JZH

Do keep up, mate! You're right, but GreenVFR was exiled from the UK-based HondaVFRClub over a year ago; I was actually permanently banned from there last week...Ciao,

Ah, well, mine's stalled for the time being. Zanotti's let me down (for the first time ever, so hard to complain), so no new $66 OEM fuel filter until after I'm back in London. I was probably not going to get it done on time anyway, considering all of the time I spend slobbering all over the components every time I go in the garage! The machined parts in this kit are almost too nice to bolt onto the bike... To be continued (in the Fall)... Ciao,

I was searching eBay and found a Honda Marine water pressure gauge made by VDO (#360165724639), Honda pn 37352-ZW5-000ZA ($16.97 @ Ron Ayers)...it reads 0-30psi and is labeled "pressure" (any idea why I might be interested in that? :biggrin:), but got me to thinking maybe there was a matching voltmeter, despite the VDO gauges not being listed on the .pdf linked above. A little part number manipulation and Ron Ayers confirms that Honda pn. 37452-ZW5-000ZA is indeed a Honda VDO voltmeter ($12.40). I don't know for sure what it looks like (or if it's backlit, waterproof, etc.), but for under $15, it's a gamble possibly worth taking. Ciao,

I had lined up the Chain Gang in Oz to make me a 530-pitch RC30/NC30 rear sprocket, but they inconsiderately went out of business before I could order it! Since then, I've had some success (albeit at a price) with Krause Racing's Sidewinder Sprockets...they will make anything you want. They offer several different materials and can machine them to fit any bolt pattern. Note that they will try to push you to order their high-end titanium-alloy sprockets, however. I wanted to stick with 530-pitch because my FP has a TTS big bore kit. Ciao,

My old exhaust page showed many of the 3d-gen options available several years ago (including the Nikko and the Remus mentioned above), but others that certainly aren't any longer: Here. HTH. Ciao,

How much of this work had to be done to fit the RC30 axle, and how much was just extra? Cheers,

Cool, a kit ordered by a first time poster to this site. Welcome and I hope you stick around to give us reports about the first Supercharged VFR in the UK! Well, I'm supposedly #3...but the bike this is for lives in California. It's getting very close to May... Ciao,

$350 on EBAY, I just looked. Made ya look! :biggrin: Really? Hmm, I've never done the sums, but I suppose it does all add up, doesn't it. The G35 projectors can be had for $150/pr or less, but to that you need to add ballasts, igniters and burners, plus shrouds if you go that way. So, not a cheapie deal...but the best usually isn't--just ask Toro! Unfortunately, I can't even finish my own projects, so there's approximately nil chance I'll be doing them for anyone else (unless I become a victim of the credit crunch/global slowdown/recessionary environment/financial Armageddon later this year, of course). But, once I get the drawings for the alloy plate done, if anyone wants them, they're yours, gents... Ciao,

I suppose you could paint the rest of the lens, but I'm not planning on it.There shouldn't be any start-up issues if I use OEM ballasts (which I have). That's simply because this is just a proven OEM xenon system transplanted into another vehicle, so it should be OEM quality (unless I screw up the install in some way). That said, I have crystal-clear lenses for those projectors (much like shown in this thread), as well as Phillips 85122+ burners, so the performance should be even more impressive. We shall see... Ciao,

With xenon you don't get a lot of heat, fortunately. And let's just say that flat black is apparently an acquired taste... :biggrin: Ciao,

This is a project-in-progress, as it is not yet installed and working. [To be updated] I decided to perform this retrofit simply because I had been given a spare 5th-gen headlight unit (thanks, JohnA!), was planning on buying my own 5th-gen VFR, and had been collecting parts to do a xenon retrofit on my ST1300. (Er, why, exactly?) The missing piece is that after I decided to "bake apart" the donor headlight I discovered something very interesting: The US-spec VFR800Fi headlight reflector was EXACTLY the same as the US-spec ST1300A4 reflector. Same manufacturer, part number, everything. The subcontractor (Stanley) apparently liked to keep things simple by not re-inventing the lightbulb (so to speak) for each headlight unit it built for Honda. I soon realised that, although I was stuck in LA for a while, I could still advance my ST1300 retrofit project, because the parts were the same spec. Of course, it wasn't really as simple as that, but I didn't need much of an excuse! P1020795x.jpg Baking apart the headlight unit. It's not an exact science, but about 200-degF (oven off) for 10 minutes is probably enough. P1020797x.jpg A bit of pulling and prying later, you get this. P1020800x.jpg Cutting off the back of a reflector. Dremel diamond wheel in a drill press does the trick. P1020803x.jpg Here's the cut reflector sitting on the alloy plate I designed to mount the projector. (Ignore those holes!) P1000970x.jpg Modified Infiniti G35 projector on the left, stock on the right. The FX35 projector can also be used, but it requires more trimming and shrouding. P1000957x.jpg Side-view of the projector mounted to the alloy plate. P1000955x.jpg Rear-view of the projector protruding through the mounting plate. P1000951x.jpg The positioning of the projector within the headlight unit. P1000950x.jpg Back side of the headlight unit with one projector mounted. P1000976x.jpg Front view. No additional shrouding has been used, but this may become necessary after testing. That's basically where I'm at with it now. Not fitted to the bike, not tested, and me 5,000mi away until mid-summer! [To be updated] There is nothing very complicated about taking a proven lighting system from another vehicle and transplanting it into another, but it did require a lot of trial and error, a lot of eBay purchases and a LOT of measuring. Getting the dimensions of everything right was probably the hardest part, actually. But I do have several sets of other xenon projectors that I went through before settling on these. I made two different mounting plates before settling on a third design (and a fourth for one side of the ST1300, due to the remote adjustment feature complicating things!). I'm fairly happy with the result, though obviously I will be happier once I'm able to test it. Apart from actually mounting the modified unit in the fairing, I've got to deal with sealing up the back of the headlight housing, while allowing the wires to pass through. I've also got to figure out where the igniter and ballast units can be mounted in the fairing. This may require the use of a different connector and igniter with longer wires, but these are all interchangeable, so should not be a huge problem. Oh, and the big question (and potential headache) is the issue of shrouding... Projectors like these are designed to work buried in headlight housings, shrouded up to their lenses, not exposed like these are. The G35 unit is relatively shrouded already (compared to the BMW E46, for example), but there are still holes, through which stray light can surely pass. I've also chosen to keep the reflectors, mainly for aesthetic reasons, which could result in all kinds of reflected scatter. So, I'll probably have to shroud the projectors in some way. Making shrouds is a huge PITA, though, because there's really nothing made for this. Some of the retrofit shops sell shrouds, but they are not really ideal, and they are always stupidly expensive. So, TBD on the shrouding! Ciao,