bonox

My correctly adjusted chain (with a 6mm shock shim i might add), drags on the centrestand when on the sidestand, and only clears by a little when I sit on the bike. A couple of times when putting the thing on the centrestand I got an impression that I might have been bending the footpress leg of the stand - which might explain the current situation - I bend it out and to the left, causing the left side of the stand that sits on the ground to hit the chain because the whole shebang now sits much higher before hitting the stop. Am i deluding myself here? Has anyone else seen/had this problem?

As promised, here is a sneak preview of the install. It is unfinished, merely a test rig at the moment, however the results could best be described as "riding behind god's own maglite" :shock: As some of you predicted, the combined ballast/igniter assemblies fir behind the instrument panel. Well, almost... I didn't have the camera at the time, but there are multiple plastic spigots projecting from the back of the white plastic rear of the instrument panel. Using this picture as a guide, the top left and right spigots were removed. At position "1", the ballast holds the panel out a little bit, so i took a file to the edge of it to reduce its height. (The beauty of these cheap chinese kits is a two year unconditional no questions ask replacement warranty!) At "2" i had a bit more of a problem. The connector at the back of the instruments is offset to the RHS of the bike. If you only wanted to replace the low beam and share a kit with somebody else, i'd recommend it and only use the left side mounting spot. For a pair however (could also be useful if a ballast dies on you in the middle of the night a long way from anywhere) i had to modify the plastics to get it to fit without holding the instruments out too far. Once again, I filed the fins on the top corner of the ballast flat, and mounted it base outwards to get the leads and base to fit over and around the electrical plug of the dash. The stiffening rib around the outside of the white plastic panel was notched to fit the ballast further up to the top left in the pic and both units cable ties in place. I would prefer a little more robust solution, but they appear strong, lightweight and don't add to the thickness of the ballast. The key to doing this install is that between the two rubber mounting lugs visible front and center is the cone of the low beam headlight assembly. The ballasts need to be far enough away from center that the headlight still fits in. The H7 mounts of the bulbs needs no mods, but there is a backing plate the retaining clip presses against to seat the bulb that requires substantial trimming. Easy to do though, and fits just like a factory job into the protective rubber boot. Further work: Wiring: 1. Seperate relays for each lamp, as they draw about 15amps on startup for about 3 seconds according to the literature and i'm worried i'll cook the stock wiring with enough starts. 2. Individual override switches for each lamp, so i can turn low beam off while starting to avoid one useless lamp ignite per bike start and have high beam off but have spotlights on and still triggered by high beam and flash switch. It is illegal but I plan to rewire my headlight modulator to the two spots and run them at about 9Volts. 3. Control box with light switches and cruise control rockers mounted on clutch fluid reservoir. I may also have to paint the end of the bulb to reduce glare a little, but geez these are some great lights! I have some 200 degree engine enamel, but is anyone aware of better higher temp paint to use? I also elected to use a set of 5000K lamps, but they still appear to have a minor tinge of blue about them. (Or it might just be my eyes disintegrating from looking directly at the lamp reflector). They are much whiter than those poxy mercs and bmws and silly blue coated ricer lights however and a quick test ride reveals they really do light up the world. Doing it again though, i'd probably elect to get the 4300K lamps. Do those of you who say the glare is not a problem have bare glass lamps like I have, or are you using a type with a shield on the end?

I'm gonna buy a torque wrench too.....but why would a torque wrench help in loosening the nut??? NEVER break torque using a torque wrench. you will simply fuck its calibration all up. I think he means a torque wrench will help the next time you get it off, as you and make sure its not overtorqued when you put it back on. GOOD, somebody beat me to saying that! Mike +3!!! NEVER use your tourqe wrenck to loosen ANYTHING! And if it's a click type always wind it down to zero for storage. the bi-directional click types can be used in either direction, BUT ONLY if they are set to a torque setting higher than what you are undoing - ie if it clicks and you still haven't moved it, set it higher or give up. Generally it is not considered kosher to use a torque wrench as a breaker bar, but if you have nothing else, go for it. You will only screw the calibration if you leave it unset and then lean on it. And has been said already, slack it off before you store it.

have a gurnsey at the manual - it is normal

pulled the screen off the bike again and i believe I can fit both ballasts behind the instruments. One vertically with wires coming out the bottom on the left side and the other horizontally on the right side, with the wires straddling the plug to the instrument panel. They'll certainly fit if i space the instrument panel further off the support mounts - yet to see if any interference with the lower shrouds though. It will be interesting to see however if there is any interference with the instruments from a high frequency inverter so close though.

