DIY fender eliminator - lots of details

[sdnative]

SO, my street-fighter project continued with another little DIY mod (it's here, for those interested).

I needed a change to the stock tail section, as it was kinda massive and became ever-more-so glaring as the bike continued to get converted. Below is what I fab'd up ...a unique fender eliminator. Why? Because 1) I can't stand the generic ones that hang right off the tail, and 2) ...ahh, cause I wanted to.

Below is step-by-step, plus templates you can use to make one yourself is so inclined.

Before

After

...to be continued

 

[FB400]

Looks clean.. what are you planning for license plate illumination?

 

[huy]

Looks great! Instructions?

 

[sdnative]

Looks clean.. what are you planning for license plate illumination?

Thought that one over, not going to add any. I know it's not technically legal, but over the last few days been looking at cars driving at night and came to the conclusion I don't need it. These CA plates are white and super reflective. Other headlights provide the illumination. If a cop is behind me, it's gonna be lit up. If there are any cars behind me, it's gonna be lit up. That's if I'm even riding at night, which I dont. That single naked headlamp I recently added is a joke for a headlamp...so firms that policy up. Many cars lack this plate illumination also.

There are a couple options otherwise. 1) those little led/bolts that are common additions to other fender elim kits 2) a little compact one could be mounted right above the plate on the splash plate.

More answer than you wanted haha!

 

[sdnative]

...project post continues.

Sheet metal fab always starts with looking over the options and some cardboard + tape mockups. Sheet metal can be tricky, as you can't always make what you envision. I only have a finger brake, no press brake so was slightly limited (which i'll explain more later).

Looking at placement option ...rear most like other kit options I've seen ...

...didn't really like that option although I could have used the stock plate light with this config. Steals the visual show from the pipe and tail section lines. Middle, where there is a stock cross brace ...much better

So got out the marker, cardboard, scissors, and duct tape and worked out a design that was low profile, complimented factory lines, and got the job done.

..there was a little lacking I felt, and the back plastic pipe shroud was still not fastened in place, so I added a little tail piece that visually terminated the tail section and kept crap from splashing up under the muffler. Sorta compliments the wedge'y naked headlamp also.

Next came the fab. The Aluminum is 3/16" sheet, T something grade, as it's very stiff stuff (came from our misc workshop stock pile). Cardboard mockup was laid flat onto the metal and traced with a marker. All holes and radii were drilled at this stage. Note use of the hole saw for a large radius. After drilling use the jigsaw to cut out the part. I did this for both parts.

Next came bending on the finger brake. A little fore thought helps makes sure you bend in the correct sequence ...as sometimes you can bend tabs etc that screw you up for future bends. These parts not to tricky, except, that I did have to end up cutting the outer round edges off the plate mount tab as they were in the way of bending up the blinker mount tabs. If I had a press brake, I wouldn't have needed work around this. Minor.

Good use of a metal file and coarse aluminum oxide sandpaper and things were ready for automotive quality flat black. I also taped a fake frame around the plate and painted the backside black as well. Scotchbrite and clean off each with pure alcohol before painting.

Some solder work and electrical tape while paint dried. I cut the stock wires off about two inches from the stock turns ...then stripped back the cover. See how these are soldered offset so I can just tape in one pass.

Turn signals were off eBay $40 I think these were wayyy overpriced in hind-site. Came with generic male connector ends, but didn't even come with female connector ends so useless and gave them the chop. They are very bright and have a nice led array inside otherwise. LED's don't care about vibration, so having them rubber mounted is stupid IMO ...but they are.

Next came mounting. Pretty straightforward. I turned the LED flashers at a slight upward angle to make them more visible to other drivers. The splash panel just sits on-top off the license plate, no bolts. Zip tie off the wires to the frame ( I couldn't get that stock plastic wire-cover piece to go back in place). Will see if the exhaust melts the wires in time haha

Another shot of the stinger

Final checkout ...works :rockon:

Questions? ...hit me up

 

[sdnative]

Oh yea, templates. Click on the below image. The full sized image is a 8.5 x 11" wide scan, so basically you can print it out stretched 100% (no print margins) and you end up with a picture you can cut out with scissors and trace onto your own metal. Drill, cut, bend, paint, you got your own. Depending on how you bend them, you may need to square off the tab for the license plate, as on my finger brake these were physically in the way of bending the blinker mount tabs up.



One last thing I forgot to mention, there is a window you need to cut out to allow a stock bend space. Drill four holes in each corner, then jigsaw out the center.