Vitacci Tank 200 EFI Deluxe

[danklyrides]

Hello all,

I'm a new member of the China Riders club. Ordered a Tank 200 from TX Powersports and it arrived 13 days later. It arrived in good condition and I am still in the process of getting it assembled and prepped. In addition to normal assembly stuff, this is what I have done so far:

-Replaced "TORCH" sparkplug with a good NGK one. The plug looked like it had been running really rich during the test run at the factory.

-Adjusted valves to .005" per the owners manual, they were both a little tight at .004"

-Spent about 30 mins so far trying to bleed the front brake. It had tons of air in it and it is better now but still way too soft. I left it with the lever tied to the grip for the night and will hit it again tomorrow. If normal bleeding won't get it I will break out the vacuum pump. If that doesn't work I will get out the syringe and do a reverse bleed.

-Cleaned up some of the wiring routing

-Used blue loc-tite on any bolts I had out

My next steps are to change the engine and gear oil and install the battery. I don't have anything bad to say about what I've seen for condition and quality as of now. Looking forward to getting this beast on the road.

Cheers!
Dankly

PS: Here are some pics of the unboxing, if anyone is interested.

[Mudflap]

There is a metal plate on my Clash 200 EFI listing valve clearance at .06mm/.08mm intake & exhaust (.00236"/.00315"). At .004/.005" the valves were a bit noisy. The owners manual is some sort of generic thing that is not for this scooter.


BTW no fasteners have come loose in 4000 miles with no loctite being applied.

[Purpose]

Originally Posted by Mudflap

There is a metal plate on my Clash 200 EFI listing valve clearance at .06mm/.08mm intake & exhaust (.00236"/.00315"). At .004/.005" the valves were a bit noisy. The owners manual is some sort of generic thing that is not for this scooter.


BTW no fasteners have come loose in 4000 miles with no loctite being applied.

Have been battling with valve noise on my tank for a while. Have tried .003in/.005ex and did not like the noise. Been watching videos and it seems everyone has different settling they prefer, as most of them are far more modified than my tank. Decided to try .003in/.004ex is it was so much smoother than before. Didn't have feeler gauges when the scooter came, so not sure what settings it came with.

[danklyrides]

I have done several other tasks on my Tank and have 1 big problem. First the problem:

When riding between about 28 and 38 mph the front of the scoot bounces/shakes pretty significantly. It smooths out as I get up around 40 mph but really sucks at the speeds I typically ride around town.

My first thought was tire balance but I don't have the equipment to do that myself, and it is a holiday weekend, so I chased other things first.

I thought maybe the front forks has crappy or no oil in them so I removed and drained them. The left side had 4 oz of fairly heavy fork oil but the left side only had 3 oz. I put a few ounces 0f 7 weight fork oil and compressed them a bunch by hand to flush out the rest of what was in there and then let them drain well. Then I filled them with 4 ozs of 30 weight Belray fork oil

While I had the forks out, I decided to check the head bearings for proper tightness and lubrication. They were set a bit loose but were greased pretty well. I wiped and greased the bearings with good Timken grease and reinstalled the headstock and the fork tubes.

I'm not super pleased with the amount of play between the axle bolt and the holes in the forks but there's nothing much I can do about that. I put the handlebars back together nice and tight and reinstalled the front wheel.

While I had the cover off the wiring behind the dash I decided to remove the little bluetooth sound system that came installed on the scoot. I don't like it yelling "BLUETOOTH MODE" at me every time I turn the key on. I removed the unit from the handlebar and the speaker from down in the bowels of the front. I now have a switched 12 volt power source behind the gauges if I ever need it. I was also able to scoot the switches and brave lever closer to the left grip so my thumb can reach the turnsignal switch more easily. This required either drilling a new locator hole in the handlebar, or filing off the pin on the brake lever perch...I chose to drill.

The final step I took in an attempt to eliminate the shaking was putting on some bar end weights. After all of this, I buttoned everything up and went for a test ride. And it....still bounces.



So, my next move will be to take the front wheel back off and get it balanced. I know that crappy rear suspension can sometimes upset the whole machine so I am looking at what my options are for better rear shocks. I like a good mechanical challenge and really like working on stuff but I hope I am able to solve this soon. I really like everything else about this little scooter.

Cheers all!
Dankly

[Mudflap]

I've always been able to balance front wheels by removing the brake caliper, lifting the wheel, and spinning it. It stops spinning with the heavy side at the bottom so I stick a weight to the top and spin again. When it stops spinning in a different position every time, it's balanced.



Also see that the beads are seated all the way around.


Those "balance beads" can also work.

[danklyrides]

That's a good idea Mr. Flap. I will give it a shot!

[danklyrides]

I tested the Tank's speedometer against a GPS speed app on my phone and am pleasantly surprised. The speedo on the scooter is consistently 0 to 1 MPH lower than the GPS. I don't think I have ever had a vehicle, 2-wheeled or 4, that hasn't been at least a little optimistic from the factory. Bravo to the Tank!

