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CB1KR stock headlight conversion

6K views 26 replies 9 participants last post by  ROBBO 
#1 · (Edited)
Projector Conversion CB1KR

Here is the conversion from stock H4 to projector on my Cb1000r.

I purchased this kit from retrofit source - company is super helpful and very customer oriented, from my experience.

motorcycle stage 1 projector kit

Here is the shroud I chose - it was the most pimp of the ones I looked through for the look I am wanting.

Panamera with led - 4 corner

Rather than risk taking apart my headlight can and having the bike out of commission while i worked on the project, I purchased a new can for around 100 bucks from online OEM parts house.

The first step is to separate the shroud - follow this link to a video from TRS on how to do it.
Simply put without video. preheat oven to 270 degree Fahrenheit, set timer for 7 minutes. Place in oven bake for 7 mins ( or until golden brown :p , JK JK ) remove from oven and use flat head screw driver to pry the two halves apart gently. once you get enough space to get some fingers in there it pulls apart pretty easily. here is the video link

TRS baking and opening headlight assembly

here is the split assembly


here is where i ran into a bit of a challenge. the can was not deep enough to support the height of the projector. typically you would open the headlight hole to accommodate the 35mm width of the projector and mount it accordingly - pretty simple.

before proceeding I called TRS and let them know i needed about 30mm reduction to the height of the projector and asked if they offered any shorter projector. he said yes - HELL YEAH now were cookin'.

well maybe not, the alternative was only 1mm shorter - which would leave me trying to make up the 29mm on my own. I decided to go ahead and fully mod the can myself. I had a good idea.

Using a 2.5 inch abs pipe cap,(2.5 ID for 2.4 OD abs pipe) I cut a 35mm hole in the center of the cap to accommodate the projector mount. I then cut down the cap to the appropriate height to support the proper depth i needed.

here is pic of the cap.


this ended up being 3/4 of an inch tall on the outside. 35mm hole in the center.

next i had to open up the back half of the shroud considerably. there are a few methods you can use. I used an oscillating sander with a 1.5 inch diameter and 80 grit sandpaper. I opened the back of the can to 2 3/8 inches.

here is the shroud opened up.


you can see in this picture that i busted the adjustment support post. when done with the mod i simply JB welded this back in place - good to go, maybe more durable than it was before it broke.

now that i had the projector clearing the front half of the housing I needed to trim down the projector shroud to fit in the housing. I marked the depth around the edge and used a dremel with a cutting wheel to slowly remove the bottom portion of the ring.

as a side note - you will need at least 1 small hole to accommodate the wiring for the blade mechanism on the projector. In my case i needed three to accommodate LED on the projector shroud and the addition of front halo which I decided to leave out. The kit comes with rubber plugs for these hole to push the wires through. I added a dab of marine silicone to assist them in their waterproofing process.

modified shroud


this is a pretty crappy picture but you can see the amount removed - it was close to 7/8 inch when done. each project will differ and patience and care are best for getting this part right without fuggin it up.

Since the hole in the back of the shroud was considerably large than the silicone washer they provided I needed to seal it somehow - no pics of this process, it was one where i just kept working through it to get it done at this point.

it should be noted that at this point prior to the sealing of the projector in the back half of the shroud, I painted the back side with some matte black paint.

I then applied a healthy bead of silicone to the ABS cap inside the cap around the 35mm hole and on the edge of the cap where it would meet the back of the shroud. I placed the projector into the shroud, slipped the cap over the threaded post on the back side and tightened it all down with the provided nut.

let this go the full term on drying - 24hours, no need to rush. There is no hurry when your pimpin a project.

While this was done and drying I separated the chrome plastic inner from the front of the shroud. I cleaned and painted both this part and the projector shroud. I used VHT gold metal flake engine paint. This really is the best spray match I have found to the banjo bolt on gold spiegler lines, and the rizoma parts I have recently added.

After these dried and I was satisfied with the finish I put the front half back together.

I then pull the shroud wiring and the blade wiring and mounted the shroud. the shroud comes with some clips that fit right into the projector and they offer centric mounting rings for an addition cost. since you will be sealing this all together you don't want to have anything come loose inside the sealed can.

I used a small dab of silicone on each of the five clips on the projector shroud - this worked nicely - again 24hrs - no hurry - pimpin

once everything was dry I dry fit the parts and siliconed the two halves back together.

this weekend i will be mounting the light and the wiring harness - this is pretty easy and they give you everything you need - except a wiring diagram, but they have these online and its easy to print it up.

will post the mounted product and some wiring tips when completed

here is the completed shroud ready for lighting and the bike



sorry there are not more pictures - sometimes on these projects you get to parts where you need to keep moving. for me it was a combo of keep moving and fairly excited on how it was working.
 
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#3 ·
I can't wait either, I have to pick up my banjo bolts on sunday, I am hoping after I get back to be In the shop adding the new modded light can. Blinding pictures to follow.

I also still have the fluid tanks and lines to install, Monday if all goes well. that will set off the front end really nice with this new can.
 
#4 ·
well i ran into two challenges

the first being that i have to make a extension harness from the ignitor to the ballast. the one on there now is way to short and this is new setup and they dont offer an extension cable. However they were super helpful and gave me the part numbers for the plugs i will need. ordered them yesterday, will be here tomorrow.

26.00 total plus shipping for 25ft of 18awg wire, 2 each male and female plugs and 6 each of the male female pins, plug watertight plugs for the connectors. 10.00 bucks from grainger for 10ft of the braided wiring sheath and some shrink tube.

second challenge is this;

I had to set the light so far back in the can as illustrated in above post that it might not fit on the original mounts. the way the frame design on this bike is, it stradles the head tube in a manner that wraps around it and it protudes out to almost the same spot as the forks on the triple tree. On the stock light I have about 2 inches. where the bulb and end of projector is now it is about half that distance and then i install the ignitor and i think it might hit that spot.

if this is the case once i have the new harness built, I will look at just moving the whole can forward with some custom fabbed bracket extension. We will see.

