What did you do to your bike today?

[Cuda 69]

If I read this correctly,you said the directional and the brake lights share a filiment?Automotive type bulbs have the tail lights and directional filiment as a shared unit I believe.I may be wrong,been there before.

[motoman]

If I read this correctly,you said the directional and the brake lights share a filiment?Automotive type bulbs have the tail lights and directional filiment as a shared unit I believe.I may be wrong,been there before.

Actually, the dual filliment bulb uses the smaller element for tail lites. The larger element, being larger and brighter serves as brake and turn element, with the flasher canceling out the element causing it to flash. Majority of newer vehicles, with back of vehicle designs and lighting configuration use single element in seperate lighting sockets for the different functions.

[Cuda 69]

Ah,makes sense,see told you I could be wrong.

[Petersg_99]

Nice paint job.

The green looks a bit more subdued than some of your original pictures. Did you tweak the color a bit?

When you sand and polish, how do you handle the sharp corners on the side covers? I'm always paranoid about cutting through the paint.

Got the side covers and tank for the SF cleared with SprayMax 2K. Gonna wait a week or so for it to dry good then I'll sand and polish. (The black cover is for my SG I just got from another member)

[BA80]

I think the color difference might just be the lighting.

This 2 part urethane clear is REALLY hard. You have to work hard just to get the orange peel out. The chances of sanding through 4 coats are pretty slim with 2000 or 3000 grit paper.

The bondo is pretty thick on that SG cover. I hope I dont have a problen getting the badge to stay on there.

[Petersg_99]

What clear do you use? My paint isn't holding up well to the drips of gas, I'm going to have to re-paint with something sturdier. Are there restrictions on what you can over coat with your 2 part clear?

I think the color difference might just be the lighting.

This 2 part urethane clear is REALLY hard. You have to work hard just to get the orange peel out. The chances of sanding through 4 coats are pretty slim with 2000 or 3000 grit paper.

The bondo is pretty thick on that SG cover. I hope I dont have a problen getting the badge to stay on there.

[BA80]

I just use regular Duplicolor rattle can paint from Oreily's and this clear .. http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_2_part_2k_aerosol.cfm..

This stuff is tough as nails, gas doesn't touch it. I have it on my SG already.

You have to wet sand the orange peel out when you use it with 2000 and 3000 then rubbing compound. After that it polishes up great and is damn near bullet proof.

[BA80]

I shoulda left it alone.

[fredintoon]

I shoulda left it alone.

Hi Greg,
what happened? Tell all. I just finished blowing a foot of drifted snow off my driveway so I could use a good laugh.

[BA80]

Well Fred, here it is.

I started out with trying to get the lights in the new bags working right. Got a new converter and wired it in all good. Turned on the key and checked everything was hooked up right, all good. Turned on the directional and all is good, step on the brake and it stops flashing. DAMMIT!!!!!.

Swapped out the stock flasher hoping it was just not compatable with the converter. YEAH! IT WORKED!...........for a minute. With the electronic flasher sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't when the brake is applied. Screw it! I'll just get an extra set of lights to work as brake lights. I've spent around $60 or $70 trying to make the trailer converter work and I'm freakin' DONE!

Sooooooo.........long as I had it down that far I figured I would go ahead and tackle replacing the stock jets with 1 size up since it has always been a tick lean and replace all the old fuel line with new since I had all of that here. The float valves needed cleaning and floats reset too. ( been flooding when parked lately sometimes)

Now stay with me because this is where it gets interesting.

Removed the tank and propped up the rear end a little to keep the petcocks out of the dirt. (working in the driveway) Got the carbs and fuel lines all done. That went smoothly. Reinstalled the carbs and lines and went to get the tank.........................................it was 75F here today and the sun expanded the gas so it leaked out on the front of the tank and ruined a patch of paint on the right front corner. DOUBLE DAMMIT!!!!!!

Ok Greg, relax. You CAN fix that.

Put it all together and perfected the adjustments. Sounds GREAT! I'll wash up and go for a shakedown.

Now, before I tell you about the NEXT bit I need to tell you that I put a 110/90/19 on the front which makes the bike just tall enough that I can't get it off the center stand while sitting on it. I have to push it off while standing beside it.

Yup, lost my balance and CRASH over he went on the right side and scratched the hell out of the new bag I just put on last weekend. AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

On the upside. The jets made it much more peppy at low end with the Mack exhaust. I like it.

Right now I am drinking beer and making plans to fix what I screwed up while I was fixing.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!

Corned beef and cabbage in the Crock Pot tomorrow AM.

[Petersg_99]

Ouch! When it rains it pours! It almost get's me upset hearing about it.

[DGXSER]

It warmed back up here today and I also got to throw some paint on my project. I did discover that adding the HF filter and pressure regulator killed my air pressure, so I ditched them both. Anyway, here is the product moved to my basement work shop to cure since the temps were dropping in the garage.



Next I get to learn how to color sand. I think I will put more paint and clear on the original tank and try my hand at sanding that first. If I ruin that paint I will not feel as bad.

[Nightengale]

It warmed back up here today and I also got to throw some paint on my project. I did discover that adding the HF filter and pressure regulator killed my air pressure, so I ditched them both. Anyway, here is the product moved to my basement work shop to cure since the temps were dropping in the garage.



Next I get to learn how to color sand. I think I will put more paint and clear on the original tank and try my hand at sanding that first. If I ruin that paint I will not feel as bad.

looking pretty good

[fredintoon]

Well Fred, here it is. - - -

Hi Greg,
I'm sorry the phased lights thing didn't work for you; I can only say that the 3 into 2 adapter from NAPA worked perfectly on my son's XS750 sidecar rig.
As to the other disasters, there's nothing that can't be fixed and at least the bike is running nice.
Add a few drops of blue food dye to your St Patrick's day beer to turn it green, to go with the corned beef & cabbage.

[TopCatGr58]

Well, I just woke up Godzilla from it's winter nap and took it for a little 40 mile jaunt in the local countryside!

Greg....I'm a bit late to this thread and your escapades with the lights. One thing that caught my attention was that you said that the saddlebags came with a SINGLE FILAMENT bulb in the light! That would mean that it also had a single filament SOCKET as well. Then you said you put in a dual filament 1157 type bulb in the bags socket!?!? Unless you changed the socket to the dual filament type socket, the dual filament bulbs won't work right anyways!!!! But like CZ said, it would be easier to just a pair of large LED lights for the additional brake lights. But to have both running and turn signals in the bags, you'll still need to put in dual filament style sockets.

Sorry to hear about the paint and drop! I thought you had sprayed the tank with clear/hardener?? That should have resisted the fuel spill.

Good luck with the repairs and the lights. I would highly advice using as many LED type lights you can vs. incandescent....I had just 1 pair of extra incandescent running/brake lights on mine shortly after I got it, and the extra load burned up the Reg/Rect!!! The bike was new back in '84 so it wasn't a matter of poor connections and such. Put a new R/R in it and removed the extra incandescent lights, and it worked fine till '92 when I parked it, and then again from 2000 when I resurrected it till ~ 2009 when I received a Geezer R/R and installed it. I'm not using that R/R now since I'm running that super racing ALT with it's own built in R/R, 1 wire charging, and capable of 40-50 amps output! But before that, with all of the LED's I converted, the OEM Alt was easily able to handle the dual 55 watt aux lights, and now I also have a smaller 35 watt HID bulb/projector!

T.C.