Best Way to Lift Fairing to Mount Short Stalks?

Easiest way to do it is take the plastic covers off on either side of the triple tree and get down in there. If you don't have gorilla hands you can reach in and unplug the connectors and unbolt the original turn signals. Canabalize the connector to the new short stalks, no soldering required, and plug back in.

Gates,

Thanks for the suggestion, but that didn't work. I think the front end on the 03 is set up differently than my 02.

I took off the two black covers on each side of the tripple tree, but there was a black hose system on each side that looked like the air intake for the engine coming off the radiator.

So I am looking at the fairing. It has 3 screws on the front side, and one screw on the back side. Then the front fairing looks like it slides into the engine cover fairing.

ALso I dont have a center stand to propr the bike up on, so any work I do it is leaning on the kick stand.

You guys that have an 02, how did you go about doing your front turn signal mods?

Thanks,

-Flash



"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit" - Aristotle

Funny you should ask, I put short stalks on my ’02 yesterday using adapters from Huge Industries. I recommend removing the upper fairing as well. Here are the steps:

• Remove the screws joining the upper and lower fairings on each side (3 per side).
• Remove both mirrors
• Remove the two bolts on either side of the gauge panel (be ready to catch the washer that will fall out from between the gauge panel and headlight assembly)
• Remove the ram air duct covers
• Disconnect the rubber ram air tube from the plastic duct (held in place by a spring clamp)
• Unplug the headlight/turn signal connector. You’ll probably need to start pulling the fairing off before you can access the connector)
• Disconnect the breather vent tube from the ram air duct (may only be on CA models)
• Remove upper fairing
• Remove the ram air ducts from the fairing (2 screws under nose and one on each side)
• Remove huge, unsightly stock turn signals
• I cut the stock plugs and spliced them onto the short stock signals.
  
  One thing to be aware of: I had to put the adapters and nuts on the wire before splicing because they won’t fit over the factory plug (I learned the hard way).
  
• Reassemble in reverse order and you’re done!

It sounds like a lot of work, but the result is definitely worth it. Let me know if you have any questions as you get into it. Good luck!

BTW, where in the bay area are you Flash? I'm up in Sonoma County.

Red
AMA #439394

Red,

Thanks for the tips.

OK, I went out and did it. Thought the air ducts ended up staying attached to the bike and the whole front fairing did come off.

I got the old ugly turn signals off and I got the new short stalks mounted. It already looks 100% better.

Been working on getting everything back together, and had it like 90% done and one of the screw grommets for the air duct (screw that goes upward from the bottom of the under headlight fairing piece) popped off so I got to pull everything off again, fix that grommet and then pop it back on.

A few words of advice to others tackling the project.

1. Don't forget to plug your electric harness back in before you mount everything back on.

2. Set a chair or table or something in front of your bike, put the front fairing on that, plug it in, and TEST THE SIGNALS to make sure they work before you mount everything back on. If there is anything wrong with the wiring, you get a fast blink. Test both the left and right turn signals (front and rear) and test the hazards. NOTE: On both my front and rears the hot wire was a yellow wire with a stripe on it and the ground wire was solid green. On the short stalks they had all black wires, one with a stripe (hot) and one solid (ground) so that make it easy, the fronts hooked up the same way as the rears.

3. While all that stuff is off of there, not a bad time to do some cleaning, so I did.

4. Thread the adaptors, washers and bolt and any heat shrink over the wire before you splice it into the existing stock wire. (Like Red mentioned, the connector is too big.) Also for the 02's that wire plug is is behind the headlights, not down in the side of the fairing.

5. Might want to have a helper to get the fairing on and off so you don't drop/bump/scratch it. I had my next door neighbors wife come over and help me for like 10 minutes (she's pregnant so her boobs are HUGE, Heh Heh) to balance the fairing while I plugged the harness back in and lined it up.

6. To re-attach, might want to start by threading the upper fairing back onto the mounting holes for the mirrors. Starting there, you know you got it lined up right.

7. Pay close attention to where the front fairing will connect to the engine fairing. There is an alignment tab, which goes in the back, not the front, so make sure you got that lined up as you thread stuff back on.

Back to my job:

So I never took the spring clamps off the air ducts. Getting the air ducts lined back up was the hardest part.

I must admit for a 2 hours job, things were really easy. I was scared to tackle the project. Also changing those huge front turn signals is a great cosmetic mod, it greatly improves the front look of the bike.

So taking a break for dinner and will finish her up tonight.

-Flash





"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit" - Aristotle

Hi,

I used Moto black short stalks with dark amber lenses and SFM black space adapters.

The whole thing came out really nice.

-Flash

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit" - Aristotle

I guess I shouldn't comment on anything before '03 since they are different in a lot of aspects. Hope you like the new look.

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Originally posted by barnes

When u added u'r short stalks did they screw into the original turn signal bracket on inside of fairing?? Or did u make something up yourself?

Click to expand...

Barnes,

I used none of the original mounting hardware. I had a two peice space adapter. You thread the short stalk thru the front of the adapter, then slide the whole thing onto the outside of the fairing. Line it up, then put the back piece of the adapter on inside of the fairing and secure it with a bolt as the short stalk has a metal mounting thread. I used some loc-tite too, just in case.

-Flash

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit" - Aristotle

Those friggin' air duct grommets almost drove me insane ... kept popping out, that was THE worst part of it all.

Post some pics if you can.... would like to see

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This front upper is driving me CRAZY....

Got it off..installed my Huge Industries turn signals and Zero Gravity windscreen....they both look awesome....

I started making my attempts at getting it back on at about 7 oclock last night....needless to say, at 10 oclock I was frustrated as all hell and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes....

Now I've got an upper that's half-on, half-off, sitting on my patio....awaiting my arrival home from work.....

IF I don't get it on correctly tonight I'm going to punt the thing into the woods!!!

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'02 ZX-6R

...Adventure, Excitement...the Jedi craves not these things...

The grommets in my air ducts were popping out too.

I think it's next to impossible to mount the front in back on with the air ducts attached to the bike. If you haven't take those off (Two spring rings and 1 pinch clamp, thats it) and install the air ducts back into the front end first, then put everything back on the bike as one piece.

Also, to remount, try threading the fairing back over the mirror mounting holes first. This will help support the weight of the fairign while you line everything else up.

-Flash

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit" - Aristotle

Flash....thanks...

I did try threading the mirror holes on and then working downward, but everything felt so forced...the left side of the fairing didn't seem like it was fitting on naturally...there seemed to be some stress points in the fit...

when I got one side lined up, the other would fall off center, and then over again.....

I had the entire thing on one time, then I looked underneath to fasten to screws in by the forks, and the inner middle piece of the fairing was on top of the half moon looking plastic piece of the fork.....that obviously wasn't right, so I had to take it off again.....

I'm telling you...I had just gotten done with two ballgames and I was sweaty and tired to begin with....this just threw me over the edge...hopefully I'll have some logical reason as to why I failed over and over again tonight when I get home...



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'02 ZX-6R

...Adventure, Excitement...the Jedi craves not these things...