Interstate fuel tank

[Broadway]

How much bigger is the Interstate tank? I just bought a 1997 Valkyrie Standard and am looking for upgrades!

[klb]

Interstate tank 6.9 gallons. Standard 5.3 gallons.

[DIGGER]

10 yrs ago I bought an interstate tank and had it painted black to match my 2001 Standard with a 1998 Tourer package.   You have to plug the gas gauage hole and it fits right into the Standard frame with no modifications.    Best thing Ive done to my Valkyrie.     Ife never run it dry to see how far I can go but I have taken it to 165 miles without hitting reserve.    I usually start looking for gas at about 145-165 miles.    It works great.

[Jess from VA]

Both my '99 interstates regularly go 220mi to reserve.  But I take the time to fill the tank to just short of overflow, every time.   If the pump will allow me real slow feed. 

[Bagger John - #3785]

10 yrs ago I bought an interstate tank and had it painted black to match my 2001 Standard with a 1998 Tourer package.   You have to plug the gas gauge hole

(snip)

Nope.

Find an I/S sending unit and install in the tank, then get a 1" handlebar mount for a 2" gauge. Head over to eBay and look for an adjustable 2" LED fuel gauge. The one I used has 8 blue, one yellow and one red LEDs - and is more accurate than the I/S's OEM fuel-level readout. It was around $25.

Calibrate, install in the gauge holder and install gauge holder on the bars, wire everything up and enjoy your new fuel-level indication.

For extra points, find a voltmeter and install on the other side of the bars using the same type of mounting cup.

I did this to my '99 Tourer using a set of repurposed MC Enterprises gauge cups - obtained years ago when the company offered a complete Valkyrie accessory gauge setup. If anyone's interested I'll post a pic of the "dash".

[pokrovsky]

Yes, no point of plugging the gauge hole! Use it!

[Madmike]

https://www.amazon.ca/VDO-301-107-Fuel-Gauge/dp/B00T9K9FWQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=VDO+fuel+level+gauge+90+ohm&qid=1596943593&sr=8-2-fkmr0

This links to a 2" gauge made by VDO that matches the stock sender for the Interstate.  Found it recently and will likely try one this winter - see how it goes.

[The emperor has no clothes]

10 yrs ago I bought an interstate tank and had it painted black to match my 2001 Standard with a 1998 Tourer package.   You have to plug the gas gauge hole

(snip)

Nope.

Find an I/S sending unit and install in the tank, then get a 1" handlebar mount for a 2" gauge. Head over to eBay and look for an adjustable 2" LED fuel gauge. The one I used has 8 blue, one yellow and one red LEDs - and is more accurate than the I/S's OEM fuel-level readout. It was around $25.

Calibrate, install in the gauge holder and install gauge holder on the bars, wire everything up and enjoy your new fuel-level indication.

For extra points, find a voltmeter and install on the other side of the bars using the same type of mounting cup.

I did this to my '99 Tourer using a set of repurposed MC Enterprises gauge cups - obtained years ago when the company offered a complete Valkyrie accessory gauge setup. If anyone's interested I'll post a pic of the "dash".

That is very informative  I likely will never put one on my Standard. But it's good to know. I had read many posts that most gauges didn't work.

[John Schmidt]

Snip: "I had read many posts that most gauges didn't work."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That's because the sending unit in the I/S tank reads bassackward from the automotive industry. If you want to use an automotive gauge, it can be over come by removing the float arm on the sender and moving it to the other side....or bending it to the other side which I don't recommend. If I recall correctly, the Honda sender will read "0" ohms when full and something like "90" ohms when empty....just the opposite of the auto industry gauges. Moving the arm on the sender reverses it due to how it swipes the resistor on the sender. Going by memory here but think I'm right....been a while.

For some time I've given thought to doing just that to my sender on my Tourer. I've wanted to mount an all inclusive single gauge or possibly two gauges; one would be speedo with 2 smaller gauges at the bottom for fuel & battery, the other would match in design but would be the tach with 2 smaller gauges reading oil pressure and temperature. Now that I have the I/S trike I'll probably not do it....maybe! 

[Bagger John - #3785]

I've wanted to mount an all inclusive single gauge or possibly two gauges; one would be speedo with 2 smaller gauges at the bottom for fuel & battery, the other would match in design but would be the tach with 2 smaller gauges reading oil pressure and temperature.

My solution to mounting was to throw a set of I/S radiator pods (plus radiator, engine guards, etc.) on my Tourer. The two most important gauges (IMHO) are fuel level and voltmeter; these got mounted on the bars. The left pod has a coolant temp gauge (in Celsius - because the bike is metric  ) while an oil pressure gauge is installed in the right.

Both of those gauges will flash a warning if battery voltage drops below 12v and will read voltage for approximately 1 minute after key-on so they function as a backup to the main voltmeter. There's an LED numeric and a multicolored sweep display on each - you can verify normal operating parameters with just a quick glance while underway.

[pokrovsky]

Snip: "I had read many posts that most gauges didn't work."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That's because the sending unit in the I/S tank reads bassackward from the automotive industry. If you want to use an automotive gauge, it can be over come by removing the float arm on the sender and moving it to the other side....or bending it to the other side which I don't recommend. If I recall correctly, the Honda sender will read "0" ohms when full and something like "90" ohms when empty....just the opposite of the auto industry gauges. Moving the arm on the sender reverses it due to how it swipes the resistor on the sender. Going by memory here but think I'm right....been a while.

For some time I've given thought to doing just that to my sender on my Tourer. I've wanted to mount an all inclusive single gauge or possibly two gauges; one would be speedo with 2 smaller gauges at the bottom for fuel & battery, the other would match in design but would be the tach with 2 smaller gauges reading oil pressure and temperature. Now that I have the I/S trike I'll probably not do it....maybe! 

The more “elegant” albeit more expensive solution (which I did) is to use a programmable auto meter gauge with the stepper motor so you can calibrate it precisely for your tank - that way you don’t have to modify the OEM arm/float in the tank and retain its replacability in case it fails

[John Schmidt]

Snip: "I had read many posts that most gauges didn't work."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That's because the sending unit in the I/S tank reads bassackward from the automotive industry. If you want to use an automotive gauge, it can be over come by removing the float arm on the sender and moving it to the other side....or bending it to the other side which I don't recommend. If I recall correctly, the Honda sender will read "0" ohms when full and something like "90" ohms when empty....just the opposite of the auto industry gauges. Moving the arm on the sender reverses it due to how it swipes the resistor on the sender. Going by memory here but think I'm right....been a while.

For some time I've given thought to doing just that to my sender on my Tourer. I've wanted to mount an all inclusive single gauge or possibly two gauges; one would be speedo with 2 smaller gauges at the bottom for fuel & battery, the other would match in design but would be the tach with 2 smaller gauges reading oil pressure and temperature. Now that I have the I/S trike I'll probably not do it....maybe! 

The more “elegant” albeit more expensive solution (which I did) is to use a programmable auto meter gauge with the stepper motor so you can calibrate it precisely for your tank - that way you don’t have to modify the OEM arm/float in the tank and retain its replacability in case it fails

That's actually what I did using the Autometer C-2 fuel gauge. Has worked fine for many years. However, some riders....myself included....would like to use an automotive combination gauge such as I described above. One way to be able to use one is as I described.