Here we go!!!

Finally! I'm into the thick of the naked conversion! I got the Buell headlight, mount, and windscreen in today so it was time for the fairing to go. It didn't take as long as I thought (about an hour) and the hardest part was getting the speedo out!

Here's the bike as it sits right now:







I do have a couple of questions for those of you that have done this conversion. First, what did you do with the (what I believe is) fuse holder for the headlight? This is a picture of it...the small black box at the bottom of the picture:



And, I'm going to mount the speedo on a bracket I'm making and mount it under the top triple using the bolt and hole that held the cable guide in place. What I didn't know was that the top triple is a cast piece and is basically hollow, so how did you go about securing it with a second bolt? I'm probably going to make another bracket that connects to the Buell mount, but I'd like to have two bolts under the top triple. Here's what it looks like...and you can see the bolt that's already there that I'll be using:



Any help with those things would be great! I'm so excited to finally get this going!

That little box is the flasher for the signals. I stuffed mine inside the frame, in front of the battery; along with the other excess wire I had.

First of allI just want to say nice colors, that blue and black look bad@$$ sorry for the language, the bellypan really looks nice, i am waiting on my bellypan to get here, its taking its sweet time over seas. I actually got my mount for my headlight today, however i got to paint mine still, not sure how i want to go about doing it, odds are i will do it myself or have my old man help me. Again the blue is very nice.

oh yeah nice cones in the background, can I have a few? lol

Thanks, Geoff! I'm a huge University of Kentucky fan, so UK blue was the only way to go for me...lol.

Honestly, as the years have gone along, probably my favorite color scheme on the FZ6 is the one you have. I just think the silver with the silver frame/engine looks amazing (and it looks even better in the naked version).

The belly pan was definitely a major improvement. I always felt like there was something missing, and that was it. I had the spare $ a couple of years ago (and, as you know, they aren't cheap), so I pulled the trigger. It's probably one of my favorite things about the bike, visually.

I can't wait to get this thing finished. As soon as I took the fairing off today and turned to see the bike from the side, I was in love. The lines just flow so much better without the fairing!

CCHOUSEKY said:

Thanks, Geoff! I'm a huge University of Kentucky fan, so UK blue was the only way to go for me...lol.

Honestly, as the years have gone along, probably my favorite color scheme on the FZ6 is the one you have. I just think the silver with the silver frame/engine looks amazing (and it looks even better in the naked version).

The belly pan was definitely a major improvement. I always felt like there was something missing, and that was it. I had the spare $ a couple of years ago (and, as you know, they aren't cheap), so I pulled the trigger. It's probably one of my favorite things about the bike, visually.

I can't wait to get this thing finished. As soon as I took the fairing off today and turned to see the bike from the side, I was in love. The lines just flow so much better without the fairing!

Click to expand...

Well i dont have a silver engine anymore lol, its black, I painted it like a week ago, trying to mix up the tones a bit. ill post a pic with headlight installed tomorrow on your form when im done. Yes the fairing indeed needed to go, I sold mine to some guy in MA, used that money to buy my belly pan. Goodluck on conversion.

CCHOUSEKY said:

First, what did you do with the (what I believe is) fuse holder for the headlight?

Click to expand...

I used the bracket on its (flasher relay) back to secure it to a small wire bundle behind the headlight.

CCHOUSEKY said:

And, I'm going to mount the speedo on a bracket I'm making and mount it under the top triple using the bolt and hole that held the cable guide in place. What I didn't know was that the top triple is a cast piece and is basically hollow, so how did you go about securing it with a second bolt? I'm probably going to make another bracket that connects to the Buell mount, but I'd like to have two bolts under the top triple.

Click to expand...

Use the bolt that's there (you may need to get a longer one and a lock washer), and drill/tap that second spot right next to the left fork (it's even marked for you )

Geoff, I saw that post about you painting the engine...I'd just forgotten. That was an amazing job of painting!

David, that's a great idea to reuse the bracket the flasher relay was originally hanging on. I'll have to find a good spot for it behind the headlight somewhere.

And I saw that marked spot next to the right fork, so it's funny you mention that. That's probably what I'll do! I'll keep everyone updated!

CCHOUSEKY said:

Geoff, I saw that post about you painting the engine...I'd just forgotten. That was an amazing job of painting!

Click to expand...

Having seen this engine paint job in person... it IS GREAT! He really did a good job on it.

Looks factory, which is the highest compliment one can receive regarding a paint mod.

So this is about what it looks like today, curious about your corbin seat, how do u like it? Is it worth the $$$?

I love that headlight, Geoff! That's gonna be SWEET!

The Corbin, huh? Well, let's put it this way...it's the best mod I've done to the bike. Why? Because, unlike the stock seat (that I could only sit on for 30 minutes before the pain started), I can ride for hours on the Corbin and not think about my butt once. It's amazing.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I got a killer deal on it from another member (who'd only put 50 miles on it before he sold it to me). If you can find one used, do it. I promise you won't ever regret it.

