07 GS500F- gsxr tail conversion

[Kevin81ski]

Ok I'm new to this site and doing any kinds of mods to my bike but i figured it can't be too hard I used to do sheetmetal and composite repair on aircraft. I really don't like the single seat look of my GS and want to make it have the two seat look. I been reading lots of post on here for a few months and not too many people have posted pictures of dual seat conversions. I found a conversion from some guy in Brazil that says for $400 he will make you a custom tail that looks similar to a GSXR tail but takes him 6 weeks to send it. Has anyone done this? Well I took it upon myself last night to order a 2007 GSXR 600 complete tail section on ebay and wanted to try to make it work on mine. Has anybody tried this and found any problems I might run into before i start? I really did it with the thought of saving some money in doing it myself but I don't want to end up messing up the GSXR fairings and not be able to resale them or end up spending more doing it myself than jsut ordering this guys mod from brazil and waiting. I figured i could do it in less time than his shipping and less cost too. Anybody have any sugestions? Please help out....

[tt_four]

That body work from brazil has been discussed here a couple times, it looks nice, but the whole situation is questionable. There's a video of some guy converting a GS, but it left me a little uneasy. I'm sure he cut corners just to make the conversion go quicker, but he clearly didn't have the seats bolted on, the one wasn't even sitting flush at the end, so I'm not sure if it's a quality issue, or if he just half-assed it for the video. Either way, a couple people have done tail swaps. I have a 99 R1 tail on mine, it's still just a 1 seater though, and I cut off the passenger pegs.

The trickiest part will be getting the passenger seat to fit, that's why most of the tail swaps have just been solo race tails. What goes on inside the tail isn't as important because you can't see it, but you'll have better luck if you can weld, and can just make the mount for the rear seat to fit. did you get a tail light to go with the tail?

I don't think I've ever seen anyone try to fit one of the new tails on a GS, so no one will be able to walk you through it, but you'll just have to try it on and see how it works. I had to cut a little off the back of my subframe for my tail to fit right. After that I just made some random aluminum brackets to hold everything on, and my seat is actually just ziptied onto the subframe rails from underneith. An undertail is tricky too, because the GS subframe is skinnier than a GSXR subframe, not to mention lower, so if you just ran sheet metal/fiberglass straight across the bottom, your tire will most likely hit it when you hit a good bump, or have a passenger. I cut up the stock one, cut up some sheet metal to fill in some spots, and just camoflauged the whole thing with flat black spray paint so it was harder to make out the details.

Make sure you take some pictures for us!

[Kevin81ski]

My tail came in today and it is complete with the tail lights and blinkers, I went out and took my seat off just to do a quick visual comparrison. The overall measurements don't look much off, the tail is actually abot just as wide as the GS tail, the rear seat lock lines right up and will be able to be reused, the front seat rear pegs that rest on the subframe line up perfect too, the fron will need some modifications, I will probably begin pulling off my failing and trying to get the new ones mounted sometime this weekend if time permits. My dad has a mig welder and I'll probably have him come over and give me a hand. If it looks like it is going to be too much cutting and welding I'll probably just order a GSXR subframe and mount it so everything else lines up. So for the undertail and tire height issue, i been looking at doing a rear shock change, I think everyone has been saying the a GSXR, SV650 or katana shock will fit and give me a better ride along with the added 2" that I will probable need. they are ging for about $50 on ebay so I'll see waht happens.

[lpncna32]

would like to see pics of whole process and final pics.....

[werase643]

i'm doing the subframe swap
you cut almost everything off and start over
also going to have to make a new mount for the tank

[Kevin81ski]

And how is the subframe change coming for you? Any pics yet? I was looking at them last night I think I was getting a little ahead of myself. I went ahead and ordered an SV650 rear shock last night. I figured I'm gonna need the extra height anyway. So I'll be doing that too. I been doing some thinking about what I saw when I did my visual yesterday. I think I will be able fab a front bracket and mount for the front seat easily. But we shall see. I want to go start on it but I got a few projects coming due for school so I think I'm gonna try to finish them before I start cause once I start my wife won't even be able to pulle off unless I run out of parts. And I'm not sure how long it's gonna take me. Hopefully I can do somethis weekend.

