Suzuki 2 Strokes

Hi All,

I was in the process of selling a spare oil tank to someone for their GT500 restoration. I had thought I had two to offer as I believed that they were identical. Upon looking at the photos I noticed that they were of different formats. The black one was taken from a GT500 frame and the red one I collected with a bunch of other 500 spares. Is the red one even from a 500?


Any help with ID'ing them will be appreciated.

Cheers Geoff

The one on the right is exactly like the 74 and 75 T500 oil tanks I have,with that sloped back and vent tube same location.

As you have probably seen, several different part numbers over the years though. Late T500 and GT 500 have the same tank. Looks like those you posted are not the same length? Fronts exactly the same? Maybe just factory primed or factory primed and painted are the difference in part numbers and/or the shape of the back......I dunno.

For what it's worth, there are a few like that black one on eBay listed as T500.

The difference between the early T500 ('69-'72) and later T/GT500 (-'73) is that, on the later models, the battery box and air box were moved about an inch reward, as the carb intake boots are this much longer. That created the need to modify a few things to allow for mounting and clearance.

For the frame, you will see there are 2 cross braces, with mounting holes for the top of the batter box (done so either early or late motor configuration could be installed (pre '73 frames only have one). The same is found on the bottom backside of the oil tank (again for mounting the battery box). I believe this is so Suzuki could just supercede the new parts for the old, for replacement part stocking purposes.

A few other changes included the air box boot and the oil pump cover, which were modified to allow for clearance, due to the air box moving rearward.

Thanks for the info guys

The gent in question has acquired a totally original GT500 barn find. Most unusually the oil tank has rusted through in one place hence his need for a replacement. Having thought all oil tanks were the same and now realising there might be subtle differences I don't want to sell him an incorrect part for his machine. I will ask him to take a photo of what he has and see if it matches either of the two tanks I have.

Cheers Geoff