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Now New owner of a 1400

Started by BlueDragon, Sunday, 21 April 2019, 07:56 AM

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DP1400

Looks fabulous minus the headlamp fairing :onya: :onya: :onya:

GSXKING

GSXKING 3:^)
Chris
Best allrounder I've ever owned 👍

BlueDragon

Wasn't sure where else to post this.  So thought I would just throw it in here on my thread for my bike.

Might come in useful for those riders that have bought a 1400 that had some gouges in the engine side covers like the ones in my pics here.

here is how I fixed the gouges.


BlueDragon

As you can see by the pics, there are a few gouges in the case from when I purchased the bike.

Not too deep, but deep enough that I decided not to go with the polished look and thought I would paint the covers instead and have an all black engine.  (actually, I nearly painted them gold - to go for a little bit of the CB1100R look for those that remember that bike) 

Anyway,  went to the local super cheap auto and purchased some permatex liquid metal filler.

I used some 600 wet and dry paper and got the bucket of water out and started sanding down the gouges in the engine cover.

Sorry, no pics of the sanding as my hands were too dirty.

After sanding I then washed the engine cover clean, just using some car wash and hot water.  After drying, I then cleaned it again with some wax and grease remover.

I then filled in the indentations that were left with the liquid metal. Doesn't matter if it is over filled - in fact I recommend it.  Then let the liquid metal completely dry

Quick tip though, squeeze the tube a bit from end to end.  This will help make sure the liquid metal is all mixed up properly. Otherwise liquid just comes out when you first squeeze the tube.

After the liquid metal is dry. I then used some 800 wet and dry (with water) and started sanding again.  Sand until all the excess liquid metal is removed.

I sanded everywhere - over the whole part as I planned on spray painting the cover.  So need to make sure it is sanded well to make sure the primer sticks.

Wash the part again with car wash and warm water.

using gloves this time to make sure any skin oils do not get on the part. I then cleaned again with wax and grease remover to ready the part for spray painting the primer.

couple of coats of primer (following the paint directions).

Then sprayed it black.  The only disappointing part is that the VHT paint I used this time around was meant to be gloss black.  "colour is same as cap" it says on the can.

Nope..  it turned out to be a satin black as you can by the photo.  Still ok. 

But will be removing the cover at some stage and giving it a light sand and a clear coat to make it into a gloss black instead.

that said - can't see the gouges that were there before.. 


BlueDragon

Finished..

Clear coat will be sprayed on at some stage..


KiwiCol

Permatex  Liquid Metal Filler,  fancy name for bog, but it looks ok.  Might even try that on my scuffed case.
😎  Always looking for the next corner.  😎

Eric GSX1400K3

Looks great blue dragon, i wonder what the engine would  look like all blacked out  and done with wrinkle paint
I try to take one day at a time, however sometimes several days catch up with me at once.

BlueDragon

With lots of previous discussions about the 1400 headlight not really being all that adequate, like most here on the forum I did a lot of experimenting and spending of cash on better quality halogen bulbs and also the h4 LED alternatives as well.

I don't do much night riding, but, I'm one of these people who want the best possible lighting I can, for the times where I do need to ride/drive at night..  too many kangaroos and other critters that run across the roads at night out here in country NSW.

Whilst the H4 bulbs were quite expensive, to me the small increase in lighting that they offered, was really not worth the expense.  Trying some good quality LED alternatives, while looking fine initially, in the end, even with proper headlight aim, again, I didn't find them acceptable.  With one test ride, I was left wondering if the headlight was even on. 

All the while I was looking at finding alternatives to the Stedi LED headlight.  Too much for my wallet - especially when I would have had to work out a way to fit it into the standard headlight bucket.

Anyway, at the same time, my son bought a CB400SF Super Four, where its headlight reflector had a crack in it.  I bought a cheap alternative headlight - $30 job off ebay to see what it was like.  That headlight came with a 35w bulb - so threw that in the bin and put in a good quality 60/55w..  after 4 rides of no more than about an hour each, I saw that the reflector housing was not only starting to melt, but also crack.  That said the bucket housing, was totally fine and much better quality and very strong, as good as the OEM one.

See pics..



BlueDragon

So I then thought I would try and find an alternative headlight for it and took a chance after a lot of searching on a headlight I found on Aliexpress.  Said to only fit the Honda motorcycle headlight bucket and trims.  At the price of around $87 AUD inc postage, I thought it was worth the chance of buying it. 

For me, it turns out it was a very good quality unit.

