Flatland Skid Plate Installation

I bought a new skidplate (Flatland Racing) and started to take off the cheap ones that come with the bike. In the process, I found that two black hoses attached to the black plastic skid plate. Anybody know what these hoses are for? I was kinda surprised to see hoses attached to a skid plate.

well, I found it in the manual. It's apparently a california thing - canister for some EPA crap Im sure.

Anybody else uninstall this guy? Is there anything tricky or anything I should know before doing so?

Thanks!

pay attention to the length of the bolts, my right rear bolt had made contact with the case making a little indentation. i think a bigger hit would have holed the case. i had to replace that one bolt with a shorter one.

hehe, looks like I finally stumped the forum which makes me feel better , as I often feel some of my questions are dumb. Although, maybe the CA only thing didn't help.

Thanks for the advice on the bolt clapped. I'll keep an eye on those bolts when I finally do this - definitely don't need a hole in my case!

some people put some sort of rubber or foam or tooldip between the plate and the frame rails,

it does amplify motor noise a little if you're worried about that

Just in case anybody else runs into this, here are som instrcutions I found:

Here's how to do it:
Take off the seat.
Take off the left side panel.
Take off the left "radiator" shroud.
Leave the fuel tank on.
Remove the 4 bolts that hold the EVAP canister to the frame.
Remove the hose that hooks to your throttle body.
Cap the fitting on the throttle body (I used a 2 inch piece of hose with a bolt plugging the end.
Remove the hose that fits onto the bottom left side of the tank.
Take off all the EVAP stuff and put it in a box in the attic.

Now you're all set except for a decision about the open fitting on the bottom left side of the tank. That is the fuel tank vent. You can just put a hose on it headed somewhere fairly clean on the bike. Or you can buy a Zeta aluminum fuel cap with a built in vent. If you use a vented gas cap, you should simply cap the vent fitting on the bottom left side of the tank.


I'll be doing this later this week and will post if I run into problems. I'll personally probably just leave the hose from the fuel tank hanging down underneath my flatland skidplate. It sounds like another option is to cap it as well, and get the vented 49 state gas cap.

Update:

I followed the instructions above and removed that charcoal canister. Worked great.

But, now that I have the flatland skidplate installed I seem to be getting a high pitched vibrating type noise while I am riding the bike. I can't get the skidplate on any tighter w/o risking stripping bolts. But, it does seem to be coming from it.

Has anybody else experienced this problem?

I'm thinking of getting some type of rubber insert to put in between the skidplate and the frame. maybe that will help

I think what you are hearing is the amplified noises from the motor echoing upward. Yes, most everyone has installed some sort of isolator between the the plate and frame. I used some Dynamat, about 1/8 inch thick and just laid it out on the inside of the plate. It will eliminate most of the noise, but not all.

The noise from my aluminum skid plate was not going to fly, so I lined the plate with a self adhesive rubber mat "safety step" material and the added noise is virtually gone. You can pick up the rubber mat material at farm supply stores and I have even seen it a Harbor Freight. Comes in 4" x 15" and 12" x 12" sheets. I am happy with the result.

Thanks guys! Sounds like I have a few options to try then.

I'm glad it's possible to get the noise level down some. If it wasn't, I'd have to rip the thing off my bike as it stands now.

Instead of starting a new thread, I thought I'd throw my solution to the rattle here.

I had some adhesive backed engine gasket sheets left over from an engine rebuild. The stuff is rated to 375 deg, came in three sheets. Two sheets covered the inside of the plate. I cut the excess and hoses with an xacto knife, then drilled the "X" slits I'd made in the vent/screw holes from the gasket side. clieaned up the excess and don't have too much noise. I don't have lots of miles on it yet, so long term results will wait

Since the gasket is adhesive backed, the whole sheet helps reduce the resonance of the plate. A search on Amazon, or your favorite website for "engine gasket sheet" will get you results. I couldn't find the ROL ez Stick p/n MA223E quickly, so no linkie. lots of folks seem to make the stuff though.

Prosit,