The one I've got is the "carbon fiber" looking material (it's not really carbon fiber, it just looks like it), and there have been some FZ6 owners that have complained that it's too slick. It is definitely got more slickness to it than the stock seat, but I find it to be a plus, especially in the twisties. It's so much easier to get off the seat in a corner. I don't have to raise up and move over like I did on the stocker...now I can just slide side to side.

It's also much more firm than the stock seat. That's something that bigger riders, such as myself, seem to need and like about the Corbin. Skinny guys seem to complain about the firmness, but for me it's awesome.

It's the one thing that I splurged on for the bike that after the first ride I told myself that under NO circumstances was I allowed to sell it (unless I was going to sell the bike). It's that good.

I think it looks great already!

The only bolt I used was the one underneath the triple and its holding very solid. No issues so far.

UPDATE!!!

Well, I had some time after work today (I've got the bike at our shop because all the tools I'll need are there), so I decided to go ahead and start fitting the headlight.

Now, remember, this is a test fit and I've gotta make some tweaks to get everything where it needs to be, but I wanted to see how it would look so badly!!!

If any of you have any suggestions of what I could do differently (I need to shorten the top brackets to get the headlight closer to the forks, for instance), I'm completely open to ideas.

I added the turn signals later...this is to show the bracket setup:









You can see the holes for the turn signals on the brackets:





Bracket I made from an aluminum blank we use at work for street signs. It mounts under the top triple:



And with the turn signals fitted:





Again, any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Well, I was at it off and on for nearly 6 hours yesterday and I think I've got the final configuration set.

Once I got the headlight bracket where I wanted it I was able to finish the speedometer bracket and support bracket. The speedo is rock solid, but I reused the rubber grommets on the mount to give it a bit of shock absorption. I'm very happy with how it turned out:





Then it was time to start the part that worried me the most...the electric. LOL. But I work with guys that do signal work all the time and a couple of them walked me through how to connect everything. Let me tell you, there's nothing scarier than cutting wires when you aren't the world's most confident electrical person! But, I took a deep breath and jumped in. And this is how it turned out:

Key turned to accessory...running lights...check





Speedo up and running...check



Now lets crank her up and see if I've screwed anything up!





WHOO HOO! Everything worked exactly like it should! The headlight functions the same way my stock FZ6 lights did...(from the rider's perspective) left headlight on by itself on low beam, both headlights on for high beam. I've grown accustomed to the "winking" headlights, so I like it.

Now that everything is mounted and wired up, I've gotta heat-wrap (shrink wrap or whatever you call it) the connections and finish the bracket that stabilizes the bottom of the headlight to the bottom triple. This headlight also has a small running light that sits between the two main lights, so I'm gonna connect that to one of the turn signal's running light wires so it comes on when the key is turned on. Finish those couple of things, make sure the headlight is aimed correctly, and zip tie everything up nice and neat and I'm on the road!

Looks waaay better than how you had it mocked up before. Turned out really nice. Did you put new bulbs in the Buell headlights, or did they come like that? They look really bright.

dturpen, I couldn't agree more. It does look WAY better than the first way I had it set up. I can see now why wavex is always saying that the headlight looks much better when it's lower on the forks. The windscreen was way too high and was sitting way too upright. So I dropped the headlight down, rotated the mount back towards the bike more, and voila...it works!

And those are the stock bulbs. After I wired everything up and started the bike, I couldn't believe how bright the headlight was! I've never really heard any complaints about the Buell headlight, but I've also never heard anyone say how darn bright it is. I love it. I don't do a lot of night riding, but this is WAY brighter than the stock FZ6 headlight.

Looks like you did a good job! I was having a flashback looking at your photos. When I first did mine, the light was too far away from the front of the bike and I had to take everything apart and rework the mounts. After awhile, I wanted the new signal lights so I moved the signals to the forks, but that left holes in the mounts that I didnt like...so back to the drawing board for another set of mounts. It took some time to get them back the way I wanted, but it was all worth the work and effort put in.
Our bikes look like cousins now

Good job.

Nice job, very well put together!

Thanks, Marc! I have to give you, wavex, davidsa1, and others credit for the inspiration. Your bike is actually the one that made me decide to do this and you were a HUGE help (as was wavex). Thanks for putting up with my incessant questions!

I got it finished today and I'm hoping the rain will hold off tomorrow so I can take it out for a spin. I've got a feeling I'm gonna need to do some more adjusting on the headlight (just the height of the beam), and I should get the bar ends from Rhino in this week so I can add the CRG mirrors that are sitting in a drawer, but other than that, it's DONE!

Here's a few more cellphone shots from today. Once I get the mirrors on and everything adjusted and get her out for a ride, I'll take some better pictures with my camera.

Well that was quick! It looks very good... the Buell setup works well with the FZ, and you did a great job with the custom work.

Be prepared for a very different ride!! Enjoy it now