Early fuel tank on 81 Special

[rem61]

Hello all,
I decided to change the tank on my 81 Cafe Racer build. I picked up a XS1B tank on eBay, you may have seen that yellow one in great shape. I thought it was going to be an easy plug and play but some modifications need to be done. Does anyone have any thoughts or done this before? I’m hoping the front forks won’t be an issue with the tank needing to move forward.
Robert

 

[rem61]

Am I the only one who does things no one else does? Lol!

 

[gggGary]

Nope.

80 special if I remember right. Built by Steve in Madison, WI, distance bumpers to rear pin a bit different, narrower in the tunnel, but it can be done. Coil and it's mount need to move IIRC

 

[grizld1]

I ran an early tank on a 79 Special for years. The only serious issue was the bumper-to-post distance, as Gary described. The fitment mod was rude and crude, but effective; I hogged out the hole until it dropped over the post. I used a Boyer ignition, so the 79 dual coils were replaced by a 2-tower coil. Can't recall exactly how I mounted the thing, just that I didn't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.

 

[Superjet]

Wow thats a neat looking 2 in 1 setup!

 

[robinc]

Wow thats a neat looking 2 in 1 setup!

Man, that's some pretty creative bending! Must have worked in a muffler shop?

 

[rem61]

Thank you for the comments guys. I was looking for some confirmation. Since this is a cafe build a fair amount of welding will be done on the frame and I’m moving all the electronics to the back. I may try to slightly move the bumpers forward or as close as possible while maintaining steering and keeping the forks from hitting the tank. I personally think this is the best xs Yamaha tank for a cafe build, just love the lines and center cap, which of course you can still buy new from Mike’s XS.

 

[gggGary]

Yes the early triple trees had a much deeper offset so tank clearance will be tricky.
you can see fork creases in the tank above.

 

[650Skull]

Wow thats a neat looking 2 in 1 setup!

Check the oil before warmup

 

[Superjet]

Check the oil before warmup

Yup good eye. Should of did what this guy did to the side cover.

 

[grizld1]

Tricky? Gary, I can tell you from experience that fork clearance with that tank is already tricky, and if you move the bumpers enough to fit hole to post, clearance will be nonexistent past a very, very little bit of steering head rotation. rem61, if you're going to move anything, I'd suggest moving the post and modifying the seat. I agree with you completely on the lines of the pre-74 tank.

 

[Brassneck]

Or you could create a steering stop that limit's the steering range some?

 

[rem61]

Thanks Brassneck. I like that idea too. I think it's going to be a combination of a few things. I can remount the front bumpers and pull the tank back but then that creates a gap at the triple tree. Of course the Bobber dudes do that all day long, lol!

 

[grizld1]

Gotta respect guys who love a challenge--the hard way or no way! A guy I knew way back when hopped off his Harley XLCH for an offered ride on a friend's Norton. He was used to more motion before the steering head hit the stop, and when he tried to do a low speed turn right there in the parking lot, down he went. You'll see how much room you don't have when you test fit that early tank!

 

[gggGary]

Had some crotch rockets with restricted fork motion, it was a real turn off. Pun wasn't intended.

 

[rem61]

I won't be messing with the steering or stops. After some figuring, I just need to move the bumper stop and front tank mount back a bit. As mentioned earlier, since I'm doing a fair amount of welding anyway it shouldn't be a major deal.