Lights!

My accident was a lowside on the right. The damage to the VFR was actually not as bad as it could have been, I even rode it back after pulling it out of the ditch. But the entire right side, except the tank, was fubar.

First up was getting the headlight up and going. On this Gen. VFR, the headlight is seccured into the front fairing which screws into the front sub-frame. Without fairings, I would need to modify this sub-frame to house the headlight. After the lowside the sub-frame was broke d*ck bent so each side had to be specially fit.

I started off with a two foot piece of 5/8" pipe and used a replacement front fairing as a jig to get the right angle and shape for the new sub-frame headlight brace.
Here you can see the sub-frame and the pipe stock


And just to show what I mean by using the fairing as a jig, here is the headlight sitting in the fairing and the sub frame on top, just to make sure I get the right angle of the headlight inside the new frame. (this picture is out of sequence, btw)


Used a torch and protractor to get a rough angle from the pipe, then back and forth between the jig and vice to fine tune it...and being careful not to melt the plastic on the headlight or fairing.


Then cut out the tabs for the mounting hardware and a bottom brace to make the whole thing more secure and hopefully vibrate less. All I had was solid square iron. More pipe would have been better. The square iron is a bit too heavy, which is never good.


Tack welded the lower arms in place and double checked in the jig. Then off to be TIG welded by my instructor at the good old Welding and Fabrication shop at the Spokane Community College.


Here it is welded up and getting a quick sand down before some Rust Kill and a few coats of paint. BTW, those top ears will be getting the chop to make way for new mirror mounts.