First time GS1000 owner

[FLHGSRay]

Dang! That's a good looking bike. Can't decide whether to paint the tank to match the tail, or tail to match the tank. Or everything to match my vision. I'll probably just ride it for a while while I think about it. Need to figure out a seat. PO had a custom seat made. Good quality, I just don't like it. Don't need a passenger seat cause I always ride alone, and don't really care about originality. Like to find a bolt-on cafe style solo seat like I had for my Z1 back in the day. Wish me luck finding that. Bought it in a bike shop in Germany in '78-'79.

[FLHGSRay]

Went looking for a pic of that seat on the Z1. Couldn't find that, but I did find a pic of the Z and my '75 RD 350. Bought the RD new in '76 and the first-year Z used in '78. Also found a pic of my '69 BSA 650 Lightning, built from a pile of parts in '81-'82.

[sedelen]

Here's a '79 GS1000E for ya, mine, one thing about black is it's fairly easy to match paint wise, should you have any scrapes, had this painted black and those pin stripes are painted on also.

[FLHGSRay]

Nice bike. I have that same rack and engine guards. Took them off, but may put the engine guards back on. Wish my bike was that clean, but I was never any good at keping them that way. Even my HD hasn't looked that good since new.

[Nessism]

The 1980 tank takes the lever-less petcock. Hard to tell from the photo but I guessed '79 because it appears to have a regular petcock.

[sedelen]

The 1980 tank takes the lever-less petcock. Hard to tell from the photo but I guessed '79 because it appears to have a regular petcock.

I saw that too, it does appear to have the early levered petcock on it, maybe it's a '79 tank repainted as a '80 model. Closer pic of the left side
would let us know for sure.

[FLHGSRay]

Hope I don't have a tank/petcock issue. Tank doesn't appear to be repainted, But there was silicone around the petcock. Also, I've been wondering, when looking at the petcock, tank, and o-ring, what keeps fuel from leaking past the screws? It had fuel in it and it wasn't leaking when I got it, had been sitting for years. Have I maybe got a '80 tank and a '79 petcock? Is there a difference in the mounting and o-ring?

[7981GS]

There are 2 sealing washers that go on the 2 mounting bolts. Still available at your Suzuki dealer.

Daniel

[FLHGSRay]

You mean these? Took a quick trip to the Suzuki shop and they had them in stock. I knew something was up, had it in the back of my mind for a month. These were missing when I pulled the petcock. I know the PO lives about 75 miles from a dealer, I guess he was in a hurry to go for a ride, and just went with the silicone. Thanks!

[chuck hahn]

Those would be them..tighten them and give them a good firm snugging but dont crush them too much. They stop gas leaking from it migrating down the bolt threads.

[sedelen]

That does indeed look like an '80 tank, but also the petcock looks like a '78/'79 from the back. Wished I could see the front of the petcock to see if it has that little lever. Very peculiar because the hole spacings were different for the two petcocks. Not interchangeable, I'm baffled.

[Rover]

If it doesn't use the 80 petcock it probably was repainted with 80 decal/stripes is my thinking.

[FLHGSRay]

If it's been repainted, someone went to great lengths to make it look like a factory paint job. Petcock is the lever style. I don't know about the differences in the tanks/petcocks, but it looks like the combo I have will work. This petcock came off this tank, so the spacing is correct. The o-ring along with the sealing washers look correct. Maybe it's a very late '79 with '80 paint, or more likely a very early '80 tank with a '79 petcock?

[FLHGSRay]

Gonna try firing this thing today. Very little left to do, front end is all checked. Install air filter, petcock, tank, seat, rear wheel, chain. Sounds like 2 hours work, but I don't get in a hurry on this stuff. Saves costly and painful mistakes. Wish me luck!

[Octain]

Gonna try firing this thing today. Very little left to do, front end is all checked. Install air filter, petcock, tank, seat, rear wheel, chain. Sounds like 2 hours work, but I don't get in a hurry on this stuff. Saves costly and painful mistakes. Wish me luck!

Good luck!