New to the Board, 81 SRX and some questions

[davet]

Hi Folks, Im new here, while im not new to Vintage Sleds, i am new to SRX's

I Just got 2 81 SRX's, to add to my growing Yamaha contingent of sleds.

one is decent shape, and should be a fairly straight forward restoration

one is in rough shape, but...it has no serial number on the tunnell (never did) , has the original bottom end on the motor (the ones that were recalled?...437 ??) and seems to have had a number painted on the tank shroud at some point in its dark past, this one may be a "Test Mule" or a "prototype"?

any thoughts on what this second one may be.?

I'd like to restore both sleds, any one know who's making the reproduciton decal Kits for the 81 SRX?

thanks n advance for any help !

[dave]

Try sledstuff.com for the decals. They may have them or they might be able to reproduce them.

[woodydog]

Jon Bertolino has all of the 81 SRX Decals that you may need.

[Vmax540]

Over the past 10 yrs. I have delivered Hoods, skis, side panels, clutch covers and tunnels of all the Vmax540 sleds including the 81 SRX to Gary Wiant of Vinyl Graphics Unlimited in Shippenville Pa. 814 226-7887 He now has all the Spec's and most of the (or very close) to the O.E.M. colors as POSSIBLE. I set out and spent much time helping him for the sole reason to provide to the Vmax540 crowd a source for decals. So, call him and tell him what you need and then Maybe just Maybe......... he'll finish the project including part numbers with pricing. Thank you ! Chuck Schettler

[82SRX500]

Hi Folks, Im new here, while im not new to Vintage Sleds, i am new to SRX's

I Just got 2 81 SRX's, to add to my growing Yamaha contingent of sleds.

one is decent shape, and should be a fairly straight forward restoration

one is in rough shape, but...it has no serial number on the tunnell (never did) , has the original bottom end on the motor (the ones that were recalled?...437 ??) and seems to have had a number painted on the tank shroud at some point in its dark past, this one may be a "Test Mule" or a "prototype"?

any thoughts on what this second one may be.?

I'd like to restore both sleds, any one know who's making the reproduciton decal Kits for the 81 SRX?

thanks n advance for any help !

I have the 81 SRX decals available in the correct reflective material and colors. Email me at: toizrit@comcast.net to discuss what you need and pricing.

The blank tunnel is unique. I picked up an 81 once that had a blank tunnel, with tunnel stripe having the rivets shot through the sticker as it came from the factory. the left and right front aluminum belly pan supports were also unpainted and they should have been painted black. Got it in OH. Strange. I have also seen a tunnel sticker line thickness variation in Canada and speedo/tach needle variation in Canada. You could either have a replacement tunnel or early production sled that may have been sent to dealers to testing. Odd.

[opsled]

To add to Jon's post. You may have a sled that was in a hard wreck early on in it's life and had a replacement frame installed. They were available at one time (part # 8M6-21910-00) and consisted of the complete bulkhead with tunnel and all the suspension brackets that were factory riveted or welded to it. They would not have had any serial #'s stamped into them. I know people who wrecked their sleds back in the day and this was not all that uncommon. If the sled was insured and the bulkhead or tunnel were damaged they would just start with a new frame and swap all the usable parts over to it. I'm sure many were never stamped with the right serial # when they were finnished. I had a tunnel/bulkhead/belly pan from an early SRX that had no #'s stamped into it but did still have a Yamaha sticker on the inside of the belly pan that had an 8F2 #. 8F2 is the prefix for a 77 SRX but this one had a tunnel the style of 78-79 SRX's and setup for the 78-79 suspension. It had the front exhaust hole like a 77 SRX should have and also the rear exhaust holes like the 76, 78 and 79's had. The bulkhead was steel and factory painted black like the 1980 SRX's were but the belly pan and tunnel were not gold. It was kind of a merger of many different years. I took it to my dealer and he ran the part # which according to the book was a complete frame with belly pan and tunnel for a 77 SRX but the only thing that was similiar to a 77 was the front exhaust hole. His best guess is that it was what you would have gotten from Yamaha in the later years of availability if you were to order that part.

So lack of serial #'s doesn't nessessarily mean you have something special. It just may mean that the part that originally carried that # was replaced with a new one.

Good Luck with your projects, Phil (opsled)

[82SRX500]

That makes the most sense. I did not know that you got the bulk head with the tunnel. I thought you just got the tunnel and had to rerivet the tunnel to the bulk head. If this is the case, then getting an unstamped tunnel with bulk head as a replacement makes the most sense. Thanks for the great information.

Jon

[davet]

That makes good sense.

Lack of S/N makes it a nice candidate for an 82 500 clone

I just picked up 2 more parts sleds so i can easily build 2 complete SRX's and have a boat load of Parts to sell/trade.