'86 VFR Turn Signals

I'm looking to replace my front turn signals with flush mount units. I don't really care for the way the stems look. Are these pretty much universal in size? I'm wanting to find some that fit perfectly in the indentions for the factory stalks...

 

I've got the black ones of these on my 86 and I think they look nice.

http://www.cyclegear.com/CycleGear/...SPEEDMETAL/Flush-Mount-Signals/p/38111_103849

You'll probably have to drill 2 small holes in the fairing for mounting. Also, since you are replacing a 3 wire (2 filament bulb) with a 2 wire aftermarket setup, you'll need to do some wiring magic if you want to keep the running light functionality. There's 2 ways to do this, easiest is with diodes. Second and a bit more complicated is with a bosch style relay which is what I chose. I also chose to keep the bulb at full brightness for running purposes vs using a resistor to dim it down some.

 

Not to hijack this thread, but CB-1, does there exist a wiring schematic to accomplish the above magic wiring for us electron-impaired?
JOE in IL

 

Thanks CB-1. Do they fit nice and flush with the fairing?

 

Yeah, they fit pretty flush



Now these have a 21 watt miniature halogen bulb. Super bright. wattage wise they are close to the "blink" filament in the OEM bulb. however the OEM running filament is only around 8 watts I believe. I haven't had any problems running them at full brightness as running lights.

Now for the following I take no resposibility if you $^#! up your bike. This is simply what I came up with for my 86. You'll need a pair of Bosch relays. 5 pin style. The key is 87a and 87 need to be seperate, 87 being the normally open contact when the coil isn't energized. You can tell by looking at the little schematic on top of the relay. I found some 30 amp ones at the local NAPA. You can probably get them off amazon cheaper.

There is a cheaper and simpler way to do this with rectifier diodes, however due to the decent current draw of these miniature halogens I chose to go the relay route. If you wanna go the rectifier route just google something like "3 wire to 2 wire turn signal conversion"



Now when you do this, hopefully you get some of the bullet connectors the bike's wiring harness uses so you can just plug this up vs hacking up the bike's stock harness. I chose to solder all connections to the relay vs using crimp on terminals and then covered them in liquid electrical tape. refer to the wiring harness and have a multi meter handy to verify what wire is what. Solid green is most likely ground.

So basically the way the 86 VFR turn circuit is wired, you get a constant 12v over running until you activate the turn signal switch. It then cuts out the running filament and activates the turn signal relay and you get the blink. the way I have the relay wired, as soon as you turn your bike on the relay closes. So the 12 v "running" serves two purposes. It energizes the coil, and by way of the jumper makes it way to 87 and accross the switch to 30 which is the bulb common. When you activate the turn signal, the relay de-energizes and the switch returns to 87a which lets the blink signal across to the bulb.

As for ground, you can tie both 86 and the bulb ground together and route them to the dark solid green coming from the bike harness.

and if for whatever reason you don't want running lights forget this whole mess and simply plug the bulb up to ground and the blink wire.

 

If you use shorter stalks, the OEM signals don't look so bad, and they're better quality than anything aftermarket !

 

Not too shabby! They actually look pretty good like that. What's the story on your headlight Squirrelman? Looks kinda like a 3rd gen. I like it.

 

Yeah, I prefer the 2-headlight look and use 'lectric tape and blatant fakery to get it.

 

I've got some just like that. The PO fabbed up some thin aluminum plates to fit on the back side to squeeze the fairing and hold them nicely in place. Basic 2 filament, 3 wire bulbs up front that the factory wires connect to. I painted the black part of the lens white since I have the all white paint scheme. Looks pretty good and is super cheap.

I was thinking about getting the 88/89 front signals as they are pretty slick looking. They are a little hard to find in the US, though. The 88/89 rear lights were used on other models sold in the US. I think the late 80's CBR1000's? They are pretty smooth and less "snaggable" on bike covers.