Btw what subframe are you mounting? What year is it off of? Are you doing it for the same reasons?

[tt_four]

Oh man, I was one day too slow at reading this. I've had an SV650 shock in my basement forever I need to get rid of. I was going to put it on the GS, but my wife who's already a little short for the bike, wasn't crazy about the seat height being higher than it already is. Oh well, looking to see some more pictures whenever you make some progress.

[Kevin81ski]

I got started o it today alittle. For the most part i think it is going pretty good. The front seat lines up on the tank very well, I took a bunch of measurements today for the seat mount and drew a mount for the front seat on AutoCad, i sent it to a local machine shop to get soe quotes on having it fabricated and in the mean time i'm going to try to fab up one myself. The cent tail fairing is a tight fit but the subframe slides right up into it. Although the 3/4" square stock that does stop it from sliding further back. I started to cut of the old fairing mounts too but I'm done working with a hacksaw, i'm going to get my dads sawzall in the morning. After I remove all the mount on the subframe the tail appears to go on nice. after that it will just be adding a few new mounting locations for the new fairings. The undertail appears that it is going to fit nicely too, the spacing of the subframe and the holes on the undertail look like they will mount right into the subframe. I think that after i get the sawzall it will only take about 20 hours of work to complete if that. I'm planning on using JB weld to fit the new mounts then once everythng is in place i will remove all the fairings and weld the new mounts is place. or bolt them which ever comes easiest. I think it looks sharp with the new tail light already. ther is one thing that i ran into already that looks like it might be a problem is the front seat rear end wants t sit up a few inches to fit right with the tank, and does not line up right with the fairings in the back of the seat, however i think that once i remove the rest of the mounts it is going to give me alot more flexibility with arranging the fairings to line up with the front seat,. once i get the front seat to mount i am going to line everything else up around that.

[Roguesuzuki]

whoa.. thats different... looks like it coming along..

[bassmechanicsz]

Looks good so far.  Can't wait to see it all finished. 

[lpncna32]

anymore progress on the tail conversion?

[Kevin81ski]

Ok so here is what I have done so far, I had to chop the old subframe off, just past the passenger foot pegs. then I went and got some 3/4" square tubing only to get home and find out that the original subframe is 3/4" X 1" tubing. But I used the 3/4" square anyway. I then placed the front seat in place roughly where it needed to sit at and then placed the tail farings on where they would need to go so it all would line up. Working from the front back. Then I cut some square tubing about 16" +-2" and fit those in place of the top subframe and angled them so they would be in place in the tail fairngs where i wanted them. I tac welded all this in place at that point. then I used some tie wire and tied the bottom of the two outer white fairings to the new subframe peices i just tac welded. This way it hold it in place pretty good while i'm measuring and making other brackets. I looked at a couple ways to make the mounts for the rear seat and wanted to make it as close to original as possible maximizing the storage area but I wasn't able to with the tools I have. I have no way to really cut precise angles for this project. At this point I started placing the passenger seat in place and looking to see where the locking plate and rubber pegs where going to need to have a mount. I then cut some more tubing and welded them across under where they need to sit to give support for a passenger. I placed the tubing on top the subframe to give it maximum strength. Once i got my cross braces tacked in place i shimed the passenger seat up about 1/8" becasue it was resting on the fairings and I didn't want it to be this way when I have a passenger and then have the aded weight and crack anything, this way the seat sits about an 1/8" off the fairings with out a passenger and it gives the rubber a little room to compress before placing any stress on the fairings. After shimming the rear seat I began taking measurements to see how high I needed to make a resting spot for them. At this pointI took all my measurements and quite for the night and will fab the mounts in the morning. I also added a piece of tubing across the back of the new subframe this was for the two holes in the back of the fairing under the seat with the two rubber bushing to screw into. I placed it betwenn  the fairing and the subframe and twisted it so it was flush with the fairning leaving a small gap on one side to be filled in with weld on the subframe side. After all of that I got the front seat and placed it back down for a fitment check and then began looking where i needed to plced mounts to let it sit. I also shimed the front seat too a little more than the back cause I'm about 220 s i know it is gonna compress more. I just tack welded everything cause I'm not good at welding and I have a few freinds that do that for a living so once I get everything fitting right I am going to have them come do all the welding this way I know it is done right. Once I get it all done I will draw it up on AutoCad and see about fabing one up for either a bolt on or a weld on subrme if anyone is interested in purcahsing one. I'll be willing to send the lpans also for anyone that wants to fab their own. Here are some pics I took tonight as i was working. Once I et done I'll do a good post and pace pointers on the pics. all togeter I got about 12 hours of work into it.