I ordered some rear shocks from Ali-Express. They are adjustable for preload and damping so I am hoping I will be able to dial things in.

Also ordered some LED lights that I am going to install behind the red lens on the top box and around the license plate. I will primarily use the scoot for commuting and I want to be more visible. The headlight is really bright and has a good pattern. I'm a little dubious about the turn signals because they just aren't very bright. I like that they are running lights when they aren't on but wish they flashed brighter when in use.

I have been slacking on pictures so here are a few from earlier today. I have the air seat pad on because I find the front of the seat to be a little too low. I have a 34 inch inseam and I wish the front part of the seat was as high as the back part is. The little cup holder on the left side of the leg shield is one of the things that distinguishes the Deluxe from the regular Tank 200. I have tons of room on the handlebars now that I got rid of the bluetooth sound system.

Cheers!
Dankly

[danklyrides]

I wanted better visibility from the rear so I ordered some lights from AliExpress. I got THESE to put under the lens in the back of the top box and THESE to put around the license plate.

The top box was pretty easy to work with. There are only 2 small screws that hold the red lens on from the inside and the reflective material inside is just a piece of very thin shiny plastic sheet. I drilled 2 holes to get the wires from the lights to the inside of the box and labeled the wires so I can keep them straight when I wire them up. Installing the lights themselves was as easy as cutting out some of the silver plastic with a razor blade, sticky them in place with the attached foam tape and then reinstalling the lens.

I have some connectors and wire on order to finish the job.

Cheers!
Dankly

[danklyrides]

I balanced the front tire myself the best I could with some adhesive weights. I used @Mudflap's suggestion and just removed the brake caliper and spun the wheel. It would consistently stop with one part down so I added the weights to the top. I ended up adding a total of 1 1/2 oz of sticky weights. That and 1 oz of balance beads have largely eliminated my front end vibration issues.

Hopefully this can help someone in the future.

Dankly

[Thumper]

Is the odometer as close to accurate as the speedometer is?

If you verify the odometer, maybe you can accumulate some mileage estimates (mpg). Maybe 55 or 65 mpg? The torque converter might soak up some efficiency. But the EFI is probably keeping it lean (CA legal!).

Did you notice forum member "purpose" is having possible fuel delivery and now EFI issues (my guess). Could be something else blowing fuses. It has died on him. I know a carbed bike means adjustment but the relative simplicity of carbed/CDI setup is easier to troubleshoot . It makes me wonder how yours settles in, and overall behavior

[danklyrides]

That's a good question @Thumper. I will have to check the odometer accuracy. I have only checked MPG once so far and it came out as 68. I don't have a ton of confidence in that number though...it will take more data for me to feel like it's accurate.

I saw the issues that @Purpose is having. Thankfully nothing like that for me...but I only have 150 miles on it...so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers!
Dankly

[Thumper]

There are a couple of advantages to EFI. The main ones I assume are
-automatic temperature/elevation changes which can be useful for trips into the mountains
-automatic enrichment for cold starts (basically the same thing as the first benefit!)
-no jetting to deal with

Oddly, the same benefits are potential problems!
-no control over fuel/air adjustment, so you are stuck with lean engine behavior
-sensor sampling rate and EFI controller response delays (usually no issue, but once in a while you need instant response).

System failure is a looming monster. I guess if you dig into it and get nominal settings data, you can test components to see if individual sensors or devices have the right resistance (ohmeter) or voltage range (voltmeter).

But these bikes have little or no dealer/vendor support. So you are on your own to troubleshoot and fix.

If you are lucky, failure happens close to home. But what if you are 25 miles into the desert or way up a mountain single track trail? You can be looking at a long walk and no way to tow-a very serious situation.

I like the liquid cooled 298cc OHC 6 speed TM38 EX (trailmaster). It has lights/turn signals, etc. But these questions about EFI scare me off. There's a carbed version but it has no lights. So I am interested in our forum members' experience with EFI, especially with troubleshooting them when they don't work as expected, or fail. Also what quirks do you see all the time, like deleayed response to throttle under certain circumstances, ultralean popping or stalling. I hear that these kinds of things can be a chronic behavior, like always stalling at the same stoplight after a hill, coughing (misfiring) or detonation under certain lean/hot engine conditions.

Motocheez posted here that he has a way to reflash or adjust the enrichment curve. I think it is Lifan bike(s) that he is referring to. That's something I would be persuing if I decided to go with an EFI equipped bike.

[Mudflap]

For a vehicle that is to be used in remote areas I want a carburetor because I can always make it work. In remote central Oregon where I ride my quad and trail bikes there is no cell service and no people so a break down would be a big deal. On paved roads where at least a couple vehicles pass by each day EFI is fine.

The EFI on my scooter (Lifan 170cc engine) works great, starts instantly, and doesn't run rich at high altitudes.