New dude

[Mateo]

Hi I'm just about to get into a new project. I bought a 1978 gs400 from a junk yard. It basically needs everything except the chassis. I've been looking at tanks on ebay and from here they all look the same (for 400,425,450,550 and 750's).

This may be a dumb question but can I just bolt on a tank from ANY vintage gs?

[pete]

Welcome to the forums Mateo!

Good to see you're rescuing another twin, I'm a bit of a fan of the twins myself.

What are the plans for the 400? And we like to see lots of pic's here too

As to your tank query, some interchange and some won't (easily). Some of the other models' tanks will be a striaght bolt on, others will fit but will need some minor modifications to the mounting.

Generally anything from the 400/425/450's should be able to be adapted to fit, just depends on what you can find and how far you want to go with modifications...

[JEEPRUSTY]

Everything but the chassis?
You may want to buy a different bike.

[Mateo]

This is my first project this big. I've had a few bikes and done a bit of work on them but this will be a big, cool learning experience.

Since I pretty much have a slightly bent chassis with a motor that doesn't run anything is possible. (In a way that's good)

BUT... I just want a cafe racer as bare bones as possible...
Flat bratstyle type seat... tank... motor... kick start only...

I'm excited about this and I'll be on here asking a lot of questions...
Thanks...

[pete]

That sounds pretty cool actually, definitely keeping eye on this!

Given that's your plan, both the 400 and 450 tanks make good cafe tanks. The 450 tank is almost along the lines of the old Dunstalls to a certain extent.

[JEEPRUSTY]

Well welcome. I thought you had a bare frame and a dream.
You will get a long drawn out but very useful welcome soon.
Some guy on here sends it out to new members.

FlamingChainsaws a member has a thread on what he did to a 450 twin.
Is your 400 a 4 cyl or two?

[Mateo]

I want to do something like this...

[pete]

In that case you'll want to look at Billy T's thread instead (FC's is great, just a more traditional cafe style):

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=178384

He's selling it now too, last I saw he wanted $2K for it but I can't find the for sale thread now...

[Flaming Chainsaws]

The '78 GS400 has one bolt in the back to mount it then the front just slides over the frame pucks on each side or whatever you call those.

So... I think that the GS400 gas tank is just like a GS450E, just a different shape. I will say that the GS400, GS425, and GS450E will bolt right up. I think tanks from the bigger models will fit as well, as long as it's from an E model and has a single bolt to mount on the back. But none of this is confirmed. Don't take my word on it! Just my thoughts...

I'll be following this as well.

[Octain]

Sounds like an awesome project! Hope everything goes your way.
Welcome to the forums!