The Blue Streak Wrenchin' Thread

She's home!!



BB = Baby Blue
SW = Shop Whore

Some comments after riding her home last night:

1. BB has 51,700 mile and it shows. Less overall vibration felt thru the grips, saddle and pegs than the SW with 180,000 miles.

2. The pull on the clutch is 35% - 45% lighter and the shifting up and down is very, very smooth. (I suspect I now need to adjust the cable on the SW)

3. The excelleration is smoother and quicker.

4. It is more nimble in the turns.

5. The throttle is more responsive.






Well, it begins

So the first thing we needed to do was puts some lights on her.

We started with these pics...







And we sent them to a friend of ours.

While waiting to hear back, Steve set up the PIAA's with HID's.







Time to test fire it...






Our friend sent these pics.






Ok, here's some more pics of the process.

Steve mounted the Blue Sea fuse block. We didn't use it for this light project, but set it in place for future projects.



Hey! Look! My bike matches the floor!!



Steve wired it so the the high beam switch turns on the PIAA's. So low beam is the main head light, high is all three.



We wanted the relay and 30 amp fuse (white box) in a place that was not too hard to get to.



Wires pulled thru.







More prorgess forward.

The inner plate and outer plate center holes were slightly enlarged to allow the connectors to pass thru.










Ok, now the brackets are here, time to make them fit.



It's out of focus, but you can see the raised bushings, they'll need to be shaved down.



I cut out the rubber washers on the back



Then I pushed out the bushings.



This was the sanding set up I managed to come up with.



This was my first attempt







Well, that clearly didn't work. I couldn't control the bushing very well.

Ok, STOP! Think.

This was my next attempt. Different bolt, and washers, #12 3/4" socket...







That worked GREAT!!. I had very good control of pressure and the ratchet allowed me to gently rotate the surface I was grinding.



However, when I assembled all the parts, there was a gap between the bracket and the rubber mount.

I marked out where each bracket will go.



Then I pushed out all the bushings again, and began with Dremel, to create a recessed area for the bracket.









Here's the finished mount less the light.

Sweet modification! Looks real profeeshional n'all.

Thank you both. the left side is now finished with the seating of the bracket into the stand-off.

When Steve gets home, he said he'll work on the wiring.
I'm no good at herding electrons

ZZZaaaP!

If I had one 'o them things I'd rack up too many speeding tickets to hang on to my license.

Wow, Gwen, you do some nice work. I understand your attraction to the flying bricks. One of these days I'll break down and find a K1200RS or GT. Those are my favorites.

My old K bike was the same color. What a beauty Gwen.

What a beauty...

Test fit and test fire works...

Now she gets to take the brackets off and clean them up.

Can you say "holy shit" light...PIAA 910's with a 35w H3 HID. ZAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP...

Love the color of the bike Gwen.

Great write-up and pictures.


Mike

Testing an idea. The c-clip the fit the seat pin is a PIA.

1. the clips often fall out.

2. The ones that stay in, when I need to remove the seat, are a bitch to remove and replace.

So, this is what I did tonight.







I'll grease it up tomorrow and see how it works out.

Steve mounted the Blue Sea fuse block and ran wires to power the GPS, tank bag and Gerbings.





Next he replaced the worn out handlebar bushings.





In the mean time I sanded and painted the light brackets. I'll be mounting them back up today.

Pics to follow.

Wow, looks great. Have you had it out at night yet?

Yes, we have...

Low only.



PIAA's and high.



Low only.



PIAA's and high.

OK, I'm done in the garage for today.

PIAA lights are mounted.







GPS is mounted. I cut and painted the bar yesterday, but it turned out like this...



So I said screw it, sanded it all off and left it like this.

I made two small bushings and cut these screws down to the right legnth.










Next I mounted my Heat-troller for the Gerbings.

I cut another peice of alum. bar and shaped it.










Steve will be home soon, so off to fix supper.

Great work! Nice write up too.

Great photos, love the color of your flying brick.

thanks
FFB

MORE!!!!!!

I want more!!!

Ok, I've been fooling around with my tank bag again.

Problem: 1. It slides side to side in the turns.
Problem: 2. I like this tank bag.
Problem: 3. The pad was too big.

Steve suggested using this stuff to give it grip.



So I took the pad to work one night along with a roll of that material.
I cut the pad to the exact size of the tangbag base. I was going to hand sew a sandwich of the tacky roll to the pad, when a co-worker saw me struggling with the whole needle and thread thing.

She offered to sew it for me and I gratefully handed it over to her.

I got it back last night and sewed a hem around the edges to retard fraying between the materials.








Not only does it match the pattern on the saddle...



It sticks like glue!!!

She also replaced the three little straps where the buckles go.

I made these new zipper pulls out of leather for it this week.

Next up...

Learn how to replace the foam / gel w/i the saddle and learn how to recover it.

Holy shit what a mess I've made so far.

All the hardware is removed, the rivets drilled out, the cover removed, and the foam removed from the pan. Now to clean the pan of the glue residue and see if I can salvage the cover.


The reason to do this has two parts.

1. The saddle cover allows water to seep into the foam, then my pants get wet for the next week.

2. The pillion seat is sheer hell after about :30 min.


When I bought the bike, I had it lower for $100 at a auto upholstery shop. I has always had the water problem. And I want to make the rear seat comfortable for my son.

Pics to follow....