[joker79507]

hmm, just a thought after you have done all this work, sorry, couldnt you possibly find a subframe from the same year gsxr or at least the specs and see if it could get welded on?  Your doing awesome, but it was a thought I just had.

[Kevin81ski]

Yes I could have done that but I was trying to limit the cost of the modification for myself. The gsxr subframe cost about 10+ times what i got into my custom subframe now. I don't mind doing the labor so it works out for me. And with the new subframe comes buting new passenger pegs, and the tank covers, which i may have to buy anyway after i get done. But a new gsxr subframe with pegs is looking at another $300, there is alot more mods i could do with that money. I need to find some clip ons or put this gsxr forks on that I just bought. Thanks for the in put though. 

[mitch.lax]

Loving the look of the tail. I was going to pick one of these up instead of the SV650 tail. Kinda wishing I had now. Looks horn!

Incidently, have you thought about cuttting back the subframe crossmembers to where they reach the runners that go parallel wtih the old frame ( if It's going to be one up seating?)
Haven't read through it again to see, and can't remember from the first read.

[Kevin81ski]

No I haven't thought about that, my wife's cousin has an 05 SV650 and I love the tail light on it. The LED's are bright and I just love the design. I thought about putting that tail on too cause I would have his bike to take any measurements off of but I decided to go with this one. I'm loving it thoug, i been working on it today too and I have it loaded in my truck. I'm waiting for my freind to tell me to bring it over to weld it up. I got every thing tacked together execpt the mount for the front seat. I can't wait to take it out on the road though, hopefully i can have it ready for halloween, there is a bike rally down here in Galveston, Tx that weekend.

[Kevin81ski]

Well here is the finished product. After about 4 hours on Tig welding on the new subframe it is complete and I must say it's pretty secure. I have complete faith in it. The rear seat is completely useable and the original locking hardware from my GS was a direct replacement. I though I was going to have to extend the rectifier and relays to place them in the tail and under the undertail fairing but I was able to make it all work. I had to cut the bracket in half the originally mounted them and mounted the relays just behind the rear M/C and the rectifier went futher back. I spliced in my old electrical plug from the GS tail light and just used some electrical connectors i picked up from the sutoparts store to run the blinker. I shared the DC- for the blinkers with the DC- from the tail light cause thats how the GSXR tail light was and just ran the DC+ back to the blinkers from  the original blinker wires. I have the wiring colors writen down if anybody is not sure or wants to know what wire is for what. So nothng is completely hard wired in I can easily disconnect all the lights in the rear and thats about it. If anyone has any queations left me know I'm glad to help. This was my first big project on it, also the tail sits up pretty high already so i may not need to change the shock out and if i do I'll deffinetly have to make sure I stay the same heigth cause i go any further it may be too much. The only thing left to do is get it painted. Probably next week. I plan in putting together an AutoCAD print of the new subrame. I can send it upon request after i finish it up but it probable wont be ready for a feew weeks. I neglected some classes to get this done so now i got to catch up.

[seamax]

That tail looks SWEET!  But the viewable subframe looks messy and the the lower subframe line detracts alot from the line of the bike.

[O.C.D.]

I am sure when it is all cleaned up and painted you will not notice it. 

Great project and quite quick as well!  Turned out great.

[drincruz]

wow! awesome job! looks great!

cheers,
~drin