How to Remove the FJR's Gas Tank

Removing the FJR1300's gas tank is remarkably straight forward. You don't even have to drain the fuel first, although it makes it much easier if you do (the tank can be quite heavy and awkward to handle when full of fuel). Please do make sure to read the SAFETY WARNING at the bottom of this page.

For tools, all you really need is a 4mm Allen wrench for the side covers, 10mm and 12mm sockets for the bolts, and some pliers for some hose clamps.

Start by removing these two 10mm bolts at the front of the tank. I suggest draping an old towel over the gas tank to prevent any accidental scratches. The safest way to do this is with a socket and long extension, or with a speed wrench or T-handle.

Remove the 4mm Allen bolt from the front of the two black plastic fairing panels, and pull out the center connecting plug. You don't really have to remove the rear quick fasteners, you can leave these panels attached from the rear and hanging loose.

Now you have a choice, you can either remove the rear pivot bolt next (shown in the exact center of the above photo), or do it after you've unhooked the fuel and vent lines. If you're working alone, I suggest leaving this bolt in place until the last step.

It's fairly long (about 6.5") and takes a 12mm socket or wrench. The bolt slides in from the right side of the motorcycle, though I don't think that really matters.

Remove the two vent lines on the left underside of the tank as shown by the large red arrow in the photo above. If you've got strong fingers, you can squeeze the wire clips and slide them down. If not, use a pair of pliers. Nothing should leak out of these, so don't worry.

The smaller red arrow in the above photo points to where the two hoses are captured by a complex little rubber boot that slides onto one of the gas tank's "ears". The ear has a rubber plug in it which the small black fairing panel screws into. Take a good look at it before you pry the boot off so you can remember how it goes back together.

You might want to make a drawing of how the hoses are routed too.

Take a good look at the hoses and wires pointed to by the red arrow in the above photo. Maybe even make yourself a drawing of how it all goes together so you can reassemble it correctly later.

The FJR's gas flow is controlled by a vacuum line, so you don't have to worry about gas coming out of the tank when you remove these lines. (There may be a bit of fuel still in the line, however, so before you lay it down over the engine I suggest putting another towel under it to catch any drips). Remove the black plastic clip from the fuel line connector as shown above. Remember how it goes back on.

The black plastic connector on the end of the fuel line (where it slips over the white plastic nozzle) has two square, light gray buttons on each side. Depress them both, and the fuel line will slip straight off. To put the line back on you can just push, and it will click into place without needing to push the gray buttons again. Don't forget to replace the black plastic retaining clip after you reattach the fuel line.

These two connectors slide off after you squeeze a small plastic clip where the wires enter the plug. Hard to describe, but fairly easy to see in real life. The white one goes towards the rear of the tank, the black one towards the front.

The vacuum line has this little rubber boot over the metal retaining clip indicated by the red arrow above. First remove the boot, remembering how it went on, then use some pliers to squeeze the retaining clip and slide it away from the nozzle to allow the hose to be pulled straight off. Nothing will leak out of this hose either.

Now remove the rear pivot bolt if you didn't so so already, and carefully lift the gas tank off the bike. I suggest having a towel or two laid on the floor or workbench on which to set the gas tank. It scratches easily!

The gas cap assembly

I had thought that by removing the gas filler fitting that there'd be a large enough hole in the top of the tank that I could reach into it, but I was wrong. The filler cap is held in by three long Allen bolts (one towards the front edge, two towards the rear edge), the other two bolts are short, cosmetic-only bolts on the sides. There's also one more Allen bolt inside the cap, to the right of the red rubber fitting. Remove it too.

Here's what the top of the tank looks like after the filler cap assembly has been removed. It didn't provide the access I wanted, so I just cleaned it out with a rag and reassembled it.

Why remove the tank, anyway?

In my case, it was because I wanted to install a bulkhead fitting for the auxiliary fuel cell I mounted over the rear passenger seat. You might want to visit the Web page I did for that modification too. It shows how to remove the fuel gauge sending unit and gain access to the inside of the gas tank.

If you're going to do any work on top of the engine, having the gas tank out of the way will make it much easier. And as you can see from the directions above, it isn't really all that difficult to do. The difference between propping up the front of the tank such as is done for syncing the throttle bodies or changing the sparkplugs, and removing the tank completely, is only a matter of 5 or 10 extra minutes.

Safety Warning

If you tackle this job yourself, be careful, and take your time! The gas tank's paint is easily scratched, and rushing this job makes that all the more likely. More importantly, improper reassembly could result in fuel leaking onto a hot engine, with potentially disasterous results.