Late '80s Gas Tanks

[HodaddyB]

Does anyone happen to know what the differences might be btwenn the '87 gas tank and the '88-up tanks? The '87 appears to be the b@st@rd child w/out much aftermarket support. If it's nothing real crazy, I'd like to put a later tank on there. The bike I bought has a very bulbous desert tank onit, w/ radiator shrouds that do not match the reliefs in the tank. I'm not sure which part is right.............if any. The mounts for the tank itself seem to be fine, and the seat appears to work w/ it too. The shrouds are from Maier, but I don't know how old they are, and Maier isn't listing '87 radiator shrouds. They're probably the odd item. Anyway, I'd like to get something in black, and I'll have to use a different year if I want to get anything at all.

Thanks in advance

[hughes]

You are correct the 87 500 tank the odd child. Start shopping e-bay for an 87 tank. The 88- and up tank mounts different in the rear.

[hughes]

http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,4496.0.html


Click here and view the third post and attachments.

[HodaddyB]

Thanks Dude.
That post w/ the link to UFO is actually what drew me here during search. I'll try to see if I can find out just HOW different the aft mount is. I found a site, justgastanks.com, that lists an IMS for the '87, but like I said, I'd like to find a stock style tank in black. The Clarks appear to be available that way. I just took another look at the post you sent, and the pictured bike has the same rig as mine for a tank and shrouds.
Hmmm, I guess that tank was just molded sloppily.

[hughes]

That tank on my bike was an IMS 1987 KX500 tank. About 1 1/2 ago I contacted them and they had this tank in stock and was willing to sell me one but I found that tank on e-bay for 50.00 bucks. IMS only offered the oversized tank. I just don't think the newer tank is going to mount correctly and have proper fit.

[hughes]

What's sad is I had a almost mint stock tank for the 87 500 but after selling off the bike I was cleaning out some old parts and threw it in the trash. dumb a** on my part.

[HodaddyB]

Hmmmm, I didn't even pay attention to the fact that I pasted that out of your post
The fact that it's an IMS explains the questionable fit & finish w/ regard to the shrouds. I put an IMS on my 525 SMR, and the fit and finish is very bad. The tank is starting to grow on me though, but it may be because I have it a dark part of the garage

[hughes]

Hey post a photo of the bike and tank so we can get a better idea of what you have. IMS has always had good fit for my other bikes.

[holeshot buddy]

heres one for you had my mates kx500 2002
model around the other day
tried a kx250 1988 tank went straight on
tried a kx250 1987 tank went straight on
and is heaps skinnier the shrouds fit up perfect
only differance is the seat moulding in tank
but you can modify seat to fit
my mate still has it on he loves it
also the works bikes in 88 and 89 used 125 tanks

also tried radiators from 250 they are the same as well

[HodaddyB]

Thanks Dude!
I actually have a '90 tank and seat on the way. I got a good deal on them used, and figured it would be a worthwhile experiment. You've dispelled my cautious optimism............now I just feel impatient

Not absolutely positive about this (because fiche pics can be wrong), but the aft tank mount looks different for earlier and later tanks. I think I'll be able to fab something up though if necessary.

[hughes]

Here's the diff. between the mounting of the tank's in the rear. One more thing is that the 87 model seat was very rounded and narrow at the end going toward the tank, 88-04 500's the seat was wider and more squared off going up to the tank. The seats wouldn't match the molded area of the tank if mis match with tank.

[HodaddyB]

OK, it looks like the fiche pics are accurate then. I'm pretty confident that I can machine something to pick up the old mount on the frame and provide an anchor for the later style strap. Like I said before, I have a later seat coming too, so I should be ready for anything. Thanks for the confirmation on the fiche.

[gonger]

any progress..

[HodaddyB]

Uh, yeah. The later tank will NOT work w/ the '87. There is another thread I've posted in ('87 KX 500)and explained the differences. Unfortunately, the big IMS "lump" is about as good as one can do for a replacement tank, I think.
The later shrouds will work w/ my IMS tank. The holes line up and everything, although I didn't have the pipe on the bike when I fit-checked them. I suppose it would be easy enough to trim them to fit though.

I also bought the seat w/ that tank, and it isn't of much use either since the tank won't work. The seats are particular to the early and later tanks. Hmmm, any body looking for a tank and seat?
It's primarily the hairbrained way the upper subframe mounts which prevents later tank usage. The aft tank mount isn't much of a problem to work around, but altering the shape of the tank or altering the upper subframe mounts........well, umm, not worth it.

I don't know if I've mentioned this anywhere else, but be diligent in comparing your part numbers. When I handed a list of numbers to a parts guy at my favorite dealer, he checked off many of the numbers as unavailable, according to his Kawasaki software. These are parts like suspension bearings that even the aftermarket doesn't support. I started comparing the '87 fiche to later models........even the '04s, and found that many of the part numbers are identical, and have ordered them against a later model year w/ no problem. Go figure. I haven't yet installed any of these items (customer bikes and other obligations taking precedence), so I can NOT confirm that they are indeed the same, but if they aren't, Kawasaki has some issues to rectify in their engineering support department if they're applying the same number to multiple parts.

In addition to the later KX500s (for compatible parts), I have also found that the KLX 300 and 400 share many of the same parts (wheel hubs for example). Of course, the '87 250 shares quite a bit too.

For example, the bores in my hubs are shot, and the hub assembly part number came back "unavailable" for the '87, but I can buy hubs for a late model KLX (w/ the same part number) all day long.

[gonger]

I see the problem when I look at the pics closely.. bummer.. the 88+ tanks are plentiful..