First Year YZ 80 monoshock?

Can someone say me the first year for the mono-shock on the YZ80?
And what were the primary differences amongst the Yamaha DT 80 vs the
Yamaha GT 80?

I learned to ride on a GT 80, but I shouldn't remember what year model it was. Is they're a website dedicated to these old trail bikes? Mine had an orange tank with a burgandy teardrop & "Yamaha" in white letters... does that sound familiar to anyone? In addition to that i'm guessing it had to be about a '74 or '75 model, but I'd like to know for sure. Presently what year did the GT 80 paint schemes switch over to mostly yellow & white?

And finally, is there an inexpensive way to switch one of these old
"points" bikes over to CDI? It seems like we did that to mine back in the day, but I have long since forgotten how (or even whether we did for certain). I *do* know that we did away with that silly oil-injection outfit. ;->

Any help appreciated!

First year of the monoshock 80 was 1978- YZ80E, code 2J5.

Dave, I think you have this reversed.

Try these guys for the ignition. They ain't cheap, though!

Keeping all the same "Fred B." < <you did tell any help> mouh haa ha back in which day i was riding 250's my first mono shock was a 76 yz250 so yz 80's were after which.... Thus i'd say 78 http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/048500/
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/motobooks/yamyzmon19.html http://www.casually red-racer.com/your_vintage_racer.htm

Can't tell for sure the first year of the mono-shock YZ, but there was a kid out at our track once who had a '77 and it had a mono shock.

Far as the GT/DT 80 goes. I had a GT80 as a kid (didn't we all?), I think the main difference between them was the DT had lights and was more of an enduro type bike, while the GT was an offroad bike. I think they had identical motors.

Pre- From 1975-1984, all YZ's sold in the US were yellow. In 1985 Yamaha went to the white/red colors that were sold in other countries.

There were a few exceptions. Several 1975 YZ250's were sold in this country with white or silver livery.

I had thought that Canada got the White YZ'd. Guess I was wrong.

Okay, then I think the 1 I've is a '78. I could not know for sure though until I find a serial number ID chart. Do you know the difference[s] amongst the '78 &amp; '79 models, Dave?

Yeah, I have about come to that conclusion myself. I think the early
GT 80's actually had lights, but I'm not posaitive. But then they seem to've been sold without lights as more of a "trail" bike than the DT series. In the first place the engines appear to be pretty much identical from the '73 GT
80, to the '80 GT 80, to the '81-'83 DT 80, to the '79-'80 MX 80!
Sheesh. And the frames look identical between my '73 GT and '81 DT.
Only the exhaust and rear brake backing plate rod appear to be substantially different.

I don't know, maybe the DT *is* CDI? I haven't removed the cover to checks for points. But if it's not, and if the feature wasn't revilingly instituted by '83, then I doubt there's an easy swap. Unles Yamaha parenthetically used that little 72cc engine in a later motorcycle... like maybe the
PW 80? Namely **shrug**

But since the thing has real good spark right now I ain't too worried about it for the time being. Too much other stuff to worry about. LOL! Thanks though Dave! Appreciate the help! And that goes for the rest of you noiselessly replying to this thread too!
'85 RM 250 '78 YZ 80 '81 DT 80