| Author | Message | ||
     Hooliken |
Finally got my Special Ops exhaust back from getting it powder coated. Also decided I did not want to fork over $300+ for some motolights so I found some PIAA 002x's on Ebay for $80 bucks. And since my weee one was here and my house is overrun with 9 y/o children it would be a good day to do some wrenching. A little before and after of the stock exhaust along side the Special Ops.  Install was pretty straight forward considering the under engine exhaust. Took my time and was about an hour start to finish. Sounds like a twin should now. Just did a little cruise around the "hood" and some holeshots in front of the house. But seems to run just as I expected.........much better. Installing the PIAA's was a little more involved but not much of a hassle. I did not want to run the big ass 4 to 5 inch lights so I opted for the 002x's which are a little over 2 inches in diameter. Of course first thing I had to do was run the harness through the frame and get everthing wired up. Found a good place to mount the relay....fit perfectly on one of the bolts for the ECM. Also ran my pigtail for my heated gear while I was at it.  Ran the rest of the wire harness up to the front under my flyscreen\windshield.  Mounted the lights themselves to the blinker stalk spacers.  Lights are nice and small and do not look to out of place.  Then mounted the switch up on the instrument panel.  Then for the test. Lo Beam  Do not know why it appears that both headlights are on in this picture??? Hi Beam  Full Monty  All in all it took me about 3 hours to complete the exhaust and light install. Compared to spending over 300 bucks on some lights I have around $110 in the lights including shipping and hardware. Cannot wait until I actually get a chance to ride at night to see how much they help. Also anxious to see what the Spec Ops does to performance when riding in anger... Big thumbs up to Odie. Pipe looks and sounds great!!! (Message edited by hooliken on October 13, 2007) | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well, that's certainly the simplest and cleanest install yet. Nice job. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
That last picture with the 4 lights on looks mean as hell! | ||
| Ratbuell |
When I get my lights (for an S2, but I like looking at the "other" boards, LOL) I'll probably wire the trigger wire for the PIAA switch to the high beam wire instead of to battery. Leave the PIAA switch on, low beams nice and polite, hit the highbeams, power to the switch turns on the relay, and PRESTO! - daylight. That's how I have my Jeep wired up, works great. Nice looking install, very neat and clean as noted above. Sorry for the Tuber Intrusion, LOL. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
That's what I did, see here: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1355/811665966_6656 00b536.jpg And I'm also a tuber owner who browses other forums. | ||
| Hooliken |
We are all Buellaholics so it is all good. In my world Tubers are people too!!  Just got back from a little night ride and lights work as I hoped. I did not need much more in the way of down the road light but I wanted a wider field of view at night. Very nice. Did not wear my ear plugs since I only went on a short ride but.......with the Spec Ops pipe they are definitely a good idea. | ||
| Midnightrider |
Hooliken Where did you run the wire from the battery to the windscreen? I ran a set of PIAAs pretty much the same way but I had a hard time deciding whether to run the wire under the airbox cover and through the space under the handlebars or behind the frame/below the airbox but closer to the jugs. I ended up choosing the second option and kept the wires close to the other stuff routed the same way. I threaded the wires through an additional insulator and I've had it that way for almost a year but I worry about the cumulative effect of the heat. Anyway, how did you do it? | ||
| Hooliken |
I first covered about 4 feet of the wiring harness with heat resistant shrink wrap. I just took my time and used some home made "fish" tape to run both light wires and the switch wires threw separately. I simply followed the route of the main harness going from the ECM to the headlight assembly on the right side of the frame. They have not left much room for adding additional wiring. Besides mounting the lights the only other thing I had to do was tap into a switched 12V source for the switch. I was originally going to go to the Euro running light lead (that I have already swapped out with the low beam) but I ended up going to the accessory outlet which you can see in the upper right corner of the pic of the wiring under the flyscreen. The PIAA wiring harness is pretty stout but also fairly simple. I may end up making my own harness using a single (bigger gauge) wire for getting power to the lights. Regardless I plan on keeping a close eye on the wiring harness especially where it runs around the steering head. When I pull my forks for service this winter I plan on cleaning up the entire harness while the forks are out of the way. I do not like how the wiring harness is run from the factory and WILL find better routing for the whole shebang. |
