I'm planning to whip the fuel tank off my 1000SSie completely for the first time tomorrow. For those that have done this before on an SSie, do I need to drain the fuel from the tank somehow first? It's about 1/2 full at the moment. There are 4 pipes underneath. 2 are joined together and are only the breathers from the top of the tank so not a problem. 1 is obviously the output from the internal pump, and as the top part of the internal hose from the pump sits very high in the tank I'll only lose a small amount of fuel when I pull the pipe off the stub. But the 4th pipe, the fuel return inlet to the tank appears to sit quite low in the tank, so might just keep flowing when I pull the pipe off the stub. Don't really want to syphon it out unless I have to. Thanks Nasher.
I've never found it necessary to fully empty a Ducati tank when taking it off but I've never had to remove one from an SSie. If you want to empty the tank to be on the safe side, remove the outlet pipe and push a length of pipe onto the stub with its other end in an empty can. The remove the fuel pump relay and bridge terminals 30 and 87 of it's socket. Turn on the ignition and the pump will run continually until you turn off the ignition when the tank is empty.
Thanks Guys Draining it using the pump is a good idea. The 1000SSie(and 800) tank is unfortunately different to the 750/900 in that it does not have the drain plug. As mentioned, internally the return pipe appears to be very low in the tank and I'm worried it will be below the level of the fuel when I pull the pipe off the stub. See below.
well learn something everyday would have thought they have used the same tank design throughout the ssie range was sure they look externally the same shape have used a syphon pump to remove fuel from mine before the cheap hand operated ones
It will not flow out to empty but on initial removal and if you subsequently move it around the workshop without tipping it on its nose it can release a fair amount of fuel. Why not use a short piece of fuel pipe between feed and return to close the loop? What fuel pump are you planning to use with the older tank?
Thanks Guys. Johnboy, yep, they look identical, and in fact the only difference appears to be the lack of drain plug. Jon Wright, the SSie pump etc fits straight in to the Carbie tank using the same clamp etc, just as if it was designed that way. The carbie fuel pump is slightly shorter, and of course puts out less pressure. One of the things I might try tomorrow is to see if the SSie Fuel level Sender fits the Carbie tank, as it's the only part I've not tried already as I don't have a spare. 900SS/SL parts diagram for comparison. Nasher
Friday afternoon swapping tanks about went well. I can confirm that as I suspected pulling the return pipe off the stub results in the tank trying to empty itself, but an old T shirt underneath, a good impression of a little Dutch boy, and a spare piece of fuel pipe to loop between the outlet and fuel return stubs(As suggested by John Wright) had it sorted. The Carbie SS Tank does fit the SSie Frame and rear mount, but it's VERY tight back to front underneath. The only thing it actually touches is the Exact-Fit cables that I fitted, but as I'm not piggybacking them I can shorten the terminals enough to make it work and have a safety gap. The SSie Fuel sender will fit, which is great as it will then also plug straight in to the SSie Fuel pump whilst it's in the tank. I've taken the measurements I need and will machine up a new 'Nipple' to fit on the front of the Carbie tank for the rubber strap. I put the SSie tank back on, as I'm hoping to get a chance to carry on riding it over the next few weeks when the weather plays ball. I've already converted a Carbie Headlamp/front fairing bracket by replicating all the SSie brackets on it, and widening the frame mount. And know exactly how I'm going to mount the SL seat unit. Only thing I need to figure out now is how to set up the Projector headlight I want to use and cut the hole in the right place in the non-headlight Carbie race front fairing. Nasher.
My advice on the headlamp fitting is locate the hole where it looks best and adjust the headlamp mounting brackets so the fairing fits over it. I had the same issue with a CF fly screen I made for a Monster, I mounted the headlamp first then tried to cut the hole so the fly screen fitted. It was an absolute nightmare as the front of the fly screen was double curvature and the shape of the hole in the fly screen had to be elliptical and deciding where the centre of the headlamp was in relation to the centre of the fly screen was extremely awkward as there are no obvious datum points to measure from.
