Dash Panel

Most people in the "Northern Chapter" are aware , as I've been talking about doing it for long enough, that I am intending to fill the space on the inside of my batwing fairing with a dash panel. The panel will consist of a piece of aluminium, covered in vinyl sheet ( grained leather look ) and contain a rev counter, a volt meter and a clock, also a USB charger and a pouch of some kind to hold my mobile phone / coins / sunglasses or whatever.
Here's a cardboard template which I made a while ago to give you some idea of how the layout will look.


As the weather's been crap today, I thought I'd make a start so I cut the aluminium for a piece kindly donated by Simbo ( thanks mate ! ) and cut out a piece of dining table protector to go on to the aluminium under the vinyl covering. Hopefully, the fact of the instruments squashing the padding around them will give it less of a "home made" look. Picture below shows these.


Still plenty to do  ( not least make the wiring loom for it ) but I'll keep you updated as the project progresses. Can't really do anything with it now until I get the instruments which are on their way from China as we speak. Need to get some vinyl covering, then some weatherproof connectors ( got all the cable necessary ) then I can get cracking on it

Looks interesting Mick - good luck with it

Looking good Mick, I'll look forward to the finished article 

I'm looking forward to following your post Mick

fair old project Mick...power to yer elbow..

Good project for winter Mick, will follow with interest.

where are the speakers going mate?

fat intruder wrote:

where are the speakers going mate?

Nooooooooo Morgan  ....... absolutely not !

Very good idea, I will look forward to seeing it evolve.

Looking good mick, was that a NO entry sign or national speed limit

Nice little project there Mick!

hawktheslayer wrote:

Looking good mick, was that a NO entry sign or national speed limit

Wrong on both counts Justin .... They're both circular and anyway - even if you guessed what it used to be I wouldn't tell you if you were right or wrong !

It's a dash panel - OK ?  

In that case NO ENTRY! ps a little birdie told me where he pinched them from! don't worry not my network so don't care..............Psssst ere guv can I interest you in some signage?

Great start Mick... Look forward to seeing it.

hawktheslayer wrote:

ps a little birdie told me where he pinched them from! don't worry not my network so don't care............

Yea, I remember the 'little birdie' coming out with that anecdote too! 

Ace thinking 

you done that yet mick?

That's a really good project for sure. Look forward to seeing the finished product! 

Skidalot wrote:

hawktheslayer wrote:

ps a little birdie told me where he pinched them from! don't worry not my network so don't care............

Yea, I remember the 'little birdie' coming out with that anecdote too! 

Wife is getting ready for Christmas.....says she can't find the large aluminium Turkey pan ....Twojob ....have you been round here ? 

Thats right.... Teflon coated.... Much easier to clean for mick

bigmal wrote:

Much easier to clean for mick

Mick don't want 'easy' when it comes to cleaning, he likes a challenge!    A packet of J cloths and some polish and he's as happy as a pig in a dung heap! 

OK,  OK.... enough of the cleaning jokes already! 

I've been busy over the last couple of days working on the dash panel again. All wiring was completed yesterday having taken delivery of the tachometer & voltmeter. I am still waiting for the analogue clock which will be going in the hole on the right of the panel when I get it.
Below us a very short video of the items which are fitted,  working. It's not pretty as it still needs to be covered in vinyl fabric but that will be taken care of in the next few days.
 I'm very impressed with how the voltmeter looks, less so with the tacho but it does the job and the needle travels nice & smoothly with no bouncing as has been reported with some tachos on this site.
The little USB charger socket will come in handy for phone / iPod and the like, particularly when I get a pocket fitted on the dash to hold things of this nature.
Sorry about the quality of the video .... its just to show the instruments working.  I'll post a better one up when the project is complete.

That looks good Mick! I like the tacho   would you be able to swap all the bulbs out in the instruments so they're all the same brightness?

Good to see you putting all this free time to good use
Looking good!

simbo wrote:

That looks good Mick! I like the tacho   would you be able to swap all the bulbs out in the instruments so they're all the same brightness?

No, I can't mate which us why I said I wasn't that impressed with the rev counter. Would you believe they're from the same range, by the same manufacturer  ?
Completely different connections for the lighting circuit at the back of each instrument, therefore I'm assuming  different bulb wattages. Might get worse when I get the clock k, that could be different again !
Fortunately I don't ride much in the dark !!

well done Mick keep up the good work mate

Looking good Mick!

Progress report .....
Got the tacho & voltmeter installed plus vinyl covering glued on to the panel. As I'd lots of vinyl material left  I've decided to cover the internals of the hanguard part of the fairing to tidy it up as it was a bit rough. Just awaiting some edge trim now to complete the dash panel itself and I've also ordered some to install around the fairing itself to tidy the edges up.
Still looking for an analogue clock in the right style ( to match up ) & at the right price but the wiring is there for it and a 52mm hole drilled in the panel behind the vinyl covering. Hoping to have it all finished and working sometime next week. I'll keep yer posted !

