I am in  position to help out a friend and by his 82 savage for 300.00 however it is in rough shape.  As far as I can tell, it needs a new battery, gas tank, the front brake caliper is frozen, and probably needs a new wiring harness.  How difficult would it be to return this gem to a fully functional work of art considering it is an 1982 and I do not have the space or tools to do any fabrication work.  Additionally, does anyone know of any oem parts manufacturers for the 82.  I mostly see parts for 86 and up?

If your looking for original Suzuki parts, you should be able to go to any Suzuki dealer. they have a parts program called "SCAT" that pretty much includes any machine Suzuki ever made. you'll may pay more for Suzuki parts, but at least you'll be able to find what you're looking for. hope this helps you out.

'86 sounds better ! - I see a couple of tanks on ebay right now

http://search.ebay.com/Kawasaki-VN500-Vulcan_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

There's a '97 Kawi VN500 Tank on e-bay right now at $100 USD

WD do these bolt-right-on the LS, or is some fabrication req'd?

The pricing of Savage tanks on ebay is erratic at best, but I would say the average used tank goes for $40-$75. If it’s black, it tends to go in the high end of that range. After searching for the right deal for a long time I finally won an auction and grabbed one for $40 - it’s bright yellow with a few small dents. Color and perfection didn’t really matter to me though because my intention was always to strip it and repaint it (I have an extra set of fenders I’m doing the same thing with.).

A couple other “hidden” costs to keep in mind – shipping. Find out what this is going to be BEFORE you bid. A shady seller could turn winning a gas tank for $40 into a total cost of $80+. I paid $20 for shipping, which I felt was appropriate, although lower would have been nice. Other thing to keep in mind is what you can’t see from posted pictures – interior rust. You should ask the seller about the interior condition of the tank.  You might luck out and get something with a pristine interior but personally I would just plan on dealing with some sort of interior rust. I talked about the por15 tank lining kit in another recent thread, but to get to the bottom line, plan on spending another $40 on de-rusting, de-gunking and lining the tank. I wasn’t too psyched when I realized I had to do this, but the upside of it is once it’s done, the interior of your tank is bulletproof to rust.

As for the speedo – that’s something else you can find on ebay relatively cheap. The gas cap and key might be a different story – most tanks come without a cap/key. I’m not sure if there is a work around so that you could get a cap that uses the same key as your bike, but my first thought would be you would have to have a separate key just for the tank. I could be wrong about that.

WD wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:


I Like the looks, but I still need to know if it is an exact match.

Thanks!!