R65 Instrument Housing and Fuel Tank

Hi All-

I have recently purchased an ‘81 R65 with reltively low miles (38k) but needs plenty of work. The first item of business deals with the housing covering the instrumentation. It is cracked and in general poor condition. It seems this part for this particular model is hard to find. I have called and inquired with most of the major parts warehouses and cannot locate a replacement. I am hoping someone can offer some assistance including a possible source for this part, or perhaps suggest instrumentation from another model which would work for the model given the different forks and instrument mounting bracket.

I will also need to replace the fuel tank. Is it possible that a tank from a 1988-95 R100GS would fit my bike?

Thanks for any help you can provide!!

Tom
Wisconsin

It appears that the basic R65 has a different instrument housing that other Airheads. You might look into some of the used parts places in the link in my signature line. You could also check with an independent instrument repairman, Terry Vrla, also listed in the link. He might have a lead on where to find a new housing.

As for a tank, same suggestion on spare parts. Given the unusual shape of the R65 tank, I suspect that the mounting locations for a late model tank won't work. Unless someone else has done it, you would need to find a GS and take some measurements.

The tank from an R80ST will interchange with the R65. So will the instrument cluster.

No one is thinking of year range models. 79 - 84 are the same. 85 and up are not the same as pre 85. Engine should be. ST tanks may work. You need to check by part number to be sure. There are even differences in year models also.

Part number for an '81 R65 fuel tank is 16111236764. According to RealOEM, that only fits the '78 - '85 run of R45 and R65 plus variants:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...sg=11&diagId=16_0226&q=16111236764&series=248

Stuff

I have a R65 instrument cluster on my 100/7 everything works right but brake fluid thing for under tank MC

Reminds me I need to send 100/7 cluster ni in to get speedometer fixed

Instrument cluster on mine ripped because of the plastic material it was made from. I found another on ebay or ibmwr.org. There is (was?) also an avid R65 forum with a terrible software r65.org or something. Many of the guys have multiples, so a good place to source parts.

I had always considered putting on a little café fairing over the gauges and such but never did.

Good luck!

Gas Tank

Yes. The R100 GS tank will fit. I put one on an R65 that I had back in the 90s. If you go that route make sure that the tank comes with the rear rubber mounting pad. They are somewhat expensive.

I can also confirm what BoxerBruce said. The R80G/S I have is built on a R65 frame from my understanding. I have put a 92ish R100GS tank on my 81 G/S and it fits perfectly to the backbone. Since the R65 and R80G/S frames are same same I think it would fit just fine but you may need to add the rear support rubber and the ring clamp that holds it to the frame in front of the seat. Some tanks come with and some don't.

The GS tank improves the range of the R80 by another liter at least which translates to another 65kms or ~42 miles more range.

1074 said:

Yes. The R100 GS tank will fit. I put one on an R65 that I had back in the 90s. If you go that route make sure that the tank comes with the rear rubber mounting pad. They are somewhat expensive.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this information. I found a tank that apparently fits both an R100R and an R100GS (according to the add, assuming that his is correct?), it it appears the tank has a metal loop on top near the rear of the seat. Does this need to be removed? Also, you mentioned the rear rubber mounting pad, not sure what that is referencing? The tank has a metal clip with a rubber bumper under the tank that secured the rear of the tank to the frame, same as on my current R66 tank..

Thanks again for your help!

Tom

Tank loop

I believe that loop indicates that the tank is from a GS and is there to hold a tab on the front of the GS seat. Could be that the loop is on other tanks as well but it was a GS tank that I used. I cut mine off when I painted the tank as it wasn't needed. The pad I was referring to covers the frame under the rear of the tank. On an R65, R80ST or early R80GS there are two sort of "L" shaped rubber pieces that are glued under the tank and locate and cushion the tank when mounted on the bike. The R100 pad that I mentioned is larger and sort of triangular in shape but serves the same purpose. Also, the R100GS tank that I used came with the wire bail piece used to secure the tank to the rear of the frame backbone just like the stock R65 tank.