Anyone Turn an "L" Model into a Cafe Racer?

[Hammered]

Hell as soon as Im back up and moving freely from my run in with a deer, the 650 I was on is getting a Cafe/fighter treatment.

[tkent02]

CJ, what are your plans for paint?

[Colorado CJ]

I think I'll paint the tank, seat pan, frame and wheels gloss black. I want to make a shadow racing stripe or a real subdued racing stripe in silver. Other than that, I want to polish up the motor and rear shocks.

I'll sandblast everything before painting.

Do you have any ideas that you think would look better? I'm not totally set on the black paint and would like some other ideas.

[tigerfan474]

Lots more work to do

This is an 82 550L.Bike was given to me for a landscaping job I did. Hadn't run and sat since 94. Got it runnin. Lots of winter work left to do, but this is where I'm at. Hoppin santa brings me a welder for Xmas

[Sojourner]

I beg your pardon, but I'd like to get a little clarification from the opposite direction...

So the L forks are longer than the E forks?

Is there an actual "frame based" rake difference between the L and the E?

What about the triple trees?

The reason I ask is that I'd like to increase the rake on my 1100E. Had even considered going 21" up front to change the overall angle (although it wouldn't change the actual rake angle mind you).

[groundshock]

I was under the assumption that the frames were the same between the E and L bikes, and some even had the same forks.

[Sojourner]

There are differences between the L and E frames, but they mainly deal with how the tank mounts and how the seat/tail fairing (as the case may be) bolt on. One quick difference is that the E's have two tabs welded on to each side of the frame to bolt the little molded abs strips that join the tail fairing to the side covers.

What I'm trying to ascertain is if the take angle is different. All of my conclussions have come from comparing frames in microfiches and EBay listings of naked frames. Very hard to measure a few degrees difference in angle by eye only, and that's only if there is actually a difference to measure. Really I guess we'd need two frames (one E and one L) and a protractor...

[Dombo]

I am also turning a GS450L into a custom bike. Only the original gas tank doesn't suit the style. Your GS400 tank looks good! Will it fit without any modifications? Because it would be a great option for me.

All I know is that E forks are shorter in length compared to an L. Also, the L's have the leading axle.

Here's my 1980 Suzuki GS450L.


All I really did was ditch the unnecessary parts, switch to a 1979 Suzuki GS400 gas tank, got a cafe seat, and painted the rims. Got more plans coming up.

[SVSooke]

I hope you're not expecting an answer,if you see a guest under a name in an old post like this one it means the account has been deleted due to inactivity.

[Steve]

Not only that, but until your post, Dombo, the most-recent thread was over three years old.

.

[Dombo]

Well maybe someone else knows the answer, because it would really help. I'm now struggling to get the original gastank in line with the rest of the frame, but its difficult.

Not only that, but until your post, Dombo, the most-recent thread was over three years old.

.

[Big Rich]

Dombo, I remember when FC was building his 450L. I can't remember for sure if he ran into any problems fitting a 400 tank though. If he did hit any bumps, they weren't anything major.

[John Park]

I looked into putting a GS400 tank on a 450T and the biggest problem I encountered was that the center tunnel hit the coils and there isn't enough space to easily put them on the inside of the frame rails because they added some gusseting and such. It's considerably narrower because the 400 coils mounted inside the rails. The front mount is just a stud that could be easily moved, and actually would line up with the screw hole for the 'beauty plate', so a bit of threaded rod engineering could get you by there. At the rear, they went from one tab in the middle to two so you'll have to make the tank fit the frame or add a center tab; however, adding two outer tabs to the tank would make it far less wobbly - which is no doubt why they did it.

I prefer the look of the original 400 tank, but when I found a 450 tank I abandoned the project for the present. On an L it might just not fit in with the slope, but if you're doing a complete custom you could probably work that out. It isn't much to prop it up on the pad and fiddle the back mounts.

You could also just punch in the inside walls of the tank to clear your coils. I could give you the inside wall spacing of a stock 400 tank if you'd like.

[Dombo]

Thanks for the answer. This helps a lot. I can't find any decent GS400 in the Netherlands so I'll go for changing the stud on the frame. I hope this changes the line of the tank as well. Hopefully it also fits on the inside of the tank.

I looked into putting a GS400 tank on a 450T and the biggest problem I encountered was that the center tunnel hit the coils and there isn't enough space to easily put them on the inside of the frame rails because they added some gusseting and such. It's considerably narrower because the 400 coils mounted inside the rails. The front mount is just a stud that could be easily moved, and actually would line up with the screw hole for the 'beauty plate', so a bit of threaded rod engineering could get you by there. At the rear, they went from one tab in the middle to two so you'll have to make the tank fit the frame or add a center tab; however, adding two outer tabs to the tank would make it far less wobbly - which is no doubt why they did it.

I prefer the look of the original 400 tank, but when I found a 450 tank I abandoned the project for the present. On an L it might just not fit in with the slope, but if you're doing a complete custom you could probably work that out. It isn't much to prop it up on the pad and fiddle the back mounts.

You could also just punch in the inside walls of the tank to clear your coils. I could give you the inside wall spacing of a stock 400 tank if you'd like.

[C_OUELLET]

I'm turning my gs400L into a café, check out my build thread.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?227316-1981-gsx400l-project-complete-rebuild