I will post pictures when i get to that point.

Wanted to get to it last weekend, however honey do shopping and having to pick up the banjo bolts from other side of the valley cut into my work on bike time - I still managed to squeeze in couple hours of riding picked up remaining supplies for the braided lines and fluid tanks.

Should have some progress reports on other thread this week and update on the headlight project soon.

thanks for checkin it out
 
#5 ·
Damnit all to hell, the ignitor rubs on the head tube. Less than a mm, im looking into a slimmer ignitor off the back of the light or some kind of extension to move the ignitor - unfortunately i dont think i can shave down the edge of the head tube it may be to thin to take that much off.

anyways I will keep ya posted
 
#6 ·
ok here is pic of the frame, looking for some advice - I circled the points on the frame where it rubs - its close to 1mm of rub, if i took off 2mm would be perfect, but close tolerence.

anyone have any idea of whats under those points, im guessing it was some sort of guide pin in the forging process, but i dont know

thanks for looking and any advice.

 
#7 ·
I don't have any advice, initially i was going to say they are from a headlight or fairing mount, and to cut them off, as i thought they were the same as on, say my Firestorm frame:



But then i looked for actual photos of your frame and found these:





And i'm not sure any more, they definitely aren't mount points. I do wonder if they are sort of a left-over of an evolution, like a vestigial tail kind of thing? Left over from a design that had the headlight mounted to the frame there?
 
#8 ·
Maybe take the smallest drill bit you got and drill into them. You'd be able to tell if they are hollow or solid and if they could be safely ground off. Worst case is they are not solid and you have just a small hole that wont affect the structure and could b filled with some JB weld...
 
#9 ·
Thanks gents, I never figured on them being un drilled mounting points. The more I looks at the close ups of the other frames that makes sense. at first I thought they were some kind of forge guides. I am going to drill a pilot hole through one of them and see what I get(as suggested.) Appreciate the rapid feedback and assistance I'll let you know.

This will be an easy fix if they are solid undrilled mounting points.

Thank you,
 
#10 ·
WOOOT - solid aluminum forged unmilled bracket - took it down most of the way, but need to take out all the other stuff to clean it up and finish it off, this is going to make this projector project set perfectly in place. Thank you for the insight , the pictures and the courage to just get after it.

before


after - with little more to go, just too much stuff in way to get in deeper with angle grinder and dremel was at work.


next pics should be with light mounted - I think i will need to paint the lower led round gold also, looks funky with it having the chrome and rest now gold flake.

thanks again for the assist and advice
 
#12 ·
update time -

first lil bad, but not terrible news:

The bracket I was grinding off, does get hollow after you get past the cigar shaped section - no worries, I can fill this in with the tig or some kind of resin - not a big deal, hole is minor, but does need to be filled to keep debris and moisture out of the head tube and bearings.

Good news - Got it all put together and test mounted today. Very hot still here in Phoenix, so can only go so long before the heat and sweat is kicking my ass.

here is the finished assembly


here is the LED tested with a 9v, allready ran lines and tested the projector and high beam blade


and here it is mounted on the bike to test clearance


this weekend should be able to get the ballast the switches and harness all routed and finished

thanks for advice and takin a look
 
#14 ·
im guessing it was some sort of guide pin in the forging process,
Those are forging standoffs. Different mold houses use different styles. Depends on how the forging is set up
thats what i originally thought, when i started taking it down, I figured it might be a mounting bracket that was added but left unmilled as the other gents pointed out. it was solid for 1/2 inch in

now that makes perfect sense, when i decided to take it off completely, to the head tube, that's when it opened up on me, its minor and can easily be filled. I don't think it will hurt it structurally, what do you think?

thanks for the info CK, it is coming out nice.
 
#17 ·
Alright we have a finished project, took a little longer than I hoped but the heat is still pretty bad here.


took it down to the frame to install the wiring harness and components



I had to make three extension cords for the harness - these are them crappy picture but they came out really nice



here is are the components being installed under the seat. their is a pretty big space below the seat in front of the shock that they have a nice little tub built in front of the battery. I wanted to mount them there but i could not find a way that I liked without making some custom brackets- may investigate this in the future.



decided to mount them in the boot, anchored the ballast down with wire tie in front of the PC-V and routed the cables out the right side around the turn signal relay



then routed the three extensions up to the front along the right side of the frame


yeah that's my sweat dripping on the frame - if you were a witch wearing a brass bra, then it was hotter than your tits today, but had to DW or cant ride.


previously tested it, but thought better test it again before putting it all together

worked perfectly

put it all back together and enjoyed the sweetness -[]D [] []V[] []D [] []\[]











thanks for taking a look - and yeah i know still have not done the brake lines and fluid tanks, but sweat so much right now, just dont feel like messing with it - soon though, I will post that in main post about bike
 
#18 ·
Nice freaking work man! I like that light a lot!
 
#20 ·
added a new switch for all three modes - LED ring running, both on, both off with lower LED only - not sure when i would use that particular set up but have it to showcase if I want.



switch is pretty cool, it mounts to the clutch bracket and replaces the mirror bracket


some variations of the lighting

all on




led ring and lower led only




lower led only


not sure why i did not add that to the led switch, when i was in there - perhaps my brain overlooked it so I dont turn off all my forward lights.

looking at redoing that lower led with something more fightery - but have not figured out just what yet
 
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