a decent fuel capacity re Skeeves idea for using part of the old tank as an air box although has merit I think this again would reduce fuel capacity so the favoured option at the moment would be a K&N type filters I Know there have been some adverse comments on the site about these and "only stopping small rocks" etc but I think this pretty much depends on the climate where you operate I can see this point in dry dusty states of the US but "Dry & Dusty" are words very little used in England!,

If thats the case I will give him a call it will be interesting to see what sort of time table/ cost is involved ? but I was told admittedly by a third party it was a long wait as he has an over flowing order book, also a very good engineer friend of mine considered it would be a bugger to get close to an original look given the tanks curves Fred

Thanks for a reply Steve, cant see the problem with steel though unless you mean rust of course (excluding stainie steel) alloy is a nice option and there is a guy in Scotland who is supposed to be the dogs privates for making repro tanks but its about a 2 year wait I understand, I have managed to get hold of a 2nd hand tank but this will likely share the same fate in a couple of years with Ethanol content increasing to 10% and I can see original items becoming like hens teeth to get hold of in the not to distant future hence my cunning plan as the old tank is knackered as a petrol carrier anyway . Whats an "IBA"? Fred

This is my first posting on the site I have had 2 V11s for about 6 years a couple of months back I noticed the nearest I can describe as Measles on my 2004 Rosso Corsa petrol tank. when the pustles were pricked petrol fluid came out ,after much trawling the internet Ethanol seemed to be the most likely cause as nothing had fallen on the exterior of the tank, So and here goes I intend to build a steel tank to sit inside the old tank and keep the bike looking original the old unit has been shot blasted and the bottom cut out , I wish to replace the bulk of the air box for added fuel tank size and maybe run on K & N units on each injector ? I would be more than happy if any one out there has done this or has experience with K & Ns or other filtration ideas and also advice on what to do with the MAF switch? , I know many of you will say just buy another tank but with the increasing amount of this evil stuff in petrol we will soon run out of replacement tanks so there may be room for a steel tank conversion kit as the long term fix?