IMS Tank WOES // KTM 3-Fiddy

IMS FITMENT WOES

As with any dual sport bike, you need around 175 – 250 mile range per tank.. so on the KTM 350 EXC-F a tank upgrade is required for dual sport rides.  The two options I’ve seen so far are the Acerbis 4.1gal tank or the IMS 4.5gal tank. I decided to go with the IMS, so I contacted IMS to verify this tank would fit on my 350.

Here’s the reply from an IMS rep:

So, I said to myself.. self.. cool & ordered up the 4.5 tank from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC and KTM parts from CycleBuy . IMS does mention some “emissions hardware” may need to be removed.

When I received the tank it looked pretty good, the natural color is not white-ish like the stock KTM so that was a bummer, it’s more yellow like the Safari tank I had on my WR250R. Anyway, I proceeded to install the tank… once I removed the old tank and placed the new one on.. hhhmmm.. it’s not fitting?!?!

After a closer look, the thermostat on the left back-side of the radiator was hitting the tank, looking at the tank closer, I could see there’s no cut out in the mold for the thermostat but appears to be on the RIGHT side of the tank.

THERMOSTAT MUST BE REMOVED!?

That’s right, after talking to other owners on ADVrider, they too said the same thing!

So I decided to ask Rocky Mountain ATV/MC if they have any further information…. nope. So I emailed (5/13/17) Daniel Carlos at IMS with all the information and photos of the issue…………. as of (5/17/17) no response!

So, I called them… talked to Steve Murray. He was very nice but acted as if he had no idea there would be an issue with fitment, and said he would “take my word”!? Do they even fit these on the actual bike before selling them and sending them to distributers? Guess not. So he took my name and number and said he’d talk to the owner about a possible mold revisions. Never heard back from him or IMS. I even sent them the link to the ADVrider thread regarding the issue.

REMOVE OR NOT TO REMOVE?

Then comes the debate of whether to remove the thermostat? Yes, you’ll hear that Factory KTM race teams remove the thermostat, as do other racers. It doesn’t restrict flow of coolant to the engine. Even Jeff Slavens’ states that in his SamcoSport Thermostat Removal Kit video… BUT he also recommends NOT removing it if you are riding cold weather dual sport. Which is what I do.

I’ve decided at this point NOT to remove the thermostat since my bike is still under warranty, and I do ride cold weather rides and not allow the bike to come up to operating temps in the cold can cause more wear on these engines.

Yes.. these bikes run hot.. they are race bikes… but for me, being it’s a brand new motor in 2017 I’m not going to risk any issues if something happened. So it’s up to you if you want to remove the thermostat to fit the IMS tanks.

I think it’s very bad customer service to not respond to a customer who calls in about the issue and IMS gives no response. And bad quality of product to not state to the buyer that you will need to remove the dang thermostat to install their tank!!

Conclusion

I’ve returned the tank to Rocky Mountain ATV/MC and ordered the Acerbis 4.1 tank from Slavens Racing.. I asked Jeff Slavens about the IMS tanks and he KNEW the thermostat had to be removed.. yet IMS didn’t?? Jeff even kindly responded to my email question with links to products! For more information on the Acerbis, here’s Acerbis my installation post.