Black Ops: Cam's 8Th Gen Mods

I thought I'd share my modifications progress so far. It's been a busy few days as all my new parts arrived this week, and my ride has been feeling the love.

My mods so far:

• Two Brothers S1R Slip-on.
• Ventura Pack-rack & Euro-Rally expandable tail-bag.
• Powerbronze dark-tint airflow windscreen.
• LED Indicators front and rear (with 50W 6ohm load resistors)
• Designing a tail-tidy/fender eliminator with integrated rear reflector so as to be street-legal.

Happy BikeDay, just picked up the new ride.

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Traded in my black Gen-6 for a black Gen-8.

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TBR S1R pipe, and Ventura rack fitted.

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Load resistor, front LED indicator, and rear LED indicator - all sourced from eBay.

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Stock (left) vs. LED (right). The orange reflection from the globe has been removed.

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I mounted the load resistors under the grab-handle frame using pineapple tape, in the locations circled.

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I couldn't find room inside the mirror housings for the load resistors - especially not if they get hot which is very possible on a 40° Celsius day stopped in traffic. Instead I ran wiring down the mirror stalk and mounted the resistors on the dash/windscreen frame using more pineapple tape.

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Glorious autumn weather today, and with the current round of mods complete, a good Sunday squirt out to the Kinglake Pub for lunch was just what the mechanic ordered. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, yes I am a keen New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby Union) supporter. This is my second ride to bear the ALBLK number-plate.

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How good do the dark-tinted windscreen and clear indicator housings look?

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Looks like I'm not the only All Blacks fan out on the road today. Quite the coincidence given that we're both parked at a small country pub 80km outside of Melbourne, Australia. I haven't worked out where I'm going to place my small Silver Fern decals yet.

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http://youtu.be/kv-t06dEnUs.

:-)

Looks good!

On the LED indicators, get a proper LED flasher relay, they cost around $20 & you can ditch the resistors.

MVinOZ

Looks good!

On the LED indicators, get a proper LED flasher relay, they cost around $20 & you can ditch the resistors.

That was my original plan, but the 8th Gen VFR has a unique 4-pin flasher relay that is tied into the self-cancelling system. I wasn't able to find a compatible aftermarket LED-ready relay, so went with the load resistors instead. If anyone has found one, please let me know!! I purposely designed the indicator mod to be reversible, just unplug the resistor wiring from the positaps. If need-be, I can also go back to stock filament globes with no hassle.

:happy2:

I'm really diggin' the whole look - the 2Bros pipe is a nice compliment to the black color, and the LED's taking the orange center out of the indicator lenses looks great too. Nice work!

NZCam

MVinOZ

Looks good!

On the LED indicators, get a proper LED flasher relay, they cost around $20 & you can ditch the resistors.

That was my original plan, but the 8th Gen VFR has a unique 4-pin flasher relay that is tied into the self-cancelling system. I wasn't able to find a compatible aftermarket LED-ready relay, so went with the load resistors instead. If anyone has found one, please let me know!! I purposely designed the indicator mod to be reversible, just unplug the resistor wiring from the positaps. If need-be, I can also go back to stock filament globes with no hassle.

:happy2:

Ah I see. I guess the aftermarket will catch up eventually.

Finally got around to ditching the chunky factory numberplate mount this weekend. Holding things up was my desire to fit an Altrex numberplate cover as well as a tail-tidy, and get a clean, compact result. The plastic clips for the Altrex clamp to the back of the numberplate along the top and bottom edges - which is a problem since the space along the top edge is also where the tail-tidy arms go. Tightening the numberplate fasteners would've then bent the numberplate.