cheers

xx2 plate says 2001, but made very late, so i think it's a 2002 model. digi dash anyway

it's one of these Unfortunately its a big box at 122.5 x 80 x 37.5mm or 4.8 x 3.1 x 1.5" plus room for wire coming out of the box. Will it still fit behind the dash? I can fit one between the ram air tubes i think, but the plastics will need some reinforcing and i'll have to move the horn. The second i'm not too sure about. I remember from doing the cruise control actuator that i put it on the left side under the airbox. Given the maximum operating temp of the ballast is 105 degrees (celcius) I might be able to get away with mounting the high beam on the right side here and only use it when moving to keep the temps below about 90 degrees. The other space alternative is on each side of the lower fairing, just ahead of the oil cooler. They will fit and give me just enough cable run, but the temperatures might prove interesting. Last time I had the screen off, I didn't think there was enough space for ballasts - you look immediately at the top of the headlight housing and back of the instruments - anyone got a picture of the area you mean?

i've ended up with a rather large combined ballast and igniter assembly that is hard to place in the front of the beast. I've noticed guys like Warchild and his writeup have the ballasts mounted in the tail, but i assume he has seperate igniters? The high voltage leads from the ballast to the lamp are quite small and encased in what looks like silicon insulation like you'd find on a spark plug lead. Is there any major problem associated with extending the high voltage leads so i can mount the ballasts further back near the battery?

thanks again chaps kit arrived today, so i'll just whack it in and see how we go.

i guess the final question is in regard to inrush current Are you using the stock headlamp circuit to power a relay with direct coupling to the lamps, or have you hooked the HID ballast straight to the stock harness?

that's what i want to hear Thanks to both of you

cheers what about direct glare from the lamp though, not from the reflector? Perhaps i should just install it and put some foil around the end of the lamp if I think it needs it

Anyone know if an HID lamp with H7 base requires optical shielding, or a larger cutout to be made in the bird low beam housing to fit the return wire in? Mostly a glare and mechanical fit question i guess.

if you remove the air temp sensor plug, it helps to remember to attach it again once you're done! *sheepish*

will do - love a chance to use the rattle gear - not much opportunity on bikes!

Is the drain bolt at the bottom of the forks (the one you need to remove the axle to get to, the one with the copper washer and thread lock on it) a right hand thread? Do i just need to take my heart in my hands and try harder?

A mate put some cheap Shinko Stealth radials on his VFR800. No groove in the middle. Almost look like slicks. They are great in the dry but can not disperse the water very well due to no grooves in the middle. Whate state in Australia are you in? If NSW I can give you details of where to get cheaper tyres. please do - I run between sydney and newcastle. Where do you have in mind? Usually run pilot powers

Thanks. To clarify: by "lead pipe", do you mean the pipe that is actually part of the can or a piece in front of that unit? If the former, then there is still one cat even when changing to after market cans, the one in the collector. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The lead pipe is the short 6" bit welded to the can itself, so yes, if you replace just the cans with aftermarkets you still have one catalyser. For this reason mostly, a full system will give bigger gains than most other sports bikes

both - one in the lead pipe just before each can, and a third in the collector box.

quite a variety of bikes in your shed too! How do you get time to ride em all when you got snow for half the year?

In my part of the world, brand new bike tyres start with about half the tread depth of new car tyres. +1 on the wear bars.

who the hell is ralphie? - besides, each pin doesn't take the full load. Between sprockets, there is a combined double shear load on each pin and when loaded on the sprockets, the load is spread between at least 5 pins depending on number of teeth at both ends and the center distance between sprockets. The shear loads on each single pin don't even compare to the loads as the pin enters a sprocket. If the chain was on the way out anyway, i'll concede that the plates may have been yielding and the pins pulling through them, giving some links longer than others and a consequent uneven load distribution as the stretched link enters a sprocket (giving noise and vibration). In the higher gears you aren't generating as much load on the chain because the torque applied to the front sprock drops considerably. It is more likely to be this phenomenon that the axle moving considerably. For those who say it does move, can you pick a difference between the alignment marks/stringlining before and after? Even though you have all the teeth on the sprockets, what do they look like?

ahh, righto, looking at the one on the honda site, the loads are being taken by the adjuster acting like a big washer and bearing on the solid slots - there should still be no load in the adjuster screws - look at the amount of play there is in them and the lack lock nuts for further backup.

been a little while since i've looked at the bird, and with 3 other bikes in the shed i sometimes get a little confused, BUT A) the swingarm in the bird is not hollow across the axle mounts - there are stabilisers inside - anyone got a link to a pic, or something from the manual? you pull on that hard enough (9k in first gear for example) and you'll bend the lot - as the axle moves and takes the adjuster plates with it, you'll collapse the snap rings/shoulder or whatever it is, or just poke the bolt through the thread in the arm. Or, if the bolt stays intact, the [ shaped adjuster plate will look like a < shape looking at RHS C) see D) hookers? There is no structural basis for the adjusters on any bike taking fore/aft loads with the possible exception of cam adjusters. Anyone got a pic of the area in question with the axle removed?