Original "How To" article written by Ted Norris, March 1998.
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This installation makes a VERY significant change in the brightness of the tail light, set aside about 3 hours to do it.
You will need the following:
1. A 55 watt H3 bulb (Std. driving light bulb)
2. About a dozen(12) male and female spade lugs
3. 5 ft. of red and black wire
4. A fuse holder and fuse (I use the flat type, same as the ST has)
5. A std. horn/light relay (their usually rated at 30 amps, this is way more than
you need but there cheap and can be found everywhere)
6. A 1/2"(.500) drill bit and drill( I recommend a sheet metal drill, a std. drill bit
will work though.
7. A small burr or rotary file
8. A soldering gun and solder
9. A pair of "small" sharp side cutters
10. Blue Hi Temp Silicon
OK, First take off the seat, grab rails, trunk assy if you have
one, saddle bags, left side panel and the fender.
Pull the tool box flip door forward and unplug the light assy.
Unbolt the rear section, now spread the sides out far enough to
clear and lift, there are 4 posts that the grab rails bolted to that must be
cleared, and slide it back.
Take the 4 screws out(2 inside/2 outside) and rotate the brake
light assy out from the inside.
Separate the wiring and bulbs from the housing, DO NOT TRY TO
SEPARATE THE LENS FROM THE HOUSING, it s a sealed unit and very expensive.
Right where you want to put the light there is a X like
protrusion, use the small side cutters and cut it off as much as you can, use the burr
or rotary file to smooth thing out.
At the center of the X is where you want to drill the 1/2" hole.
If you have access to a drill press I suggest you use it, if not,
be VERY CAREFUL, when drilling the hole, the plastic is very soft
and the drill could screw it s self, when braking through, into the lens,,,you don't want to
do that. If you had everything lined up right the hole will be centered on the
protruding part of the reflector. Blow the debris out and set it in a safe place.
Install the wires to the battery. and ground, leave the fuse out for
now. Follow the instructions for using the relay that are on the box or info
sheet that come with it. Use the GREEN wire with the YELLOW stripe as the power
source to trigger the relay.
Time to light up the solder gun, solder a pigtail on the base of
the light for a ground, get the lens assy and push the bulb into the hole, make
sure that the light base is straight up and down(I), you will notice that there
are gaps top and bottom because of the shape of the reflector, place some tape
over the gaps, use the Blue silicon to make a gasket that will keep water and
who knows what else out, just keep in mind that you may want to take the bulb
out someday.
Mount the relay to the lower part of the flip door right where it
changes angle. You may find some where else but this worked for me, I used velcro
to hold it in place.
Reassemble the back end, hook things up, put the fuse in and try
it out. Looks great don't it?
Put everything back together and go show your friends.
If for some reason you want it to flash just put a std turn signal
flasher in line on the ground side.
Hope your as happy with this mod as I am.
Ted
~~~
Additional information and pictures provided when I did the above mod to my ST.
I used the additional light as a flashing brake light.
NOTE: Additional pictures are no longer available.
Parts used:
55 watt, H3 bulb at $4.99
Heavy Duty auxiliary relay, 30 amp, 4 terminal, Nightblaster number A-715 at $3.95.
Heavy Duty flasher, 12 volt, 2 terminal, Littlefuse number FLR 536/552 at $2.99
Schematic ( PDF ) can be found below.
Picture #1
This is a view of the tail light assembly before any modifications. Notice the X shaped piece of plastic extending from the center. This is the exact location of where the high intensity bulb will be located. This plastic must be cut away with a pair of side cutters and a dremel tool.
Picture #2
This is a view of the assembly after the X shaped plastic has been removed, and the 1/2 inch hole drilled in the exact center.
Picture #3
H3, 55 watt halogen bulb with ground wire attached using a soldering iron.
Picture #4
Tail light assembly shown with H3 bulb inserted in 1/2 inch hole. Bulb gets RTVed into this location and wires secured with a tie wrap.
Submitted by Tom Melnik STOC #346
