Guage Swap and other recomendations

[Bruno]

Hi All,

I have an '81 GS850G that I'd like to find a different set of guages/meters for. Does anyone know for sure what alternatives I may have? I'd like to keep all the functionalites (gas guage, 5 speed gear indicators etc.) but just am not a fan of the looks of them.

Will the guages from an '82 GS850G work? What other options might I have?

Also, I'd like to move the choke and possibly the ignition switch down to the left side of the bike (depending on what I come up with for the guages). Any thought/ideas on how best to accomplish this?

[duaneage]

I changed the dash on mine from a 1981 GS650G to a 1980 750L. Here is what i know about this operation.

The gear indicators are all the same. Wiring is the same. You can check each wire with a 12 volt source by grounding on the common wire and applying power to each wire to light the numbers.

Orange is going to be 12 volt source.

Black is ground and grey is 12 volts for the lights

I think blue was for the high beam, green was the oil pressure light and green/orange lit the turn indicator. I don't have a side stand nanny light so I can't say what that is. My memory is a little foggy and it's late right now.

The indicators can also be checked by grounding and applying power to the wires to check what they do. For my conversion I had to provide the fuel gauge with power, and run a pair of wires for ground and the sending unit ( My GS was an early model originally without a gas gauge) to my new gas tank with a float.

Once the electricals are sorted out you'll probably find that you might just be able to simply plug them in and go. The most you'll have to do is move a wire in a connector to a different location. Modify the gauge wire harness, not the bikes harness so you can put it back to stock.

The next step is getting the gauges mounted. I found the 750 L pack to be a little wider so I used the mound steel for it. The ears were bent 45 degrees so I flattened them with a vice and hammer and cut off excess metal. Finally I drilled new holes and set the mounting bolts in. Take your time and do several test fits before modifying the mounts. I used 1/4 inch hardboard to make a template to see how it would look and work before I cut anything.

The speedo and tachometer are compatable across models and years as long as the front wheel is the same size.

Done properly you can roll back easily to OEM with little fuss. To the untrained eye my gauges look original and only a true GSer would know they were not.


The choke is a little tricky, you might have better luck with a choke lever from another manufacturer as long as you can make a brace.

[Bruno]

Thanks!

Thanks for the detailed information Duaneage. This will make it a lot easier should I need to make modifications. If anyone else has suggestions that would change out easily, I'm all ears.

Has anyone ever moved the choke or the ignition? I'm just wanting to give the instrument cluster a cleaner look. Any aftermarket ideas? I've looked all around the net trying to find full size guages. No luck. The best I've found is from Dakata Digital.

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=264/category_id=235/home_id=60/mode=prod/prd264.htm

But it's pretty darn pricey and not sure it's the direction I want to go. I'd like to keep it mechanical/electical.

[SqDancerLynn1]

You are only limited by your imagination

[Bruno]

Good reminder.