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IMS 6.6 on Gen 2

13K views 32 replies 10 participants last post by  DPelletier 
#1 ·
When I bought my 2009 it had an IMS 10. There has been a love/hate relationship with that tank. I hate it because it is too damn big, the pump fails, it is unwieldy as all hell to take off, even if it is only half full (forget it if you need to pull the tank and it is full!), and it is hard to keep track of gas mileage unless you fill the stupid thing every time. I love it because, if I don't want to and the pump is working, I can ride all day without filling up. I love the protection it affords to the vulnerable bits.

If you were keeping score, the cons outweigh the pros on both count and importance. Candidly, I don't think I'd have ever bought the thing. ONe, I'm too cheap and, two, all of the above are predictable.

I have a stock tank that I could put back on, but that would mean putting back the plastics and the nerf bars, and I wasn't happy with the plastics and the nerf bars 10 years ago and distance ain't made the heart grow fonder.

Recent conversations here made me think about the IMS 6.6. It really hadn't occurred to me to try one before because, well, you know, it's a Gen 1 thing. Some research showed that there didn't seem to be much out there where people had installed one on a Gen 2, at least where they had 'twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was'.

A visit to the IMS website (ugh) showed that the IMS people say it (*CAN FIT ‘08 MODELS W/O SHROUDS;PLASTICS). I guess what that means is that if you strip everything that is either a shroud or plastic that it will fit.

At first consideration, it seemed that making one of these fit the Gen 2 would involve a Gen 1 radiator, fan, and a change to the wiring to accommodate the Gen 1 temp switch, so this was Good News To Me™. Might be that it would work.

I happened to know where there was a nearby, unused 6.6. I inquired as to whether it might before sale for a reasonable price and whether or not I could buy it. It was and I could, so I did. Got it laid out in the Shop of Horrors early this morning.


What I figger to do is strip the KLR tomorrow and see if this thing will fit. If it does I'll put it on, though I've no idea what all the brackets are for and where they go, as the instructions are für Scheiße. They might as well have used ASCII drawings on the instruction sheet, for all the sense I can make of it.

If it fits and I can get it mounted, I'll figure out how much gas would get left in the left wing and what the total capacity of the tank is.
 
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#2 ·
I look forward to your detailed report! :) FYI, the plate with the crease is to attach to the rear tank bolts to the frame, the gasket is for the petcock, one set of brackets is for the rad (most people, me included, don't use 'em) and the other set is for the front of the sideplates....they generally take some tweeking and I also had to do some minor trimming on my side plates.

Cheers,

Dave
 
#3 ·
Well, boogers. The aforementioned Good News To Me™ turns out to be false.

Here's the first problem; the radiator is too wide by about the width of the brackets:


That's easy to fix (though the changes to the fan will be a bit more complicated). The tabs can be bent backward. Unfortunately, the radiator is now a bit too tall:


I think that it may be possible to rotate the radiator forward by making a bracket for this attach point.


The idea is to get this done without any serious fabrication or Gen 1 parts transplants. Transplanting a Gen 1 radiator and fan would take the 6.6 into the same realm as the 10 in terms of cost. Boo, hiss.

If I can make the tank fit with just a radiator rotation I'll work on fitting some sort of protection for side impact.
 
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#9 ·
On my gen2 with a 10 gal. IMS tank the tank lobe "protecting" the radiator folded in like a cardboard box when I dropped it in a corn field in Saskatchewan. The radiator was crushed and had several large leaks. Large amounts of JB Weld got me back to Houston and I bought a new Mylers double thick radiator, so that was good.

To protect the new and not cheap radiator I bolted two 1-1/2"x 1-1/2" x5" angle irons to the front motor mount with the flanges turned out in front of the frame tube. I bolted a 1"x1" square tube across these flanges out to the tank lobes. I added a little foot on each end to go back behind the tank lobes for more support.

I have dropped it many times since then without the lobes folding in and damaging the radiator or the reservoir bottle.
 
#5 ·
Not sure I could mount the JNS with the radiator tipped forward. Thinking about a strut at the bottom of the radiator.
 
#12 ·
#11 ·
The fan mounting issue, solved.


The radiator couldn't really be tipped forward much without running into the fork tube at full lock, so I settled for moving it ~5mm to the right. Seems to be enough.


The 'radiator swinging in the breeze' problem, solved.


The radiator bug shield/hider fits.


The provided brackets that are supposed to fit to these two screws weren't even close to right; will have to fab some later.


It doesn't look too bad. I have to make a new Molle tank cover and may be able to put some light storage in the gap between the tank and the fairing.


