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Jimbo77 05/2003
This mod was very easy. Not nearly as difficult as you think. No
special instructions, just remember to put back what you take off...hehehe.
All I needed for tools was some wrenches, sockets, drill and my
trusty Dremel, though no cutting was done on any stock part, only on
my tag bracket.
First, take off the side covers either side of the seat and remove
the front seat bolts. Unlock your rear seat and remove that also.
Take out the two bolts holding the grabrail and remove that. Look
for the screw holding down the rear seat latch cable and remove
that. Next take out the screw holding the two sides of the rear cowl
together, right behind where the front seat was. Next, also note the
black push pin connector there also. Push in on the center of that
connector; it pops up and you can remove it. There are four more of
those connectors on the underside, holding the rear cowl to the
existing undertray. Pop out those, and your cowl is now loose from
the bike. Actually, I believe there is one more on the rear of the
tail section, right above the Suzuki decal and also a couple at the
base of the tail light. I'm going on memory now, so I may be
wrong.... Once those are off, pull the seat cowl towards the rear of
the bike, slightly separating it at the front seam so as to get it
off the sub-frame. Voila, you're now looking at the underseat area.
Next, disconnect your signal lights and taillight. Edit; Disconnect
the Signals and the License Plate Light, not the Tail Light...Now,
at the back of the undertray area, directly above the mud guard,
you'll find 4 bolts, 10 mm I believe, screwing down through the
subframe/undertray into the mud guard. Remove those four bolts. Once
removed, the mud guard slides down and rearward, away from the bike.
Voila again... no more mud guard.
Now, you can go ahead and reinstall the rear cowl, just the opposite
way you removed it. Once re-installed, you will see a gap between
the undertray and the rear cowl, shaped like an "M" looking up
underneath from the rear of the bike. My initial method of covering
as much as this gap as possible was accomplished with a piece of
aluminium angle, about 6" long with 1" x 1" legs, which I also used
as my license plate mounting bracket. For my tag illumination, I
picked up a pair of these lighted bolts which you can find by doing
a Google search on 'Lites N Bolts' . I drilled 1/8" holes thru my aluminium bracket
up thru the undertray to mount the bracket with a couple bolts and
washers. As before, for signals, I used Lockhart Phillips Flush
Mount V lights. The flush mounts were $16.95, the Lite N Bolts were
$23.95 and the aluminium bracket was $2.00 at my local home depot.
If you don't need/want the signals or the license tag lights, you
have almost now cash outlay. You just have to rewire the new lights
to the existing wiring harness. I actually cut the wires near the
signals and tag light and spliced the factory connectors onto the
new lights wiring.
My project isn't complete as yet, as my gap between the rear cowl
and the undertray isn't completely filled. I will pick up some small
piece of lightweight plastic/neoprene to shape to fill the gap, but
for all intents and purposes it looks fine, though not yet
completely watertight. Here is my mod, at no charge to the group.
This took me about two hours to complete, and I did it by trial and
error. These instructions should help speed the process up for
anyone willing to try...
Let me know how you make out, and good luck to anyone who gives it a
shot. I think you'll be very impressed with the outcome, and
especially impressed with the minimal cash outlay. Best of all, I
can put the whole thing back to stock with a little bit of time,
wire connectors, and electrical tape....
Both sets of lights, front and rear, came in pairs. I did in fact
cut the wires off the old signals and spliced the factory connector
onto the new lights. Actually, I wasn't aware that L-P sold the
Suzuki connectors, but knowing myself all to well, I wouldn't have
waited for those to arrive B)
The license plate bracket was made out of some aluminium L-metal I
bought from Home Depot, about $3 USD for a 24" long piece. The angle
has 1" by 1" legs. I cut it about 3/4" longer than my tag on each
end, then bent that around for the curved look, then used my Dremel
tool to cut it off at an angle. Pretty cheap fix, not the best
looking in and of itself, but it is well covered by the tag. It
works for me. I have yet to complete, as I want something to cover
the gap left, similar to the bracket andyw made, I just haven't
gotten around to it. Hope this answered your questions...
Jimbo77 27/05/2003
My project isn't complete as yet, as my gap between the rear cowl
and the undertray isn't completely filled. I will pick up some small
piece of lightweight plastic/neoprene to shape to fill the gap, but
for all intents and purposes it looks fine, though not yet
completely watertight. Here is my mod, at no charge to the group.
This took me about two hours to complete, and I did it by trial and
error. Jimbo77 22/06/2003
Here is my updated mod, a la SpankMe (Edit=AndyW: cut and trim
original fender - retains Tool Kit 'hooks' and gives some protection
to the rear of the bike). Sorry for the poor image quality....it's
raining like a bitch here again. 8 days straight....If the sun ever
returns, I'll post better pics. This seals the gap, and gives me
much more weather/debris protection, all while still looking
good...I made my own tag mounting bracket out of aluminium, primed
and painted it flat black, and mounted that to the "bobbed" rear
fender....With that extra couple of inches, it protects the entire
tail-light from debris coming off the tire...
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