Backrest Pad and Pop-Up Gas Cap

Today I got the backrest (sissy bar) pad for my wife’s comfort.  The pad was much larger than it looked on the HD website.  Ah well, it will feel better on her back.

I removed the sissy bar/backrest from the bike now that the project is complete.  It’s on the quick-disconnect so I can put it on fast if I ever get to take her or my daughter for a ride.

The other project was my awesome matte black pop-up gas cap.  As you can see in the picture below the ‘inside’ of the original cap and this new cap was much different.  The center on the new cap protruded much further down into the cap well than the original.  There is(was) a tall stainless steel breather tube coming up out of the tank into the cap well preventing the new cap from screwing in fully and sealing properly.

This was as far as it could screw in before the center post in the cap hit the stainless steel tube inside the cap well.

This is after about 1 hour of work reducing the size of the stainless steel breather tube.  It was a tedious and very strenuous task taking off the top of the breather tube by using a t-bar and a drill bit by hand (no power tools – Gasoline go boom).

After almost two hours it almost screwed all the way in.

Gas cap project complete.  Makes perfect seal now.  I put it on and then shook the tank back/forth around vigorously for quite a while (full tank of fuel).  Taking off the cap it was all wet inside but nothing came out.. so it seems to work great to me.