It fitted up easily as the mounts on the LED headlight, matched the mounts on the OEM honda headlight housing. So it fitted up in a few minutes, just putting the original trims onto the LED headlight and then putting it back into the original housing.

BlueDragon

#144
You can see in the second pic in the above post the top and bottom mounts on the back of the new LED headlight. These match the Honda OEM mounts.  So you NEED a HONDA Headlight bucket and trims.  This WON'T fit the Suzuki 1400 Headlight trims or bucket..

You will also notice 2 screw holes on the lower left part of the back of the headlight.  This is for the internal headlight aim adjustment brackets.  These brackets come with the headlight. NOTE - the Honda bracket is on the opposite side to the Suzuki bracket..  which is why you need to use the Honda Bucket and headlight trims for this conversion to work.

But don't worry, I'll put all the links at the end of this saga that will have all the parts and tools you will need to do this conversion..

I was pretty impressed with the headlight, so thought I would work out if I could fit the headlight to my 1400 with minimal mods to the honda headlight bucket..  as I had a spare bucket to use..

BlueDragon

I ended up purchasing another headlight from Aliexpress, from the same seller - but this time went for the one with the Halo ring, as I wanted to see what it was like. 

The halo headlight has the same output etc and same beam pattern, the difference being the halo ring - I like it, others may not. But I will post links to both headlights at the end so that you can choose what you like, if you want to do this same conversion.

The only difference is that the headlight with the halo ring will require you to do some wiring and soldering to connect up the halo ring to switched power in the headlight wiring.  I'll cover that as well and it is really easy to do.

BlueDragon

#146
Black bucket is the spare Honda bucket I had while the chrome one if the OEM one from the 1400.

4 big differences here.

1. the location of the wiring loom holes. Self explanatory when you look at the pics.

2. the up down adjustment bracket at the bottom of the headlight.  The Honda one is further towards the back of the headlight bucket. The bracket is also narrower so the plastic bolt from the Suzuki headlight, won't fit straight up and also because the bracket is further back, you need to put the tension spring in differently (easy to do) to keep the up-down adjustment.

3. the mounting holes on the sides are big difference in size. Means the Suzuki rubber mounts won't fit in straight up.  But can be made to fit - but there is an alternative option which I will talk about, but chose not to do it, even though I had the parts, as I like having the up-down adjustment screw at the base as I feel that it helps keep the headlight in place..

4. Inside the bucket where the mounting holes are. There are 2 raised areas in the Honda Bucket that are there as Honda use a OEM bracket with a nut on the inside of the headlight. The OEM part has bendable pieces on it to hold the headlight wiring in place. Whilst the raised areas inside the bucket hold the OEM bracket in place when tightening the headlight bolts.  Honda just use the 2 side mount bolts for up-down headlight aim - so the bolts need to be tight so that the headlight doesn't move around.  I don't like that setup, so chose to modify the bucket to keep the Suzuki screw adjustment for up-down headlight aim.

BlueDragon

OK.

So, first mod is to make another hole in the back of the Honda headlight bucket.

As you can see in the pic, comparing both buckets.

Easy to do.

I first used a large hole saw.  ( I have a hole saw kit I bought from Bunnings with lots of different sizes) to cut the second hole. I then just used a dremel to shape it some more with a metal grinding bit attached.  I decided to do this as, rather than use the rectangular hole as I felt that the wiring would then be not under any extra stress, also, the rectangular hole would then allow air flow out of the bucket for the LED headlight to stay cool. You would notice all the cooling fins on the back of the headlight in the above pictures..

BlueDragon

next up is to modify the side mounting holes to make them bigger to accept the Suzuki OEM rubber mounts.

I chose to do this as it mounts up the headlight the same as the OEM Suzuki headlight bucket and will give you the same headlight aim adjustment and secureness of mounting as well.  It will also help to isolate the headlight from vibration - being that we are still using the rubber mounts.  Which can only be a good thing with the extra LED wiring etc inside the headlight - to make the circuits etc last longer.

You need to take a 22mm hole saw and drill out the current side mount holes so that they are big enough to fit the Suzuki rubber mounts.  Put your drill on a medium to slow speed. You want to take it easy and cut the plastic, not so much melt it.  Yes, some of it will melt due to the heat,  but just take it slow for a clean cut on both sides.  I then used a dremel with a grinding bit to clean up the edges.

BlueDragon

Next step is to grind down the internal raised plastic areas so that the Suzuki rubber mounts will fit flush and neat.  See the pics below as a comparison of the Honda and Suzuki buckets

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