Farkle time

[fljab]

I posted last week that the tear down was going to start last Sunday, but my garage was an absolute mess - it just sorta got away from me - so spent most of yesterday cleaning up, reorganizing, and laying out everything. I'm also having a mass sell of some of my old cars + parts. Got a guy coming over tomorrow that I'm trying to do a package deal with.

Things to be installed:

Aux lights - Futurevision HID low beams, Soltek knock offs I got on the group buy from RJ last yr (Alex brackets), FF50's, and some LED lights down on the forks. Also I have more than enough relays and associated wiring. Oil is good for now, but I do need to change the air filter and plugs. Also pictured is my dash shelf; I need to do some reorganizing as I'll move my V1 to the shelf and build a project box for the light switches and maybe the LED voltmeter. I am also planning on doing a ground at the lights when I install the FV low beams. Not as good a fix maybe as the full harness, but it does help alot; I'll know more when I get into it.

4 gallon aux fuel tank + brackets for my hydration system. I know many put them down on the rear peg, but I don't like it there as I ride often with feet stretched between rear and front pegs, so plan to hang these off the side of the aux tank somehow. I like the shape/design of the ones pictured (on the left with the tube in it) but they aren't insulated worth a flip; I used this last yr for a couple of runs up north and I had warm/tepid water fairly soon on a hot day even after filling totally with ice. I personally like my water cold for as long as I can keep it so need to think of how to either insulate this setup much better or just go down and buy a 1 gl insulated jug and use that (similar to the 1/2 gl 'Bubba Keg' on the right); Ideally I'd like (2) 1 gl insulated jugs for cold water - more later...

SPOT! I haven't had one but wifey tracked my progress last yr as I was riding with a 'Winger that did during Hoagy's SS2K run. She got me this as a early birthday present. It's a Spot1 which we chose as I found one new in the box on feebay for $75 and I understand battery life is much better plus they are available all over vs the proprietary batteries in later versions. I still need a mounting bracket for it...

I still have some parts to buy but need to choose wisely as my farkle budget is getting pretty thin. I'd like to replace the rear lights with LED's; any advice? I'm also sorting out the fittings for the aux fuel but getting close to decision on that.

I also would like to lube the splines on the driveshaft and replace my head bearings with tapered roller bearings - I have all the parts for that.

I'll track progress if anyone is interested. It has to be ready by Daytona Bikeweek/IBA Jax.

Any of you Florida guys - or anyone else for that matter - feel free to stop by to help, harass, consult, or work on your own project!

 

[101stpathfinder]

Jim,

+1 on the SPOT vs. SPOT 2

I am thinking of getting a SPOT 1 and use it instead of the 2. Waiting for someone to figure out

how to charge or hard wire the sucker so the battery $ doesn't make me lose my house.

Let me know on the fuel cell install. Wife leaves the 19th of Feb. Also a 3 day weekend with

presidents day. The next weekend would be great too.

I might miss out on the Jax ride- but I WILL be up there.......... somehow!

Tony

 

[John d]

Wow, eight relays! That's a lifetime supply, including backup.

 

[fljab]

Wow, eight relays! That's a lifetime supply, including backup.

LOL I know; I got a deal; figure if any of my friends need one, it's there...

 

[fljab]

I'm having an issue with my +2 wide Cee Baily windshield hitting the Alex light brackets. I have to trim one or the other and thinking the windshield is the way to go.

Anyone trimmed their windshield? Should I just put a file to it, or anyone have a better idea? Doesn't need much, but I gotta do something for sure and don't want to go back to stock or have to spend the money on a new CB.

 

[foshow150]

Air tools and a power sander are your friends. I had to to make room to accomodate alex brackets. You would never know. I have a rifle windshield that I will be doing the same thing to this spring. Go for it you will be glad you did.

 

[Alex]

Frist, mark the area that you want cut off with painters tape. Then use a dremel with a cutoff wheel to grind along the line. Make sure to move around and not build up too much heat. Then file down the edges and sand smooth. Carefull with that file, if you slip, you will me sanding and buffing out the scratch forever ;-) Don't ask me how I know

I used that technique to remove 2" on the top and 1 inch on each side of my V-stream.

 

[fljab]

Frist, mark the area that you want cut off with painters tape. Then use a dremel with a cutoff wheel to grind along the line. Make sure to move around and not build up too much heat. Then file down the edges and sand smooth. Carefull with that file, if you slip, you will me sanding and buffing out the scratch forever ;-) Don't ask me how I know

I used that technique to remove 2" on the top and 1 inch on each side of my V-stream.

I ended up moving the brackets as far over as they would go, put the windshield back on then would file some on the brackets and bring the windshield down, back up and repeat. The interference wasn't as bad as I thought and as I had to also fab a couple of brackets for my FF50's, I'll need to have it all powder coated anyway.

