1981 GS450T with (ET/X) parts

[Gertig]

Hey I recently came across a wonderful 1981 GS450T with just 2970 miles for $900 (I hope people agree with me that this was a good price) and I'm wanting to build a café racer out of it, though looking around for parts I think I'm stuck and I'm worrying I got the wrong bike.

I want to use the ET or EX model gas tank instead of the current one that I have and also like the side panels from the ET/EX over the T model (the line pattern design thingy is cool to me) Does anyone know if the gas tank and side fairings will fit from an ET/EX on a model T? If I can't just throw them on are they hard to work with to get on?

Thank you very much in advance! Also, are there any sites or suppliers with parts for these bikes?

[tkent02]

You found a T, and you want to cut it up? You got the wrong bike.
Cutting is for Ls.

[Gertig]

Errr I don't see the huge difference in the two, besides the seat really. As for 'cutting up' I wouldn't call it that when I'm just wanting to really change the gas tank and handle bars, eventually the seat for a finished café.

Edit: I'm assuming you mean the wrong bike because the T is more desirable? Either way your post is a tad bit... unhelpful. )-:

[tkent02]

Ts are nice bikes, and very hard to find...
L's are common as Hondas, and they love to be cut.
Got any pictures?

[Gertig]

I understand that you may be saddened by this, but I won't be throwing away any parts, if anything they will be recycled to help others. I don't plan on ever selling the bike really and in my area I think L's are harder to find and E's don't exist. There is another 1982 GS450T with 2795 miles near me now that the guy wants $1500 for, I might buy it if he goes to $900 or less seeing as it needs new tires and has some cosmetic issues.

I don't have pictures yet, its waiting in a shop for new tires, has the original ones on it.

Ts are nice bikes, and very hard to find...
L's are common as Hondas, and they love to be cut.
Got any pictures?

[Gertig]

So, I mean does the gas tank fit without modifications or not?

[tkent02]

Don't know, I have never had a T, of any size. Only Gs and Es, which I ride, and Ls which I cut up and part out.

[Gertig]

Don't know, I have never had a T, of any size. Only Gs and Es, which I ride, and Ls which I cut up and part out.

Okay. Well thanks, and sorry to have told you that I won't be keeping this bike stock. I can assure you that it will be every bit as awesome and will be loved very much, which is all any GS needs, love.

and if anyone else comes around, still looking for that answer.

[hardline_42]

I don't have a T but I do have an E (the letters after the "S, E, L, and T" model designation are year codes). I'm not sure what, if any, frame differences exist, but I do know that E and S model tanks command a premium among the cafe racer crowd.

IMO, you're better off either passing on the T or flipping it to buy an E or S model outright. They were already styled as cafe racers with a square tank and boat tail from the factory (the "S" came with a cool quarter fairing and looks like a baby R90S), handle well, perform well and are reliable. Add your choice of bars and rearsets, if applicable, and you're good to go.

Making a cafe racer from the T sounds like and exercise in futility. You'd be reducing the value of a rarish model to try and achieve a look already done effectively on a much more common model (the E).

[Gertig]

I don't understand how the E is more common when T's are showing up left and right around here yet I haven't seen one E.

I don't have a T but I do have an E (the letters after the "S, E, L, and T" model designation are year codes). I'm not sure what, if any, frame differences exist, but I do know that E and S model tanks command a premium among the cafe racer crowd.

IMO, you're better off either passing on the T or flipping it to buy an E or S model outright. They were already styled as cafe racers with a square tank and boat tail from the factory (the "S" came with a cool quarter fairing and looks like a baby R90S), handle well, perform well and are reliable. Add your choice of bars and rearsets, if applicable, and you're good to go.

Making a cafe racer from the T sounds like and exercise in futility. You'd be reducing the value of a rarish model to try and achieve a look already done effectively on a much more common model (the E).

[tkent02]

Where is around here? Some countries never got the Ts.

[hardline_42]

I don't understand how the E is more common when T's are showing up left and right around here yet I haven't seen one E.

Where are you located? Every CL search for five or six states around me only yields E or L models.

[Gertig]

Where are you located? Every CL search for five or six states around me only yields E or L models.

St. Louis I only get T models

[Gertig]

Where are you located? Every CL search for five or six states around me only yields E or L models.

Where are you.

[hardline_42]

Where are you.

New Jersey. Says so on the upper right corner of all of my posts. It would help others if you filled out your bio with location info so they can direct you to bikes/parts they might come across in your area.