1980 850g tank on a 1980 850L

[Scudder]

I know that a 1980 850g tank doesn't fix a 1980 850L. I'm sure there are serveral reasons why. But... I'm wondering if anyone has ever made it work through modifying the 850g tank. If you have, what would I have to do? Is it even possible?

Scudder

[Steve]

If I remember correctly (and that is getting more doubtful every day), you will need to move the mounts on the FRAME forward to the next set of holes. The rest of it might fit.

Did the '80 L tank have a single horizontal bolt at the back or two vertical ones?

.

[Scudder]

Single horizontal. I have a gs750 and tried that take on my 850L just to see what it looked like. It needed the what you described for the gs850g. Thanks.

Scudder

[DanTheMan]

I modified my L for a larger tank. I had an '80-81 850G tank, decided it wouldn't work. I instead used another tank that's a bit larger (4 gal v/s 3.2), still had mods to do. It has the two mounting bracket holes (a little welding done there), the tank ears had to be moved to the forward position, and I replaced the triple with the one off the G as the it's angled forward and the L triple is straight across. It works and is much nicer than the teardrop tiny tank. I also had to switch the sending unit coil (flip it over) for the gas gauge to work as the hole for the sending unit is on the opposite side of the tank.

[Scudder]

Why won't the 1980 gs850g tank work? I know there will be quite a lot to modify, but I really like that tanks capacity. If you don't mind, what caused you to go the the other tank? Was the channel to narrow? I know the ears will have to be relocated, or the tank knobs on the frame will have to be moved. If you had relocated them, would it have worked? Sorry about the all the questions. I have a chance to get a 850g tank and I want to have some idea of what I'm gettin' into.

Thanks

Scudder

[DanTheMan]

I relocated the ears to install the other tank. The G tank is quite a bit longer than the L tank, even though it has the single mounting bracket hole it won't align with the mount in the frame, and your seat will have to be moved rearward to accomodate the length (which I had to do for the 650 tank as well). The other problem of course, is the triple does have to be replaced with a triple off of a G, and the G tank is deeper than the L tank. As I compared tanks, my 4 gal tank petcock barely clears for operation, and the G tank, even with the petcock mounted further forward had interference problems with the cam cover, there was no way to comfortably route the gas and vacuum lines to the carbs. I had both tanks when I did the job (I've since sold the G tank), and I decided to go with the 4 gal tank, it was easier to fit up (with mods) than the G tank and looked much better on completion. The easiest mod for a larger tank is getting an '82 850L tank. then all you need to do is weld in mounting brackets for the two bolt mounting system. I did a thread on the mod when I did it, it may still be here, just click on my user name and look up threads I've started under statistics.

[Scudder]

Do you know how much gas 82 850l will hold?

scudder

[DanTheMan]

The '82 850L tank holds 4.5 gallons. It's actually a little larger than the tank I put on, and looks right on the L as it's still a teardrop style, though I like the looks of the one I installed.

[Scudder]

Thanks. I appreciate all the information. I'll be looking to find a 1982 gs850L tank some time in the near future. I already bought the 850g tank. I'll most likely give it a shot and see how it turns out. I plan on taking an extended trip within the next year, and hope to have increased my time between fill ups by then.

Scudder