Looking good Mick! good idea with the hand guards 

coming on nicely Mick 

Looking forward to seeing this complete

Love DIY modifications and this is no exception. We'll done Mick, god thinking so far. 

That ties it all together very well indeed.

Update No 2 ... almost done now. Clock is ordered and due for delivery tomorrow and as it's wired and ready will be simple to fit. Here's the clock I've ordered - a little pricey but not bad for a VDO clock and its the best fit for my needs that I can find

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391237690017?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Edge trim is installed on both the panel and the fairing edges but I'm unsure what to do with the top of the fabric to get it to look right.

I need the fabric to join to the fairing to stop light from the instrument backlights bleeding out through the gaps between the panel and the fairing. This in itself is OK but I can't figure out how to get it to look neat in the top corners so may need to put my thinking cap on unless anyone has any suggestions.

Should all be done for the weekend however I decide to do it so I'll post some more pics up then.

What a project this has been ... I expected it to be quite simple once I got working on it but its been the small details which have taken up most of the time. A full day to wire it, a full day to cut / cover the panel and several days ( weeks it seems ) waiting for delivery of gauges, trim and other bits and pieces. Hopefully it'll all look good when its done !

Fairing trim - exterior view

 Fairing trim - around headlight recess


Fairing trim - interior view


Edge trim and Dash panel - minus clock .... (white edges around panel have been tidied up since photo was taken )


You can see where the clock will be going on the right hand side as the hole is cut out behind the fabric, just got to trim the fabric away when I fit it.

Hope yu like it guys, stay tuned for the finished article !

Looks great!   You'll be polishing both sides of it now 

simbo wrote:

Looks great!   You'll be polishing both sides of it now 

 ...... sarcy cunt !

I was going to do that on my old bike, then the misses said I could get a new bike. Good job!

Looking good Mick, one of a kind like it.

So, clock came today ..... here's the fairing panel installed & although you can't tell from this, fully working. 


Still needs some tidying in places but I've spent enough time on it for just now - I'll tidy it up a bit later. For now, everything works although one thing I'm not particularly happy with is that all the backlights on all 3 instruments are different brightnesses. Not a great deal I can do about it as the tacho and clock backlights are integral so i can't swap the bulbs for dimmer ones. The voltmeter shines like bloody Polaris when its lit whilst the other two are much dimmer, the clock being dimmer than the tacho. Oh well, not much I can do about it now

Tbat looks good Mick ...worth all the effort 

Could you put a bit of 'Smokey ' film over the bright ones ?

I've always liked that screen Mick, it's even nicer now,.

Would a piece of screen tinting film dim that bright clock down a bit ?



Edit:

Ninja'd by Alan.

Looking good! the badge above the clocks will finish it off nicely 

Looks good Mick - why no USB ports? - always come in handy for something

Looks good Mick!

Good looking job so far.

johnboss wrote:

Looks good Mick - why no USB ports? - always come in handy for something

Thanks for your comments guys !

There is a double USB charger just below the voltmeter John, you just can't see it very well on these photos. The photo below shows it clearly though. 



Not sure what I'm gonna use them for though - like a dick, I've put 'em on a switched live circuit so they only work when the ignition is on ! Having said that, the original intention was to have some kind of pouch on the panel to hold a mobile phone etc so I could charge it whilst on the move but I had to mount the gauges lower down than I expected so they cleared the fairing behind the panel and that hasn't left enough room to mount anything much below them. Maybe if I hadn't made the cutout to mirror the headlamp housing I may have been able to do this but I think it looks better as I've done it. I'm thinking of some kind of handlebar mounted phone case which I've seen on eBay but I'm not sure if I like the way that'll look to be honest. Food for thought. 
For now, the socket is there and I'm sure it'll get used in some way or other.

Good looking job there Mick - credit to you - well done

So, managed to get a test run in today whilst meeting up with the Northern Chapter. All good except for the rev counter which, despite my claim earlier in the thread, bounces around like a kangaroo shagging Tigger !
At first I thought it maybe something to do with air pressure fluctuations inside the instrument body ( the gauges are car gauges and therefore not yet sealed ) but during the ride back, I saw a bit of a pattern emerging where it would display steady rpm,  then gradually fluctuate until it was bouncing across a range of around 4000pm then gradually settle down to steady, then start the process all over again. It did seem to worsen though during gusts of wind so maybe that has some effect. Or maybe it's down to the 270 degree firing pattern of the engine ? I have absolutely no idea !
At least everything else with the project is OK but any suggestions on the tacho would be welcome.

Might be worth getting the rear wheel of the ground and run it up and down through the gears and see what happens.  You'd be working in a stable environment, ie no wind, road vibrations etc.  At least this way you may be able eliminate some of the factors you think may be having an effect.