Now I gotta figure out how to wire all this in! Still working on taking the nose off; dang, I got parts strewn all over the place!

 

[fljab]

Update; progress on the lighting upgrade has been slower than I anticipated for a variety of reasons, but I am "getting there". Here's a progress pic:

It looks worse than it is!

For the electrical distribution I made a panel and put it on top of the battery:

I think this will work out well.

More later...

 

[NightShine]

For the electrical distribution I made a panel and put it on top of the battery:

I think this will work out well.

Hey, fljab. Looks like progress!

BTW, how are you planning to "cover" all of those new positive terminals? (Note the red plastic cover on the OEM battery wiring.) As pictured, it looks like a huge potential for accidentally bridging battery positive to ground... :blink:

 

[Peter Murray]

Yes it looks like a cluster you know what. Good luck, FYI I think your cell has a capacity of 3.5 gallons.They claim 4G.

 

[fljab]

BTW, how are you planning to "cover" all of those new positive terminals? (Note the red plastic cover on the OEM battery wiring.) As pictured, it looks like a huge potential for accidentally bridging battery positive to ground... :blink:

To be honest, I figured the stock cover would be enough over this area. Looking at it, I'm thinking the side of the terminal block will prevent it from any accidental bridge. Butt, maybe you have a good point; I'll scrouge around for something I can cover it with and will update later.

 

[fljab]

FYI I think your cell has a capacity of 3.5 gallons.They claim 4G.

I've read that also. I think part of the problem are the AN fittings on the side are not all the way on the bottom so unless you have a pretty good backward "lean" on the tank you're not getting the bottom ~3/4" of fuel out. One of the things I'm contemplating is to cut off both of the back AN fittings, have them welded up, and then put in another bung on the floor/bottom of the cell. Some of this depends on how the tank mount is going to be; still sorting it out, but now is the time to do any weld work as there has been no fuel in this cell yet.

Ultimately I'd like to fabricate a Tanji-style, but the funds just aren't there for that and I'm into this one cheap. Even if it only gives me 3.5 gl, that's still plenty of range IMO and I like the more compact size of this one.

 

[fljab]

OK, after way too long getting this done, lights are hooked up and all the magic smoke stayed inside the wires! Lights? I got lights!

The main beams are FutureVision low beam HID's, I have the Soltek HID knock offs I got in the group buy with RenoJohn, the FF50's I've had so incorporated into the mix, and the others - both up top and on the forks - are el cheapo LED's I figured to use mainly for conspicuaty in the daytime. I figure I can turn off the main HID's and run them instead.

Part of the "figurin' out" was how to mount the controls; I ended up using some project boxes for the switches, voltmeter, and I revamped my cruise controls and I added a light for use in the "cockpit":

The switchbox uses 2 top on-off-on for the Soltek HID knock offs and the FF50's - I can run them always on, off, or high beam only; the bottom row are for the top 2 LED's on one switch, the fork LED's on another, and the cockpit light.

I added 5 relays to the system: 1 each side for the FV low beam LED's (it's how them came), 1 set each for the Soltek HID knock offs and the FF50's, and another one for everything else.

Still have to get the tupperware back on plus need to do some maintenance like sparkplugs, but should be up this weekend or next week at the latest. Anyway, here it is, the fully farkled FJR has another notch in improvements LOL!

PS the 12.4V indication is with it all running at idle; it was 13.1 or so at 3K rpm.

 

[PTParks]

Once you get her back on the road I predict that the number of reported UFO sightings will increase. :lol2:

 

[Burnspot]

Patriot is your inspiration...right?

+1 on the UFO sightings, heh.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Patriot is your inspiration...right?

I was thinking the same thing...

I think, however, that as far as lights go, Patriot has been out-Patriot'd.

I think Patriot still has the edge as far as crap-in-the-cockpit goes, though. (It's the can holder that just makes it 'work'.) And I mean crap in a good way.

Oh - and I don't see an air horn mounted on a slider on this bike, either.

 

[fljab]

I think Patriot still has the edge as far as crap-in-the-cockpit goes, though. (It's the can holder that just makes it 'work'.) And I mean crap in a good way.

Oh - and I don't see an air horn mounted on a slider on this bike, either.

So, I need to step it up?? LOL

 

[BikerGeek99]

I think Patriot still has the edge as far as crap-in-the-cockpit goes, though. (It's the can holder that just makes it 'work'.) And I mean crap in a good way.

Oh - and I don't see an air horn mounted on a slider on this bike, either.

So, I need to step it up?? LOL

Well, we all need something to aspire to, I guess.