748 Coolant Resevoir

My advice is get the ally one from the US. After my first one failed (lasted around 7 years) I got through several of them, including 3 in one year! One leaked as soon as it was fitted, luckily the dealer replaced it FOC but 'another' major dealer who I had bought one from told me there was 'no warranty' after one failed in a couple of months.

I got an ally one from a chap in the US who was making them at a reasonable price and it has been faultless. He's since stopped doing them but I know Motowheels have one which is expensive but, if I needed one I'd get that because I couldn't be arsed with constantly swapping the shite plastic ones again...

 

+1 for motorwheels just buy one there great.

 

You mean like this

http://www.carbon4us.com/en/carbon/5274-e.html

 

There is a carbon one available but it's a similar price to the alloy one, I just made my own.
Steve

 

softwood or hardwood?

 

The carbon one looks nice and of course it will be lighter than the alloy but are they any good? I know EVR make quality stuff so I would expect so but what does anti-freeze, temperature and pressure etc. do to it? do we know if any have failed? I wouldn't be very happy if it sprung a leak at that price.

I know that with my ally tank it absolutely won't leak and even if it did I could repair it.

 

I had a few fail, and concidered it was happening in Australia with high ambient temperature?,(never thought would happen in Europe) and the tank shape is not pressure friendly; with the large flat top surface. I loaded the top surface of the tank with the bottom of the ign switch? by putting a spacer in there to reduce the pressure flexure of the top plate? havent had one fail since? but havent ridden the bike much either??
use water wetter to improve heat rejection, different water pumps, and different fan switch lower temperature, to stop temperature and pressure spiking at the lights when riding slowly?
Even if bike is blowing as soon as road speed is increased temperatures rapidly reduce to normal??
The tank pressure /reliability problem is related to the 998 inability to cool itself adequately when stationary.
strategy; get fan on earlier, dont ride bike on hotdays >35 degree celcius (burns your arse as well), improve water interface with rejection surfaces, (water wetter,) increase water flow, increase pump flow (new hi flow water pump), ducati corse unpainted thicker radiators, 996RS-998RS radiators,
solution was before better tanks to reduce temperature and pressure cycling of tanks on road bikes. Hi flow pumps will change the delta (t) across the radiator but dont increase rejection, appear to only reduce delta (t) use of rs tank caps wont help

I think the radiators are sufficient on most road 996-998 but problem is airflow is insufficient when the bike is stationary; note the 996s/r had two fans note the popularity of the after-market aluminum fans blades available for 916/996 model
best way to fix is definitely the aluminum tank as its thermal conductivity and mass will add further thermal rejection and storage to the system that carbon or plastic tanks wont.

 

Other ideas
living in Australia i had many tanks fail on the 996/998 bikes
I believed it was due to pressure cycling that occurs on over 32-35 dregree days when stopped for traffic lights?
The tank reliability problem is a result of the tempurater and pressure cycling of the tank when the bike is not moving and is caused by lazy fan temperature switches, and insufficient air flow when stationary.
solutions tried;
1) put spacer under ignition switch to stabilize the top flat area on the tank, and reduce stress concentration on the edges>seems to work??
2) water wetter to maximize coolant contact with largest rejction surfaces in tank by minimizing bubbles > helps
3) hi flow water pumps? seems only to reduce (delta t) not worth while?? comment??> not sure
4) Ducati sourced HD water radiators both type specific and from RS models, provide better , greater heat-rejection needed for hi-output engines; but not really helpful to stop heat cycling when stationary dont think improves tank reliability > little bit for stationary temps, but still need fan working early enough
5) after market aluminium fan blades> yes works if fan turns on early enough
6) manual fan switches? not really dont want to have to constantly watch temperature to decide when to turn fan on early> not helpful for me
7) low temperature fan switches, Good idea for Australia 45degre Celcius max ambient 30- 35 Celcius common in Australia > good, work,do use

Solution seems to be in the aluminium tank that will provide extra heat storage and rejection over a carbon fiber version that only has the virtue if light weight; good idea