After reading all the comments here about adding a voltmeter I knew I wanted to do that, so I put one on last year when I was doing resto work. I liked the idea of a old school analog gauge for a triple gauge look setup so I got a 2” one. I had seen RG's analog gauge, wanted to do something similar, but didn't think of the fact that there wasn't enough clearance above the crown nut.
So I picked up a couple motocross handlebar risers, added some standoffs, made up a mounting plate out of ⅛” aluminum plate and bent up a case out of aluminum flashing material.
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You guys are so right, what peace of mind these give you. Until…….......…..it stops working. Last weekend on the way to meet Pete and Lakeview, took a quick glance and the needle is buried at 8 volts. Immediate panic.Then realized, she's running fine, must be a loose wire, pulled over and did the headlight check, looks OK. Carried on.
At the time I did this job I didn't have a good crimper so I just soldered the connections. One of my soldered connections was broken. I figured the old paint shaker had vibrated it enough to break. So I put my multi meter across the gauge, sure enough, I'm to blame for letting the smoke out. I don't think I had enough clearance for the gauge bolts to the crown nut and they grounded and shorted out. I guess I didn't trim them short enough. Should have shrink wrapped them too.
Good thing actually that they were soldered and not crimped. That solder joint acted as a fusible link and saved blowing the main.
I pulled the headlight, cut and crimped on good connections and added a mini fuse holder inline just to be sure.
Found another analog voltmeter cheaper than a digital one, so since I already made the case and mount, I'm riding with heightened anxiety and waiting on that slow boat from China.
I commented a few days ago in gggGary's "81 Wake up from the dead" thread (sounds like a good name for a band) that:
“My speedos' shakin' like a dog crappin' razor blades.” Led to some good discussion on solutions and some great ideas.
So when I was in the neighborhood figured I'd drop the headlight bucket and do something about it. Similar to Bob's (Mailman's) suggestion found that some 1/4” rubber grommets would cover the 7mm upper shoulder on the bolt allowing a 5mm stainless washer and acorn nut to cinch them up.
Could have just slapped the old acorns back on but I thought it would be nice to have some ‘shiny new nuts’.
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They're a little taller than the stock ones and my A/R eye notices those little details, but I'll deal with it.