side cover question

[81xsproject]

what years side covers will work on my 81xs

[John]

80 and 81 Specials only. The only difference I can see is the holes that are drilled in them to mount the emblems. The 79 SF has different shaped slots for mounting the side covers.

[81xsproject]

I could care less about emblems, I am going to paint/fill them over. Does that make a different.

[John]

No difference, as long as they are from an 80 or 81 Special. The 79 mounts differently.

[fredintoon]

fussed about symmetry?

On the premise that anything's better than nothing I fitted a right side '79 cover on my XS11SG. The shape is slightly different but who sees both sides at once? The '80 has a hole & a C-slot at the top while the '79 has two long skinny slots but a riveted in aluminum sheetmetal reinforcing plate & a Dremel tool will fix the slots. The bottom fastening is the same.
About the left side I dunno. The '80 has the world's daftest concept, a leftside cover that locks on with the ignition key.
I do not know if the '79' had that too.
Certainly the correct covers are best but sometimes you gotta make do.
Fred Hill,'toon.