Broken Aprilia Oil Cooler & Oil Tank Brackets

[Smithers]

Not anymore!

http://fourwheelperformance.com/black/ap_oilbracket.jpg

When I first removed the left fairing panel from the Mille I noticed right off that the oil reservoir was leaning against it, not good. The lower rubber mount had broken apart and also the oil cooler bracket was cracked as well. The whole assembly was just hanging on my the hoses. I removed the bracket and welded a small piece of steel to hold the parts in place. It's MUCH stronger now and the powder coating was laid on nice and thick so you can't even tell that it's modified.

[Smithers]

I bought my Aprilia used and upon first inspection once I removed the lower bellypan I found this! My oil tank was literally being held on by the hoses. The rubber isolators were all broken. And why were they broken? Because the tabs on the oil tank didn't exactly line up with their mounting holes from the factory so their answer is to use flexible rubber isolators that don't last forever. I highly recommend that fellow Aprilia owners take the time to inspect these rubber mounts. I'm sure they all need replacing at 12-14K miles.

http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/aprilia/aprilia_oiltank_00.jpg

I went ahead and took care of the issues that cause them to wear out prematurely. If you notice in the following picture the head bolt and nut don't exactly line up in the middle of the tab. Well if you bend on the tab too much it will simply break off. You can't bend the tab from left to right so I expanded the hole in which the bolt holds onto it. I did bend the tab at more of an angle so that it was perpendicular to the rubber mount which will help. All in all these bikes just need some adjustments all over in order for things to last a while longer.

http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/aprilia/aprilia_oiltank_01.jpg