Help me find these bike parts

 I posted this at a sports bike thread last week but no takers, which
is no surprise since most sport bike riders ride new, shiny machines.
So I figure the dirt folk here ought to be a better bet since each of
you likely own at least 3 bikes and the oldest is at least a couple of
decades old. Meaning you likely visit bike wreckers more than anyone
else. Please help if you can. Spring is almost here and I gotta get
this project ready.


http://tinyurl.com/43tn4y
Having a bit of a hard time locating a couple of parts for this oldie
(this is a pic off BikePics.com, my bike looks a lot worse for wear)
and wonder if you could inquire with your local bike wrecker next
time
you're hunting for parts for your old bike (c'mon everyone must have
an old bike in the collection). As seen in the pic I'm mainly after
the right side plastic cover and a gas tank in good condition, red as
in the pic and with the deco. My gas tank is in too rough a shape
(dents everywhere, deep rust everywhere) and it would be a lot easier
to replace than to paint. Also if I was to paint it, chances are I
wouldn't be able to find the deco to match. Or can I?
Since this is a learners bike for the wife (who's now upgrading to a
bike with gears) it is important that I beautify the thing for her,
even though she's bound to drop it a few times (which is exactly why
an old, small cc beater bike is the ideal learners bike).
Bike is a 83 Kawasaki GPz305, belt driven. In the US it is known as
the EX305. All year models of the bike from 83-89 are compatible.
I have tried a few of the ebay resellers with no luck and most won't
bother replying to your inquiries, as seem to be the case with
several
of the places I contacted via email. So I figured I asked here in the
event someone happens to spot this bike somewhere or wouldn't mind
inquiring with your local old bike parts guy on my behalf.
Thanks.

 http://cyclesrus.net/
is not too far from me
call them and find out if they have the bits you need...at a price you
like....

if you can work out a deal, i can go pick it up & ship it if you like.
john

 
Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately didn't like the price. For what's
his asking I'm better off going through the hassle of painting it.
I'm still looking around for one at a reasonable price/shape. I really
don't want to paint the tank and am wondering what possible options
are there to get away with hiding all that rust. A friend suggested
covering the tank with some sort of rubber thing. I even thought about
sticking some of my mx bike's stickers all over it when I realized
these are yellow and wouldn't go too well on red/rust. Open to ideas
on how to lazy my way around this. There has to be sort of clever
solution rather than painting or leaving as is.

 Eat Dirt wrote:

I have a little rust inside my tank. What I do is use an inline fuel
filter and change it often, it is cheap enough to change at least once
every two months, or once every oil change... I've seen folks using
car fuel filters with badly rusted tanks. Keep an eye on the screen
that there is on the petcock, more than once I've seen someone pull
the hairs out trying to figure out bike problems and turned out that
was the petcock screen plugged.

Rust spots on the exterior can be fixed with sandpaper and the paint
(or clearcoat, or primer, or fingernail polish) of your choice applyed
with a small brush.


good luck!

-- Tiago

 
No rust inside, just on the outside as you can see in the link I just
posted. In fact I had the tank out and cleaned it nicely with
combustion chamber cleaner and rinsed it many times with small amounts
of gas, so all the little bits of dirt and crap came out. So tank
isn't bad due to a good interior.