My MOKO frame protectors arrived from Performance Motorcycle Parts (www.performancemotorcycleparts.co.uk) complete with the replacement water reservoir. This is needed because the fixing point for the left protector is behind the existing water bottle. The sliders seem to be very well made and EXTREMELY substantial. They make "Magic Mushrooms" look like toys (see below) which I guess at less than £20 a pair, they are.
The total capacity of the original cooling system is 3.2Ltr max. That is measured with the reservoir tank filled between the Upper and Lower level lines and there is a further 500ml of airspace to take up further expansion of the coolant when the engine is Hot.
It became obvious that the supplied 300ml replacement tank is far too small to effectively do the job at a wide range of temperatures that you could encounter.
After much head scratching, I decided to modify the existing water bottle and attempt to get the £22 back that I had paid for the bottle in the MOKO kit. See the picture below for a comparison of capacity.
WARNING. If you are of a nervous disposition look away NOW.
If you should decide to take this route the first thing to do is remove the left lower faring. (A Haynes manual is useful if you haven't worked on the VFR before). Then drain the water bottle into a CLEAN container. Cover this container and put it somewhere safely. You will want the coolant later.
Loosen the bolt where the frame protector mounts, but don't remove it yet. Smear a little grease or CopperEase on the head of the bolt and replace the water bottle on its rear pivot. Align the bolt hole with the threaded hole in the frame and carefully push the bottle towards the engine so as to mark the centre of the hole required in the water bottle. Remove the water bottle and drill a 2mm hole in the centre of the mark left by the bolt head. This is the pilot hole for the hole saw. You will need a short piece of plastic tube to go through the bottle and the frame protector needs to fit through this tube. I used the plastic cap from an aerosol can which just happened to be exactly the right size. 54mm in my case.
Use a hole saw to cut through the bottle. (see above) The saw blade needs to match the diameter of the plastic tube you intend to use. You will probably need to cut from both sides to completely remove the "core". Use a sharp Stanley knife to trim the swarf from the edge of the hole.
Push the tube that you have selected to use through the hole. Hopefully this is a nice tight fit! You can then plastic weld the tube to the bottle or you can use silicon sealant if you prefer. I used a mixture of both techniques. I used a Weller instant heat soldering iron with a flat, plastic welding bit to create a seal around the circumference of the hole. I then used silicon rubber at the top of the bottle to complete the seal.
Once the sealant has completely set, thoroughly wash out the bottle to remove any swarf that will have got inside. Remove the bolt for the frame protector fixing and re fit the bottle. Refill the bottle with the coolant that you drained earlier. I filtered mine as there seemed to be some sediment. Only use distilled water and antifreeze if you need to supplement the coolant.
Modify the faring according to the instructions supplied. Their measurements are spot on! You can probably use the same hole saw that was used for the bottle modifications to cut the faring panels. Re fit the faring and insert the frame protector through the hole in the faring and the bottle. Tighten the frame protector first, before tightening up the faring as this will allow for any slight miss-alignment. Assuming that you have done this correctly the holes in the faring and the water bottle should line up perfectly.
