DIY Install an aftermarket Headlight on a VZ800

Message
Author
User avatar
Sev
Site Supporter - Gold
Site Supporter - Gold
Posts: 7352
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 7:52 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta

DIY Install an aftermarket Headlight on a VZ800

#1 Unread post by Sev »

While I'd suggested a DIY forum some time ago it's not happened, so I'll start dropping these at random in the forum that seems most appropriate.

Okay, so because of a tip over (someone who shall go unnamed backed into his bike) Malice's headlight has been rattling. We pulled it apart to figure out what was causing the rattle. And it turns out that a locating/retaining tab had broken off causing the rattle. Meanwhile the mount itself was bent causing the light to shine slightly to the right. All in all it was a replacement situation.

Looking up costs we were staring at a $300 replacement bill for parts alone, so he went the aftermarket route, and picked up one of these.

Image
Thanks Kevin.

Image

We picked a generally shitty rainy day and set about installing it.

Rolled the bike into the garage and fired it up to heat the place. Yeah, it's like 5 degrees out, and sitting still it gets reaaaaaaallly cold.

First things first, Malice removed the windscreen.

Image

Image

Two screws hold the headlight and lens itself to the backing, so those came out next to reveal the interior of assembly.

Image
You can see one here

Image
These three wires lead to the bulb itself. From experience, black is ground, yellow is high beam, and white is lowbeam (but we had to figure that out ourselves).

After the front was off we had to remove the back. There is a small cover piece on the back held on by two phillips screws remove it.

Image

This will reveal the mounting bolts themselves - there are 4X10mm bolts with self locking nuts on there, remove all four and the backing will pull off.

Image

Image

Image

I left Malice with this unenviable job while I changed the air filter on my bike. He had fun. When I wandered back across the garage to check up on him I was greeted with a, "that's the last of them, I've dropped a nut."

Evil Grin, "Well, one down one to go I guess... it'll happen someday."

We quickly tracked down the lost nut (note to everyone keep a clean workspace makes it easy to spot metallic stuffs).

Only thing left is the mount bracket, there are 2X10mm self locking nuts under the lower triple tree that hold the bracket in place. The "bolts" are actually attached to the bracket itself, so nothing is needed to hold them from spinning.

Image
These are the holes the headlight mounting bracket fits through.

Image
The supplied tapped mounting holes line up with the holes in the triple tree exactly!

As we had no metric bolts in stock (Imperial household as my grandfather was a mechanic). We used two of the bolts that held the original headlight backing to the mount bracket. Perfect size, perfect length, they tightened in nice too... use a little loctite on them, just to be safe.

Image

Image
Get out of the DAMN PICTURE!

Image

Okay, now we need to wire it up.

Here's the problem if you look back at the original pictures it was a white plug to the headlight, we get: 2 spade and 1 round male connectors. Book it to Radioshack (I refuse to call it circuit city) and pick up the appropriate ends, plus a crimper. And head back.

Image
Test the fit of the new ends.

Image

Okay, now common sense would indicate that the one different one - the round connector on the headlight would be the ground. The ground on the bike itself is black with a white stripe. This was determined based on the fact that every accessory had a black with white stripe on it. So we connected that first.

Strip back the wire, put on the connector, crimp into place.

Now we pick a second one, we chose yellow and hooked on a spade connector and plugged it into one of the others randomly. Then turned on the key... nothing happened. Okay try the highbeams. LIGHT! And "procreating" bright too!

Image

We did the final connector, and it worked as the low beams. Only one is on at a time on the bike, but it did that stock.

Each connection was then wrapped individually in electrical tape in order to prevent an accidental short to ground between them, and then all three were taped together to make a clean loom.

The old loom was split down it's length and the rest of the wiring was routed in behind the light and ziptied in place to keep the front end looking clean.

Image

After that came the aiming and tightening of the whole light.

You'll need a number 5 allen wrench, a 1/2" combination wrench, and a 1/2" thin walled socket.

The mount is interesting in that in order to hold the light in place you need to tighten the allen bolt in as far as you can - because the right side of the mounting bracket is just a hole, but the left side is threaded. This tightens the bracket around the swivel point and stops it from moving. Then the nut is threaded on the end to lock it in place. Took a while for us to figure that out. As common sense has always been - tighten the nut, not tighten the bolt, as it carries the most friction. But we got it eventually... though it required completely removing one of the bolts.

Image

Image

Image

You need the socket to tighten the nut on the side of the headlight because there is not enough clearance to turn the wrench around it. And the wrench works best on the lower nut because of clearance issues around the triple tree.

To aim the headlight, set the bike on level ground with the rider on it, and measure the distance between the middle of the light and the ground. Shine it on a wall 10ft away, the height of the center of the highbeam should be the same as the original measurement.

Sadly my camera died at this point, so we have no finished pictures, but I'll try to get Malice on here to post a review and some final pics. The Marauder got a little sweeter today in my opinion. And the lights are bloody bright. All in all it was a quality piece of kit.
Last edited by Sev on Sat May 19, 2007 5:00 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Of course I'm generalizing from a single example here, but everyone does that. At least I do.

[url=http://sirac-sev.blogspot.com/][img]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/Sevulturus/sig.jpg[/img][/url]

User avatar
Sev
Site Supporter - Gold
Site Supporter - Gold
Posts: 7352
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 7:52 pm
Sex: Male
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta

#2 Unread post by Sev »

Image

Sorry, I cannot figure out how to embed video on here, but this is a quick test with just the highbeam hooked up.
Of course I'm generalizing from a single example here, but everyone does that. At least I do.

[url=http://sirac-sev.blogspot.com/][img]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/Sevulturus/sig.jpg[/img][/url]

User avatar
Malice
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:21 am
Sex: Male
Location: Edmonton, AB

#3 Unread post by Malice »

Big thanks to Sev for his help with the installation.

Image

The headlight looks badass. The low profile shape compliments the straight handlebars on the Marauder, creating a more aggressive look. I also feel that the 'Oval' or 'Figure 8' look has a nicer curve than the standard round. Perhaps it's because it reminds me of a nice pair of mammories.

The light is also far brighter than the old headlight. With replacement bulbs coming in at $8, I'm very pleased with this addition overall.
If the person in the next lane at the stoplight rolls up the window and locks the door, support their view of life by snarling at them.

'04 Suz Marauder 800

Wrider
Site Supporter - Gold
Site Supporter - Gold
Posts: 5285
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 4
My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#4 Unread post by Wrider »

Huh, almost has a more custom look to it now... Looks good though!
Wrider
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

Post Reply