Hi! New member here, 1981 GS450S question

[Guest]

Hi,
just recently picked up a 1981 GS450S and while looking for parts I keep seeing the model options of 450SX or 450ST. How can I tell which one I have? Does it even matter?

Thanks,

[winfield]

The "X" and "T" refer to the year the bike was made.

X=1980; T=1981

The title should indicate this as well as the plate on the steering head, but you already said the bike is a 1981 so it is a GS450ST.

Go to this link on the GSResources home page http://thegsresources.com/gs_modelchart.htm

and then scroll down to the chart giving the model and year designations for all the GS bikes.

Do you have the little fairing that goes with the "S" model? Or was it removed by PO and lost or sold?

[ScottW]

Thanks so much! not sure why that was confusing me .
No the fairing is long gone. Would love to find one though.

[Mike Pellet]

The very last letter indicates the year. In this case, "T" indicates 1980 and "X" indicates 1981.

Other letters include:

"C" for 1978
"N" for 1979
"T" for 1980
"X" for 1981
"Z" for 1982
"D" for 1983

Usually the last letter is left out of model name when describing the bike. For example, a 1982 GS1100E can be called a GS1100EZ, but the last letter is used when there are differences between the bikes for the different years.

Best of luck with your new project !!

Mike

[Mike Pellet]

X and T years

I think you got these two reversed.

Mike

The "X" and "T" refer to the year the bike was made.

X=1980; T=1981

The title should indicate this as well as the plate on the steering head, but you already said the bike is a 1981 so it is a GS450ST.

Go to this link on the GSResources home page http://thegsresources.com/gs_modelchart.htm

and then scroll down to the chart giving the model and year designations for all the GS bikes.

Do you have the little fairing that goes with the "S" model? Or was it removed by PO and lost or sold?

[ScottW]

Thanks guys!

[pete]

Welcome!

In addition to the letter changes, there were some changes in the models themselves too.

The '80 and '81 450's have a 12 bolt valve cover, the '82 models have a 15 bolt valve cover. This is important to know when getting a new valve cover gasket as they don't interchange.

Also, the later 450's changed from a single piece clutch pushrod to a two piece one, not sure when this change happened.

The single piece means the clutch needs to come out to replace the pushrod, therefore making replacing the pushrod seal difficult without removing the clutch.

The two piece means the left part of the pushrod can be easily removed to replace the pushrod seal.

There is also a different pushrod seal on the earlier models which is flanged and I believe difficult (but not impossible) to remove without splitting the cases.

The newer type non-flanged seal has a retainer to hold it in and I believe it's a simple swap to move to the non-flanged type once you have the retainer.

I noticed there is a minor wiring change too, the '82 has an orange wire for the main 12v wire running around the harness where the earlier ones have a red wire... not exactly a huge change!

Pretty sure everything else is interchangeable too...

[winfield]

I think you got these two reversed.

Mike

Yes, you are correct. I got them backwards. Dang dislexic!

Thanks for the correction. Hopefully, he looked at the link I gave him and made up his own mind.

[ScottW]

Yeah, I caught that. Thanks again for the assist.