Naked never felt so good - lots of details

[sdnative]

So, this was one of those things I had always planned to do when I got the 2008 FZ6. Sport tourer in the spring with fairing, streetfighter for canyon fun and city looks otherwise. Just did a 300 mile or so canyon excursion last weekend, and can say fricken AMAZING; rides like a totally new bike! On the fence about this?? 100% do it!!! Really dig the rawness of full body wind blast accelerating out of the twisties.

Cost Details (I round to whole $):

Headlamp assy - FZ1N Jap Model: eBay. $230 delivered.
Wireharness & lamp: Use the stock; plug in old bulb and attach primary plug to it. $0
Brackets - FZ1N: eBay $30 (make offer)
Tach cover local dealer buy, p/n 2d1-83559-00-00, $14
Levers: eBay $60 delivered. amazing set, very very nice copies. IMO hands down best $ ever spent on a bike upgrade.
Mirrors: eBay $50. Seen these, are very nice (just bought, will advise mounting etc soon)
Blinkers: eBay $40 (same goes here. I blacked out my stock ones with $13 'VHT nite shades' spray tint (see below), but hate it as finish is weird and the stockers are big and silly IMO anyway)
Hardware: Most all the needed items can be taken from the stock fairing. Exception I note below; they cost a couple dollars for generic SS button head allens for bracket mounting etc.
Paint and misc: 2 cans flat black AUTOMOTIVE in-a-can paint $6 ea. You need the ROUGH red scotchbrite pads to rough up surfaces for paint, $2 ea = $16 total. I had some masking for the lamp V mod kicking around (i hate plastic chrome).
Hanger Setup: McMastercarr #8863T75 stainless steel pipe hangers, and #8513K43 rubber to make rubber padding strips. $18 delivered
Other items: Here comes in the custom. I had stuff sitting around to make the dash panel. I fabbed some parts as detailed below. I have a template below for those who want to walk this route.

(teaser pics ...more to follow) - Chris

 

[visions]

looks good, always wanted to see how the ebay headlights would turn out.

subscribing

 

[Jman]

Nice first post! Cool looking conversion......and.......:welcome:

 

[sdnative]

..more info (i used to write maintenance manuals for F-18 fighters, so can't help but make this step-by-step ...but it's debatable what's the best next step so :Flip: if you have an adverse opinion here )

Step 1. Strip it down. Pretty easy here; metric allens, couple wrenches and screwdriver. Once the dash/cowling wrap is off bolts and screws are easy to get at. Take the headlamp out so you can get the wire harness out. Pull this, blinkers, lamp, tach and screw hardware for later use.

Raid the support arm for rubber bushings, screws etc etc

Step 2. Pull the body parts. Rough them up so NO GLOSS remains (this took a ton of work, be patient if you want perfect results). Apply the auto paint-in-a-can using normal spray paint technique, BUT, on the final pass make sure you use several even slow full passes like the pro-car painters do. This is the only way to get a uniform perfect finish on these.

before

after ...niiiice.

Step 3. Paint the Headlamp Assy.
I hate plastic chrome, so away it went. Some masking and scotchbrite worked wonders here. I added the extra V for bolder styling. I also roughed up the two FZ1N brackets, cleaned them with pure alcohol, and painted them (my parts were an off-gray funky color and didn't match the other black plastic). TACH cover is ok as is, sorta stands with the TACH as both made from similar plastic it seems.

Step 4. Build up the headlamp assy (you may need to slit the stock rubber bushings with a razor to get them installed (save the thinner bushings for the tach (if yours is the same), don't use these here). Install the stock bulb.

more to follow in the next days ....

 

[Jman]

Great job on the matte black finishes (looks really sharp). Are you going to do the tank too?

 

[Mark3d 4 D34th]

***Subscribed*** That thing looks amazing. Killer write up keep it coming!:thumbup:

 

[motojoe122]

Wow, looks really good! Want more!!!

 

[degake]

Very nice naked conversion!! :thumbup:

Now go and retrofit a HID projector into that beautifull headlight!! :Flash:

Grtz,


Degake

 

[sdnative]

looks good, always wanted to see how the ebay headlights would turn out.

subscribing

Thanks for following!

The eBay headlamp isn't too bad overall. I can see why this thing costs so much, as it's made of quite a bit of parts + assembly labor. My only gripe was that the clear lens was not 100% sealed around the edge; some spray paint blew through when I sprayed the chrome rim. I ended up adding the V to conceal this bleed through which was on the top (you can almost see the crack in the photo). Not that I go looking for rain to ride in ...but this may be an issue for it in the future. Otherwise, pretty nice part.

 

[sdnative]

Great job on the matte black finishes (looks really sharp). Are you going to do the tank too?

Thanks! The black on the tail section seems to blend the big seat together and make it thinner IMO. Love that blood red tank, so nope on that. Having a little color may save my life one day to, as black=dead IMO.

 

[sdnative]

Very nice naked conversion!! :thumbup:

Now go and retrofit a HID projector into that beautifull headlight!! :Flash:

Grtz,


Degake

Thanks!

