fuel tank swap

[catdriver]

I have a '80 xs 11 special and would like to replace the tiny stock fuel tank with a tank from a standard. Is this a possibility, and if so will I have to make any modifications to either the tank of the bike?

[scoobes]

yes you can do that,if you go into www.xs1100.co.uk there is a chap called andy pugh,he has done it,i will speak to him and ask him to help you with it.

[uk1.1s]

Bigger tanks

The European XS1.1 Sport - and possibly the XS1100RH that I know a few of the Oz guys on the forum have, came with the option for a small or large tank. This checks out from an early '80's magazine article I have on the XS11 Sport.

Andy Pugh here in the UK has the Sport with a larger tank option -(don't think he fitted it himself)... I have a photo of it somewhere..

I have the "1.1 Sport" with the "Special" tank - smaller tear-drop. Both look good on the European Sport model - not quite sure whether asthetically the US Special would suit the big square tank of a Standard.. but you'd have to try and see.

So the long and short of it is yep... think the bigger tank would drop in... but the Special may have a few hidden surprise in the way the front end fits together - so watch for clearances of the handle bars and yokes (triple trees) at either lock of the steering

Good luck

Graham

[steelcat]

With my '79's, the petcocks are different ( the standard uses vacuum operated and does not have the octopus). I don't think there is a clearance problem. I've thought about useing my small tank in town & the big on for the road, but swapping back & forth would not be worth it. The small tank has nice lines, but I'll stick to the big, boxy tank.

[Yammayeeha]

Steelcat,

I didn't have any problems fitting the bigger tank to my Sport. As previously mentioned, the fuel feed piping and set-up is different and I had to adjust my handlebars (two separate clip-on style bars) and horns so they didn't interfere with the tank.

I did have a problem with the petcocks, but that was sorted out with new diaphrams (genuine Kawasaki, part number 43028-1015). I found these to be much better quality than pattern replacement kits and they fit fine.

The bigger tank looks much more purposeful and gives me a range of 120 miles before reserve and a further 30 miles to empty. Before the swap I was filling up at about 90 miles!

Cheers,

Andy Pugh

[Renegade]

Originally posted by Yammayeeha

The bigger tank looks much more purposeful and gives me a range of 120 miles before reserve and a further 30 miles to empty. Before the swap I was filling up at about 90 miles!

Cheers,

Andy Pugh

120 miles before reserve with a bigger tank? You either ride in stop and go traffic a lot or you don't let it get below 7000rpm very often

With a full tank, my Special gets about 130 miles (on the highway) before the low fuel light comes on, which means that I have about a gallon left in the tank at that point. After another 25 miles or so I have to switch to reserve. Riding in city traffic, the fuel light will come on at about the 100 mile mark.