To solve the issue I got out the angle-grinder and made an 8mm x 8mm notch on the upper edge of each arm, giving the clips a slot to fit into but still letting the numberplate sit flush against the tail-tidy. I used the "Mk.2 Long" prototype that preceded the production tail-tidies (just in case I bollocks'd it up!), and I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Not the greatest photo, granted... It was taken on my phone in poor lighting, but you get the idea:

Some time ago I also replaced the stock numberplate light globe with an LED equivalent, albeit one that puts out a cleaner, brighter light. It's a bit of a farkle I grant you, but combined with the tail-tidy and the reflector, it looks the business.

You can find yourself a T10 style globe on eBay for a couple of bucks; I recommend going for one that's short as space inside the housing is limited. Seeing as the light only needs to project in one direction, a festoon with all the LED SMDs on one side is just the ticket:

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Hey Cam, good writeup here mate. Do you recall what type of globe the standard indicators were? I want to see if I can track down a globe that has a load resistor built in :)

MrGrumpy83

Hey Cam, good writeup here mate. Do you recall what type of globe the standard indicators were? I want to see if I can track down a globe that has a load resistor built in :)

The fronts are BAU15S (with offset bayonet pins), while the rears are wedge-type T20 (5050) style.

too bad no black option in US - looks great!

jimpanzer07, 01/11/2015 at 7:15 PM

too bad no black option in US - looks great!

I really feel for you guys, it's a bike that just lends itself to black. We don't get the white option here, which can look stunning with a dark or iridium blue screen fitted... but I wouldn't trade that for the black choice in a million years! I'm sure Honda will change things up sooner or later for you, they always have in the past.

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Photo from this weekend's ride: Warrandyte -> St. Andrews -> Kinglake -> Healesville.

Nice, very nice. Even upside down--northern hemisphere...

C

Hey Cam.

Lovely job on the Tail Tidy and indicators, and the Black does look a treat in the flesh, also impressed with the Powerbronze Double Bubble screen, looks so much better than the oem. Good to catch up with you guys on such a beautiful day. Nice shots of the day.

The All Blacks, just tooooooo good.

Cheers Grum.

P.S Got pulled over for a licence check in Toolangi on the way home!!

The metal flake in the black paint looks amazing. The TBR can looks like it was made for the bike... great mods, well done!

Quick trip down Memory Lane, with my old 5th-Gen VFR. 2005, and a tour of Tasmania with my best mate and his missus. Some of the best riding roads I've ever experienced.

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Ahhhh memories - always fun looking back at pics of old bikes and girlfriends LOL.  Love those red 5th gens.  Hopefully I'll get to ride in Tasmania one day.  

One of these things, is not like the others...

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If you guessed that one of those 5 tractors needs a good cut & polish, you're correct. Aaaand there's a VFR in there too. :-)

Dude if you could paint or powdercoat the chassis, forks and footrest asemblies in matt black, it would truly be stealth under the radar stuff!!

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1 hour ago, Auspanglish

Dude if you could paint or powder-coat the chassis, forks, and footrest assemblies in matte black, it would truly be stealth under the radar stuff!!

I've thought about it;- a Darkhorse VFR (to use the Indian-brand styling) would be interesting, but Melbourne drivers being the oblivious road-lemmings that they are, I really don't need to be even _more_ hard to detect.

That said, I did refer to my angular black 6th-Gen as the Stealth Fighter due to it's passing resemblance to a Lockheed F-117:

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The seat on the VFR is a more fun place than the seat in the "Pig", albeit sneaking up on bad folk and introducing them to their ancestors has a certain charm.

Black 6th Gens do look awesome though, don't they?  :beer:

"Some pigs are more equal than others........"

Like the VTR1000-SP "the pig"...

Allows you to haul the whole hog  :goofy:

11 hours ago, NZCam

One of these things, is not like the others...

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Looks like you're the outsider getting ready for a buffalo hunt with some new Indian friends  :tongue:

Hi There,

Maybe something interesting on AliExpress. They have both socket, T20 and BAU15S. ~16$/pair The different customer's feedback sounds good so far

No Hyper Flashing LED

I'll order them soon and let you know.