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Anyone Turn an "L" Model into a Cafe Racer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Colorado CJ
  • Start date Start date
I was under the assumption that the frames were the same between the E and L bikes, and some even had the same forks.
 
There are differences between the L and E frames, but they mainly deal with how the tank mounts and how the seat/tail fairing (as the case may be) bolt on. One quick difference is that the E's have two tabs welded on to each side of the frame to bolt the little molded abs strips that join the tail fairing to the side covers.

What I'm trying to ascertain is if the take angle is different. All of my conclussions have come from comparing frames in microfiches and EBay listings of naked frames. Very hard to measure a few degrees difference in angle by eye only, and that's only if there is actually a difference to measure. Really I guess we'd need two frames (one E and one L) and a protractor...
 
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I am also turning a GS450L into a custom bike. Only the original gas tank doesn't suit the style. Your GS400 tank looks good! Will it fit without any modifications? Because it would be a great option for me.

Flaming Chainsaws said:
All I know is that E forks are shorter in length compared to an L. Also, the L's have the leading axle.

Here's my 1980 Suzuki GS450L.
dscn2830s.jpg


All I really did was ditch the unnecessary parts, switch to a 1979 Suzuki GS400 gas tank, got a cafe seat, and painted the rims. Got more plans coming up.
Click to expand...
 
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I hope you're not expecting an answer,if you see a guest under a name in an old post like this one it means the account has been deleted due to inactivity.
 
Well maybe someone else knows the answer, because it would really help. I'm now struggling to get the original gastank in line with the rest of the frame, but its difficult.

Steve said:
Not only that, but until your post, Dombo, the most-recent thread was over three years old.

.
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Dombo, I remember when FC was building his 450L. I can't remember for sure if he ran into any problems fitting a 400 tank though. If he did hit any bumps, they weren't anything major.
 
I looked into putting a GS400 tank on a 450T and the biggest problem I encountered was that the center tunnel hit the coils and there isn't enough space to easily put them on the inside of the frame rails because they added some gusseting and such. It's considerably narrower because the 400 coils mounted inside the rails. The front mount is just a stud that could be easily moved, and actually would line up with the screw hole for the 'beauty plate', so a bit of threaded rod engineering could get you by there. At the rear, they went from one tab in the middle to two so you'll have to make the tank fit the frame or add a center tab; however, adding two outer tabs to the tank would make it far less wobbly - which is no doubt why they did it.

I prefer the look of the original 400 tank, but when I found a 450 tank I abandoned the project for the present. On an L it might just not fit in with the slope, but if you're doing a complete custom you could probably work that out. It isn't much to prop it up on the pad and fiddle the back mounts.

You could also just punch in the inside walls of the tank to clear your coils. I could give you the inside wall spacing of a stock 400 tank if you'd like.
 
Thanks for the answer. This helps a lot. I can't find any decent GS400 in the Netherlands so I'll go for changing the stud on the frame. I hope this changes the line of the tank as well. Hopefully it also fits on the inside of the tank.

John Park said:
I looked into putting a GS400 tank on a 450T and the biggest problem I encountered was that the center tunnel hit the coils and there isn't enough space to easily put them on the inside of the frame rails because they added some gusseting and such. It's considerably narrower because the 400 coils mounted inside the rails. The front mount is just a stud that could be easily moved, and actually would line up with the screw hole for the 'beauty plate', so a bit of threaded rod engineering could get you by there. At the rear, they went from one tab in the middle to two so you'll have to make the tank fit the frame or add a center tab; however, adding two outer tabs to the tank would make it far less wobbly - which is no doubt why they did it.

I prefer the look of the original 400 tank, but when I found a 450 tank I abandoned the project for the present. On an L it might just not fit in with the slope, but if you're doing a complete custom you could probably work that out. It isn't much to prop it up on the pad and fiddle the back mounts.

You could also just punch in the inside walls of the tank to clear your coils. I could give you the inside wall spacing of a stock 400 tank if you'd like.
Click to expand...
 
Thought I'd share my 82 gs450L cafe racer known as "the smurf". Picked it up for $300 with 10k on the clock and had been sitting since 1990. To adapt the E tank we had to relocate the coils inside the frame neck and move the tank ear mounts forward as well as fab a bracket to lift the rear of the tank up about an inch or so. The tank was a rusty mess. It was home to a family of rats in a boneyard lol. The exhaust is a homemade 2-1 using a set of harley pipes we had laying around. Even uses the harley baffle. Sounds really good. Simple hand made side covers. RFY rear shocks and progressive fork springs. The tail lights from a 42 ford. Was recently GIVEN an 82 gs450E so I swapped the 18f 18r wheels from it. Sure beats the L 19f 16r combo. Also I kept the 42 tooth sprocket from the L wheels and used it with the E wheels. Bike is a lot happier on the highway now. Have yet to decide on a rear set setup. This is my 1st bike it's she's a blast to ride. Feedback is welcome :cool:
 

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I'm busy building a Gs1100L into a cafe/streetfighter. Don't want to label it to be honest, it is what it is. Personally I think there's nothing wrong with the angle of the original forks and I love the shape of the tank as is. Here it is as it stands but I'm working on it every chance I get. Actually the pic is before I started sanding down the tail piece and removing the paint/rust.

Rawsum-All.jpg
 
Suzie_Finishedjpg.jpgThis used to be an '80 550 L. Frame cut and new seat added, rear shocks modified to fit 3 inches taller.. and other mods as you can see
 
Steve and Steve got it right!

That is my fabbed up tail light. I took 5 of those LED light strips they sell on ebay and glued them onto a piece of metal I cut to size.

I'll grab pics of how it looks running, braking, and turn signals. I like to think it's pretty cool.
 
Let's not forget where the idea of a cafe racer comes from in the first place, it was guys removing and modifying parts to make the bike as light and as fast as possible. Swapping out parts only made sense if it served that purpose, to go faster! There probably wasn't too many beauty queens amongst them.
 
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