by: Troy McLucas

Objective:
The stock turn signals are ugly...and really nice, machined flushmounts are expensive. I wanted to put a flushmount turn signal on the FZ1, without modifying the fairing. The reason is because the little "just-in-case" voice in the back of my head was exceptionally loud that morning. Also, state vehicle regulations change fairly frequently, so this allows some other options down the road.

Required and Suggested Items:

• Lockhart Phillips Flushmount III dual-filament indicator lamps
• 20 gauge sheet steel
• Tin snips
• Bench grinder
• Hand files
• Power drill and various bits: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4"
• Thread tap: 4mm X 0.75
• Phillips screw driver
• Dremel and various bits: cutting disk, drum sander
• Utility knife

Fabricating the Plates:

1. Using the following templates (Adobe Acrobat PDF), cut the four mounting plates out of 20 gauge steel. Use tin snips to make the rough cuts, and then the bench grinder to clean up the edges. The pieces are symmetric face-to-face, so they can really be ground down at the same time. Be sure to test fit often. Hand files work the best for the tight corners

2. Drill the two holes for the mounting hardware and the hole for the wire pass-through. DO NOT drill and tap the lens mounting holes until after the lens have been test fitted.
3. Bend the flanges using the bending profile as a guide. The front flange is bent at approximately 45 degrees and the rear at 90 degrees.

Modifying the Lens:

4. Place the lens trimming guide on the lens edge. The guides are marked with TOP, BOTTOM, FRONT APEX, and REAR APEX. The apex lines should be the center line along the mounting screw holes.
5. Trim back the lens. A Dremel with a fine tooth metal blade for rough cut and the sanding drum to smooth it out works well.
6. Trim the mounting screw hole housing to 1/8" from the new lens edge. With a screw in the lens, it's fairly easy to tell how far is "too far".

Making It Look Nice:

7. Trim the bottom of the lens gasket with a utility knife. This is to give some space along the area where the fairing lip sticks out. Getting this perfectly right isn't as critical since the lens is going to go up and cover it.
8. Double check the placement of the lens mounting holes and mark as needed. Drill and tap the lens mounting holes.
9. Shorten the lens mounting screws. The front one will probably be a little longer than the back.

Making It Work:

10. Remove the light socket from the old mounting plate. Since they are attached by spot welds, drill from the backside with a small bit to break the weld.
11. Test fit the fixture to the new plate. Trim off the excess of the mounting flange.
12. Attach socket to the new flange. JB-Weld works great.
13. Attach the wires to the stock harness. (Pat's Motorcycle Page has great information on this.)

Tips:

• Print the patterns on sticky paper, and then use them as guides right on the parts.
• Remove the bulbs first and place them in a safe place.
• Put masking tap over the lens to protect it from scratches.
• Test fit often. Go slow when cutting. Test fit often. More material can always be removed, but not added. Have I mentioned to test fit often?
• The patterns are derived from paper patterns and prototype parts. Some dimensions may need adjusting.

Comments:

• I made thin gaskets to fit between the fairing and the plates. If you're not concerned about marring the paint around the mounting hole, it's probably not needed.
• I plan on painting the front of the mounting plates with reflective chrome-like paint.

Last Updated: 01-15-2004

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