modding frustrations

[Drinky]

Ok just need to get this out,

last weekend I installed 2 mods, the fz1 handlebar and bd43's dual headlight mod.

fz1 handlebar, when you're tired and aren't paying attention, don't drill holes.
I ended up drilling a hole on the wrong side. Lucky for me the right side brake covers the hole.

WHen you're done drilling the hole, and you've assembled everything, you find out the piece of **** plastic on the plastic throttle housing thing is bigger than 5 mm, but only by less then half a mm, so it doesn't quite fit yet, now the housing thingy has a open bit of about a mm, so gonna have to disasemble the right bit again to cut a bit of the plastic pin so it'll fit.
Loving the handlebar, hating the installation.

Then the dual headlight mod. to connect 1 wire you have to remove the battery, airbox and disconnect wires and screws and whatnot...
props to bd43 for the cable though, looks better then the cabling yamaha did under the seat (they had a surplus of electrical tape I think).
and then you have to reattach the battery wires, negative side first, I have a garmin zumo 660 and battery charger hooked up on 1 of those round things, so the screw doesn't go as far down as it should, so the tiny bit with the thread where the screw attaches itself to the battery is hardly possible to reach. I had to push a bit of plastic wiring under it to lift it up a bit to be able to get it back together.. AHFDJFHSKDJFHKSDJFHSKJFSHKDJFLHSDFKHSDKFHSDLKFJHSLDKFHSDKFJH
Sorry, but I hate modding the frond end of the bike, especially the electical system. doing anything on the fz6 that requires removing the battery SUCKS MAJOR BALLS.

Oh, anyone know which glue I should use on the rubber grips??? (to glue em to the handlebar on the left, and the plastic throttle on the right)

 

[Scorphonic]

Regarding the battery and the threaded piece that grabs the battery bolt...what I did was put a piece of an earplug under it so that it would always be pushed upwards so screwing in the bolt was easy. Just have to be careful not to push down too hard when screwing or the earplug foam will compress and you've to waste those precious seconds waiting for it to return to the top again.

Now I've abandoned that idea, since i bought a new battery i've just kept the threaded metal pieces and propped up the new ones with the old ones!

Get some sandpaper, sand the region of the handlebar where the grips will cover. Then get some almighty strong glue like this: [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Araldite-Rapid-Syringe-Pack/dp/B0001OZH4Y"]Araldite Rapid - Syringe Pack: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools[/ame]

It works well and you'll never remove the grips unless they're ready to be chucked in the bin!

 

[mabberley]

I have used hairspray on many bikes to retain the grips and have found it to work extremely well and still allow the removal of the grips using a air hose or small screwdrivers. The hair spray also helps lubricate the bars to put the grips on. If your grips ever come loose while riding (not that mine have, but have used it to help others fix loose grips) hairspray is also easy to get to fix the problem.

 

[Drinky]

hmm a temp fix like hairspray sounds good, but I think I'm gonna fix all the bits 1 last time and then get something like the stuff scorphonic mentioned, I hope I never have to remove the handlebar again

 

[MG-242]

Honda sells an adhesive specifically for grips. I'd guess there are others as well.

 

[SirIsaac]

...then you have to reattach the battery wires, negative side first...

If you attach the negative side first, if and when you inadvertently touch your wrench to the frame while tightening the positive side, you will create a big spark and possibly burn yourself, weld the wrench to the frame, ignite some stray gas fumes, etc. It is safer to attach the positive side first.

 

[tweak89]

hmm a temp fix like hairspray sounds good, but I think I'm gonna fix all the bits 1 last time and then get something like the stuff scorphonic mentioned, I hope I never have to remove the handlebar again

Never used anything other than hairspray to affix new grips on any of my bikes. Works great.


As far as the dual headlight mod, I understand that the more intrusive method looks clean...but going straight into the switch housing and properly hiding the wire in the existing wire loom took me about 15 minutes and unless I told someone they would never notice.

I hate the layout of everything under the FZ's tank. So I try to avoid going there unless it's absolutely needed. Heck, I've had my batter tender leads sitting around because I don't want ot deal with it.

 

[Drinky]

hmm ok, positive side first in the future then lol..

and I guess I could try the hairspray method first, if that doesn't hold I could always use the other method, other way around would be tricky

thx for the tips

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I ended up doing some rewiring on the FZ over the weekend. I have a BMW style outlet on the left side(for clothing/charger/etc) as well as the Stebal horn which requires a 30 amp fuse. I also wanted to wire the GPS direct to the battery (it was wired to the running lights).

I ended up placing two strands of red stebal horn wire (I believe its 14 gauge)to one battery o connector (for the ONLY aftermarket positve connector to the battery). Protecting these two lines is some heavy duty factory wire insulation (left over from another project). I ran both lines out the left front side of the frame, where the clutch cable goes in (with some other wires). It is imperative that these wires do not short out as they are NOT FUSED YET.

With these two direct hot wires exiting the frame, I attached two Posi tap in-line fuse connectors (which do not soldier in). (their the same blade fuse holders that come with the Stebal horn install kit). The hot wires go thru a threaded connector and then into the fuse holder (and is easily adjustable without soldiering).

Now that both line's are fused, I tied the Stebal relay back into the adjustable fuse holder, and the second line to the BMW electrical outlet (along with the hot GPS line) into the end of the second blade fuse holder. The GPS line is later fused down to 1.5 amp. All connectors are treated to a good amount of dilectric grease.

Now, both fuses (and thhe GPS fuse) are accesssable WITHOUT LIFTING THE TANK with only one line to the battery. It is considerably cleaner above the battery. The fuses are tucked in adjacent to the rear black inner upper fairing pieces(closest to the tank). The BMW outlet ground wire is grounded to the battery, everything else is grounded to the front fairing support.

Scott

 

[FZ1inNH]

When working with the positive side of the battery, always use insulated tools then there's no worry about arc/spark/welded tool.