Wow...A NOS XS-1 Fuel Tank on eBay??!!

I am somewhat dubious, mainly because of the strange stripe combo on the tank, but I have heard that there were two different versions of the paint stripes on the XS-1 tank.

He's got the original box with labels on it too so there's that too...I dunno, who'd a thought???!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322422690067?ul_noapp=true

Interesting piece of history. Could it be a used tank that has had a very good clean up and paint job................its possible.
If it's never had gasoline in it, that is an amazing find.

Ebay is full of that stuff. I got all new OEM main engine bearings (and they are spendy but there is little chance I wold gamble a rebuild with lesser metallurgic bearings being put in), cam bearings, tranny bearings all in original packaging. It took 6 months though and some came from Europe. I see NOS frames, forks, tanks, even NOS cylinders, case halves, heads, calipers and lots of controls and even wheels (some are out there now) from time to time too.

I see folks complaining about Mikes stuff, fork tube caps was the last one I saw folks complaining about, I went out and found no less than 3 sets in OEM packaging NOS.

Here is another new NOS Yamaha XS650 Police Fuel Tank another tank out there now. There is yet another too.


All the rest of the NOS stuff...
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nos+xs650&_sop=16

Oh I get it, trust me...I scope out eBay for NOS stuff all the time.

But some items are much rarer than others when it comes to NOS.

Pretty much any tins for an XS-1, fork boots for XS-1 (which there are a few right now, just bought one!)...I have an automatic daily e mail update of any NOS XS-1 stuff in fact. ;-)

If I needed this tank, I can guarantee you I wouldn't be sharing it right now too, lol.

BobbedSled said:

Here is another new NOS Yamaha XS650 Police Fuel Tank another tank out there now. There is yet another too.

Click to expand...

Hey! Whadya know! That's very similar to my paint scheme!

Damn that's nice!

Nice XS1 (???) tank. Like you, Vince, also skeptical.
Man, I hate to do this, but would have a few concerns.

Member txxs has posted some nice pics of his Oceaniana (?) green '71 XS1F "double-striped" tank. My old parts lists show the 00-01 tank number and paint code as the '70 XS1. I have NO part/code data on the various 70-72 paints, except for the basic 3, green-single-stripe, gold-double-stripes, red-white-stripes. So, this is still a learning area for me. So, that double-striped tank, with that single-stripe 00-01 number seems odd.

Back in the '70s, I, and the Honda parts guys, had noticed some subtle differences between some Honda *as installed/delivered* body parts, versus separately-ordered spare parts. Sometimes had to explain these things to customers, usually for crash repairs. So, I wonder if there may have been a similar *variation* in Yamaha's parts stream.

Otherwise, there's a few items that caught my eye.

The underside of the tank, petcock sealing surfaces. Our new Honda tanks came with unpainted and taped-over petcock sealing surfaces, like on that NOS white police tank posted by BobbedSled. Looking closely at the original eBay pics, I could see some mysterious marks underlying the paint in those zones, as though there may have been a history of previous petcock install. There's also a strange scratchmark at the mount tab, the exposed metal area doesn't seem to show factory primer the same as I've seen before.


The roughness around the corner recesses and tank surface alongside the opening reminds me of the fuel/corrosion surfaces I ran into when prepping my tank.


Can't quite put my finger on it, but something doesn't look right with the pinstripe masking termination area.


Pinstriping looks a little off, at the right front.


I suppose one could carefully/precisely measure the pinstripe widths, see if they closely match metric, or english widths.

The topside of the tank has very slight surface undulations.
Also, seeing more orange-peel and less gloss than I recall of the period candys.


The front mount nubs are missing some paint, no evidence of exposed factory primer/sealer basecoat.



Yeah, picky, picky, picky.
Probably shot myself in the foot...

Yeah it's a bit "dicey". I think I agree with 2many's observations. It doesn't quite pass the NOS sniff test either, even in a box on the shelf 40 years on there is going to be patina.

+ Yamaha tends to not mask the petcock area off.
-Bottom is a bit over painted compared to factory paint I've seen.
-Too much orange peel.
I usually do my own prep for paint jobs cause pros don't sit there with a sharp stainless tool and dig the crap out of tiny seams and crevices.
yes that striping detail looks "wrong"
-after 40 years the clear coat will yellow a bit, that color doesn't have that warm tone yellowing gives.
-I'll believe 2M's part # analysis.

Gary, you've had some professional paint jobs done on some of your early tins. I guess some of that sounds familiar to you. The top of the tank opening, around the edge, you'd know more about this. The paint encroaches halfway from the outer edge to the hole. I recall Honda tanks didn't have that encroachment...?

The tank appears to have been painted quite recently. The paint would not look that good, if it has sat for that length of time. Deterioration (oxidation) continues to happen just sitting around.
People become very creative if they think they can make some quick cash.
I wonder how many "Shelby" mustangs were created, from regular mustangs (1965 to 1969) and put on sale as original Shelby factory cars??
Caveat emptor.

I 2nd the orange peel.
I'm not a professional painter, but my friend and his dad are. The dad worked for Honda way back when and a few years ago I asked him about painting my tank. He said it is really hard to match those old non-friendly paints and get them as "clean" as factory. Not sure what clean meant, but that's what he said and I can imagine.
He was big on original paints like period lacquers and enamels, which absolutely get chalky after years of sitting and are hard to match with base/clear from today.

I tape off or razor back the paint at the neck and petcocks then use epoxy to seal the line, otherwise gas seeps into the porous primer and lifts the paint! If I could find boxes maybe these are factory paint? LOL

And there they are, hanging on the damned wall.............

littlebill31 said:

I 2nd the orange peel.
I'm not a professional painter, but my friend and his dad are. The dad worked for Honda way back when and a few years ago I asked him about painting my tank. He said it is really hard to match those old non-friendly paints and get them as "clean" as factory. Not sure what clean meant, but that's what he said and I can imagine.
He was big on original paints like period lacquers and enamels, which absolutely get chalky after years of sitting and are hard to match with base/clear from today.

Click to expand...

Maybe he also knew of their electrostatic paint process. Similar to today's powder coat application...

Wow gggGary. I like each one of those better than the next. Makes me want to repaint ha ha. Simply awesome.

TwoManyXS1Bs said:

Maybe he also knew of their electrostatic paint process. Similar to today's powder coat application...

Click to expand...

Probably. I just always remember him saying you can't match the old paints with today's. He could tell originals with no problem. 40+ yr of auto body.

Man o man Gary, those tins are beautiful!

If you guys keep praising Gary, next thing you know he'll have those tanks on Ebay, listed as rare NOS and
asking $1500 each.

He states .............

"As a heads up by my aging memory I have a NOS headlight shell, one or perhaps both fork ears and one or perhaps both side covers but not in original packaging. Think I might have a NOS speedo and tach in factory box. I'll have to look and will list them separately if I have them."

Kinda sus................If i had this sort of gear and looked after it as he has the Tank..................I would know if i had those other parts..............

Shouldn't be to hart to find out the truth............If he was the NJ state coordinator for the XS650 society, and belonged to the club for years, there has to have been talk of this tank within the community

Nothing from him on the society FB page..................yet.