$50 mod thread

If someone is making a DTT book, let me know. my father owns a Commercial printing company and i would be able to do anything through there nice and cheap. let me know.
 
Smoking Star said:
If someone is making a DTT book, let me know. my father owns a Commercial printing company and i would be able to do anything through there nice and cheap. let me know.

Yes I am putting together a DTT book. I am planning on using a self publishing company so that I can order them as needed rather than have a whole bunch printed. But depending on how the cost works out I might want to take advantage of your offer. The book won't be ready until the fall, so keep me posted on this. Thanks, -MBS
 
Deviant1 said:
What's the deadline looking like for submissions MBS? Want to get my bike as presentable as possible before I send pics...

Deadline is Sept. 1. So you have plenty of time. Thanks for the inquiry, but lets keep this thread to $50 mods and put DTT book questions in that thread so the moderators don't pull their hair out. Here is the link:
http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=7033.0

-MBS
 
Honda Radio Shack Rectifier


So I test my rectifier and it seems to be bad. I went to Radio Shack and bought the recommended diode for about $4.
600_Radio-Shack-276-1185.jpg
600_Radio-Shack-276-1185.jpg




I cut an oem rectifier plug off an old wiring harness:
600_Rectifier-Plug-Female.jpg
600_Rectifier-Plug-Female.jpg




Then I pushed the terminals out with a small screwdriver:
600_Rectifier-Plug.jpg
600_Rectifier-Plug.jpg




This is the plug disassembled:
600_Rectifier-Plug-Assembly.jpg
600_Rectifier-Plug-Assembly.jpg




The terminals fit perfectly onto the diode terminals:
600_Rectifier-Terminals.jpg
600_Rectifier-Terminals.jpg




I put plastic terminal protectors on the spades, and added bullet terminals to the other ends. Then some heat shrink wrap from Harbor Frieght. I'll need to cut the plug off the wire harness and put some female ends on so this will plug in to it:
600_Rectifier-Finished.jpg




(modified this post today to fix the broken images with updated links to a new server)
600_Rectifier-Finished.jpg
 
Put a magnet inside a plastic bag and use it to pick up all the swarf and crap from around your machinery. When finished, turn the bag inside out to catch all the stuff as you disengage the magnet. Chuck the bag in the bin.
 
Here's my $50 mod, well less than $3.00 ;D I was sick of my hand and finger hurting after spray painting so I decided to try out one of the attachments for the top of the cans. I just got done using it to paint my frame and it worked great!

CIMG1131.jpg


CIMG1137.jpg
 
those attachments guns for the spray cans are worth every penny, i was painting a lot of metal one day doing construction, i used probably a dozen cans of spray paint, well we had to go to the home depot to get something and i asked the boss if he would buy one of the spray gun attachments because i could not feel my fingers anymore from holding the spray button down :) he bought one and if he had not than i would have bought one :D
 
they do work awesome! only with epoxy paint the overspray is so nuts you have to watch for drips when using those guns... if not it will drip on your item and you will be back to waiting a week before re shooting!
 
LED Gauge Bulbs

Bulbs - 5 for $8 $12

I bought a set of BA9S replacement bulbs on fleabay.  They have 5 LEDs on, 4 small side firing bulbs and one really bright fwd firing one.  I replaced both gauge backlight bulbs, the neutral light and the highbeam light in the bucket.  I found out that I could not replace my blinker indicator light.  There is only one light that comes on whether you have the left or right blinker on.  The wiring is set up so that current flows one way for right and the other way for left.  Since current can only flow one way through LED bulbs, it would only work for one direction.  I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to figure that out.  I just put the old bulb back in.

Ba9s_5LED_W2.jpg


On the old CB gauges, the bulbs just go into some holes on the back of the gauges.  You just gently pry the rubber socket holders out of the back and remove the old bulbs.  The ones I got were a little too wide to fit into the holes.  The side firing LEDs stuck out too far.  So, I took some pliers and GENTLY squeezed them in just enough to fit in the holes.



Man those things are bright!



Here you can see the difference between the LED and incandescent bulbs.

 
You don't need the ones with the side firing LEDs for the idiot lights.  The ones I bought came in a pack of 5 so I used them anyway.
 
I bought mine from here, http://stores.ebay.com/EnKMall, but there are many other sellers on ebay. They ship from HK so they take a week or two. I actually got mine surprisingly fast from HK. I also got the 1157 replacement bulbs from them, the ones with 24 LEDs. I'm not too thrilled with those as they are not very bright. But I really liked the Ba9S bulbs I got.
 
Magnetize your steel oil drain plug so tiny metal bits get attracted to the bottom of the case. When you change your oil clean the bits off the drain plug with a rag.
 
Joe mentioned I should post this here....although it is really a $25 mod. I use Flexi hose to cover all of my electrical lines to spruce them up a bit. You can also cover old faded out cables and hoses with the stuff. Cut to fit, singe the ends (to keep it from fraying), then flex it over the bundle of stuff you wish to cover, and heat shrink either end to hold it in place! It comes in different colors, but I prefer the black. Seems to work on just about any bike, and I used to work on a lot of them doing custom wiring. Give it a shot, you won't be disappointed!

http://www.cruisercustomizing.com/detail.cfm?Category_ID=64&manufacturer_ID=167&product_ID=14215&sblid_name=Baron_Custom_Accessories_Flexi_Wire_and_Hose_Cover___Black&model_id=0

image_14215.jpg


Here is a shot of my 35 year old switch boxes polished and the wiring covered with black flexi hose

SwitchBoxes001.jpg
 
Taping rims to paint spokes and hubs:

This isn't really a mod, but I think it makes taping up your rims a little bit easier. Instead of going around each spoke nipple with several pieces of tape, get some reinforcement labels for hole-punched papers.
IMG_3692.jpg

Cut the label towards its center:
IMG_3696.jpg

Slip the label over your spoke and slide it down around the nip:
IMG_3700.jpg

Now you have a little more area to work with, allowing the process of taping to go a bit faster. It's just a bit more precise.

(Note: This is only helpful if you're painting the spokes and nipples of a trued wheel)
 
cheap battery acid overflow tank

basically i took a small plastic vitamin bottle and put some battery acid in it that i had left over from filling my battery and the acid did not melt thru it

so i drilled a hole in the top/cap of the bottle a bit smaller than the size of the battery acid overflow hose and but that in the cap, than i drilled two small vent holes toward the top of the bottle and than i screwed the cap onto the bottle and than zip tie the bottle somewhere in the bike and there you go :D

i found some overflow tanks for less than $10 but i am cheap :D and had vitamin bottles free so total cost free :D
 
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