Fairing Mount
Yamaha designed two fairing mounts for the triple.
The first design suffered from a lack of adequate strength to support the fairing under the stresses of normal riding.
My fairing came with the initial version and it failed in a year.
Yamaha replaced it with the much more robust version.
All the literature featuring the triple and the optional add-ons mention that the bike and all these parts are designed to integrate into a comprehensive touring system.
Well that was probably true in the mid 1970s, but it isn't true any longer.
I intended to build my XS-FLT using original NOS parts.
The engine guard and fairing mount appear to interlock in the photos of them.
I tried to do this with a later version of the fairing mount and it wasn't even close to fitting.
I remembered that there was a different fairing mount on the earlier bikes and a closer review of the literature verified this.
The mount in all the pictures depicting the touring setup are obviously the original version.
Original (left) and later fairing mounts
The original mount is missing critical support
The later version is much more robust
Original
mount with cross bar
Since only the original version of the fairing mount would work with the original engine guard, I decided to strengthen an original mount by having a new cross bar support welded near the bottom to the down tubes and cross members.
I also drilled two additional mounting holes to reduce the stress on the forward fairing mount.
This update was made at the request of the original fairing manufacturer (Pacifico).
The original four hole mounts allowed the fairing to rock longitudinally contributing to cracks in the forward mount.
Assembled fairing mount and engine guard.
Notice how the engine guard traps and supports the fairing mount.