Tomorrow will be petcock and 'how much fuel' day, and Wednesday will be a quick 300 miler to lunch at Foxy's Landing.

"Fools go where angels fear to tread", Tom said in a spirited manner....
 
#14 ·
I am handy with a sewing machine and made the Molle tank cover that is on my IMS 10. The commercial version would cost as much as I paid for the 6.6 tank...


This is my corner of the sewing room. Our sewing tables have a full-width 3' leaf that opens out of the back, so I can work on pretty big stuff. We have a 4'X6' cutting table in the cutting room next door (my daughter calls it a 'bedroom', but we know better. She sometimes stays over after a late shift in the ER and we have threatened to install a Murphy bed in the cutting room. She is opposed to this...).
 
#16 · (Edited)
The left wing will abandon .75l of fuel; .2g.

After that it will take 26l to a reasonable fill level; 6.9g. I think you could stuff 7g* in there.

That gives me a ‘dead on the road’ range of 290 miles.

Edit 12/26/21: @Dan Diego reports stuffing 7.036 gallons into a 6.6 after having to tip the beast over to get gas out of the right-hand wing and then riding another 6 miles. It appears the IMS 6.6 will take significantly more than 7 gallons. In fact, it would appear to have a capacity of 7 usable gallons.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Molle tank cover before the Molle. PALS baseline laid out.

I made this one out of 1680D ballistic nylon. That stuff is a bugger to sew!

 
#20 · (Edited)
There's not as much room as on the IMS 10, but it should work out OK.

 
#21 ·
This is not the right place, but all I have is my phone and the mobile view.

I don’t think I mentioned it, but I put a Gen 1 radiator on the bike. Details at souperdoo.com.

Equilibrium seems to be 205* at the head and 175* at the T-Bob. That makes my head explode and I need to look at some notes.

This radiator seems more susceptible to load, too. It controls the head temperature pretty well, keeping it at the middle two-teens, but doesn’t shed heat as well and let’s the outlet temperature rise, which activated the fan a lot. Today I was doing steep climbs at slow speed.

What the world needs is a Gen 2 radiator with a Gen 1 top tank.

Photo is from the downhill side of Figueroa Mt., probably 30 miles inland above Solvang. You can see the Pacific at what I’d guess is off Gaviota Beach.
 

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#22 ·
360 today with 40 of it dirt. I really like this tank; much easier to handle. The Gen 1 radiator keeps up with the heat ok. It still runs 174/205 ish and the oil was running mid 190s.
@pdwestman, this oil load is going to run out to 3600. Intend to get a sample out Monday.
 
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#23 ·
360 today with 40 of it dirt. I really like this tank; much easier to handle. The Gen 1 radiator keeps up with the heat ok. It still runs 174/205 ish and the oil was running mid 190s.

@pdwestman, this oil load is going to run out to 3600. Intend to get a sample out Monday.
My only question is, what size of crankshaft oil control orifice is currently installed in your bike Tom?

Factory size in the bottom rod pin is 3 mm. I've been as small as 2.06 mm. My engine oil was still better/cleaner than the UA of all 'usable' oil samples when mileages were divided into the ppm's.

I'm looking forward to your oil report!
 
#24 · (Edited)
Right now, none. If this sample comes back good I'll put mine back in. It is a genuine LMK #43.

The Wössner piston has no oil holes for the wrist pin. I was a bit concerned that adding the orifice straight away might not be a good idea, so I decided to go through a couple of KHI 10-40 changes before going back to it. It should be broken in by now and, if the oil is good, the orifice can go back in.

It will be interesting to see the change in cam pressure. Right now my cam pressure is running 3 3/4psi @ 5000RPM @ 195℉. Today I watched the oil temp track to the ambient temps. I should have recorded ambient vs oil temp, once the oil had reached stabilization at ^0℉ ambient, to see what the relationship was. Today's ride started at 60℉ and went up to 90℉ over a straight and flat course of 400 miles. Opportunity lost.
 
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#28 ·
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#30 ·
I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but the upshot is there is negligeable weight difference between the stock steel tank and the IMS 6.6.....where the big weight savings comes in is due to the fact that the 6.6 protects the rad adequately without adding 12 - 15lbs worth of crashbars. It also holds the stock amount of fuel lower for a lower CG. ....I had the stock tank and HT bars on my 2001 and the IMS on my 2000 and the difference offroad was very noticeable.....so I went with the IMS on both. the plastic tank also felt slimmer though I can't back that up with dimensions.

2 cents,
Dave
 
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