I definitely like your idea (will check out the post). But, I've also been working on a unique concept with a computer programming expert friend of mine. I used to do really powerful LED lights (www.luminousdiy.com) and came up with an innovative design for street. We were inspired by the idea of running the canyons late night in middle of summer when it sucks to ride during the day as it's hot, but beautiful at night ...but working for a living got in the way so projects been dead for a while. Concept in a nutshell: Massive array of ultra high end LEDs linked to an lamp arrangement that moves with lean / turn motion to "look around bends", as well as a massive helmet secondary light. I dirtbike and mountainbike with lights currently, so the tech for safe midnight cannon ball runs is definitely there. One of those future projects to post; wish I didn't have to work as it takes up too much potential 'fun' time.

 

[sdnative]

...continued...

Dashpanel. This turned out to be a little bit of work, especially as our workshop is pretty disorganized at the moment. It is possible to make the dash panel I show below using pretty basic tools, but it honestly wouldn't be a great first project for most.

Tools/Materials:
Combo Round/Flat file -fine metal one
Drill motor + assorted drill bits (and hole saw if you want big nice radius bends)
Jig Saw + fine metal scroll blade
Dashpanel Template below
Way to bend straight edge (clamping a portion of heavy metal barstock on-top of the part can work) ...idea is to sandwich the metal dash between two hard stiff surfaces like a work bench and the barstock... and bend the remaining overhang portion to the desired angle. I have a sheet metal finger brake in the shop so sorta cheated. Google may help
1/16" Aluminum sheet something in the non-pure state, so physcially stiffer. 2024T6, 6061 etc
Sandpaper + Scotchbite pads

Making the template. This is sorta a cut and tape multi-step process. Takes quite a bit of time and trial-n-error to get something that works well. First I made a piece that fitted to the upper clamp, then I made another piece that fitted up to the tach, then I taped them together, etc. Trim the piece, try the fit, etc etc

Wire routing check

Tach check (you can also see my headlamp bracket mock up here)

Final mock-up with notes

Trace the part (if I did again, the tabs are probably better made as 2 separate pieces then attached with sheet-metal screws or equiv. Cutting the tabs straight was sorta tough with a jigsaw and my limited patience. AND, with separate tabs you can attach the upper clamps much easier as your final tab position is adjustable. I had to use 3/4" stand-off spacers because the tabs were so far away from the headlamp brackets)

Drill the curves and radius corners in

Then basically use the jig-saw to cut on your lines. Once the part is all cut up, use the metal file the clean up the edges etc. Use a technique to bend the angles in (the tach portion goes at about 20 degress as I recall)

Mock up before paint

Template. This is on an 8.5 x 11" sheet, so download the below full-size image, print it at 100% the paper size (zero paper margin), cut around edges with scissor, then trace onto the metal.

(high res image if needed for a template cutout)


...brackets and final assembly to follow ....

 

[S.D.Willie]

damn i wish THAT was the speedo mount bracket that came with the headlight kit i got rather than the awful one i had to use. lol.

 

[Mark3d 4 D34th]

Dude thanks for the Bracket, and again keep the write up coming

 

[why_not_Zoidberg?]

Awesome bike, you do nice work!

You seem like the kind of guy that might be interested in this:
http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf

I just found it the other day, I'll be building a smaller version this weekend. I need to make a speedo mount for my other bike (EX500 streetfighter) and I'm sick of using the 3" bench vice.

Also, you used to write manuals for F-18's? That's pretty wicked. I always wanted to be an aero engineer, but alas, I'm a mechanical. Don't wanna go past differential equations

 

[LeaN69]

Came out great!

Actually could have save you a lot of time, I actually have 1 S2 bracket left over from last group buy.

 

[Mark3d 4 D34th]

Would it be possible to get measurements for the orange question marks just to make sure I got the print scale right?

 

[Mark3d 4 D34th]

W N Z that is a great link.
You seem like the kind of guy that might be interested in this:
http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf

 

[sdnative]

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Would it be possible to get measurements for the orange question marks just to make sure I got the print scale right?

Sorry, part installed now. width of the panel was 7.5 in as i recall. the green sheet i have behind the part when i scanned it is 8.5 x 11 inches. so, i forgot to crop that image so just green shows....but..... if you print that on a full sized sheet of paper should just be able to measure off the printout

 

[sdnative]

Awesome bike, you do nice work!

You seem like the kind of guy that might be interested in this:
http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf

I just found it the other day, I'll be building a smaller version this weekend. I need to make a speedo mount for my other bike (EX500 streetfighter) and I'm sick of using the 3" bench vice.

Also, you used to write manuals for F-18's? That's pretty wicked. I always wanted to be an aero engineer, but alas, I'm a mechanical. Don't wanna go past differential equations

Diff eq's... Childs play im a m.e. also, they needed a hydraulics engineer, so i worked on flight surface actuators which are all electro hydraulic. was there when the new superhornet went into service as well, lots of problems with it at first. investigated a couple crashes too. was good times, but not a career i wanted in the end haha, picky guy right.

That break should work, you may be able to buy a cheap one online otherwise. a finger break is nicer for more complicated bends as well, check those out. i used a bench vise to bend the two ear tabs on my part.