nice mod must see

[MLSDUKE1]

Here was the response that I responded too:

Hi Matthew

Thanks for your interest in the conversions for Gen1 Hayabusa's. I have a standard reply so I'll include that below but if you have any questions - do email or phone me to ask..

The conversion is for Gen1 Busa clocks and adds a gear position indication by reading the existing gear position sensor and then lighting a RED LED beneath the appropriate position on the tacho. If using standard dial faces, the LEDs can be below the numbers or the rpm markers but if using Lockwood dial faces then the LEDs must be below the marker positions for technical reasons. (hope that makes sense)..

The conversion requires you to connect just a single wire, that I also supply and it comes with the japanese style insulated bullet connector fitted.

The GPi conversion is £125 and return postage to UK mainland locations is £11 for Royal Mail Special delivery. If you want a change in backlighting to blue at the same time, then that adds £75 as there are some 30+ LEDs to replace and I always re-bias them, increasing the brilliance still further.

I normally turn them round in approx 4-5 working days. (receipt to despatch)

Payment can be by cheque, direct transfer or PayPal (+3.6%) and if you want to proceed, just let me know and I'll give you a delivery address. I confirm safe arrival by email and keep you posted on progress. Once complete, I confirm the despatch and tracking details too.

I can supply and fit Silver Lockwood dial faces specifically designed for the BUSA if required and that would add £55 to the cost as the work is somewhat difficult and time consuming to do well.

For UK Postage I would use Royal Mail Special Delivery which is signed for, tracked, next day before 1pm from despatch and insured to £500.

If you are located outside the UK - let me know where and I will quote postage accordingly based on actual location. I have carried out conversions by post for people in Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Hungary, Denmark, USA, Australia, New Zealand among others.. so distance is not a problem.



I'll ask about a group discount

 

[black diamond busa]

Wow I would be in depending on when this winter.

 

[1busa]

Yup count me in too!!!

 

[MLSDUKE1]

Since its UK, it'll be tomorrow (I think) that we'll hear back from them but I'm on it.

 

[ThommoHawk]

Hi all - great to see that you guys are interested in the GPi mod that I developed. I've done a couple for people in the USA and would be happy to offer a group discount. It's not something I've done before so give me a day or so to think how it can be achieved and if any of you have any specific questions - please just post them up and I'll answer on here as that way I'm not repeating myself too much.

The conversion itself is self contained to the clocks and just requires a single wire hookup to the standard Suzuki gear position sensor. Of course if you have a TRE fitted, the hookup needs to be made 'pre-TRE' otherwise my circuit will not display correctly but otherwise it should be fine.

It's 00:34 local here so I'm off to sleep but will check the forum again tomorrow am.

Best regards
Paul Thompson

 

[MLSDUKE1]

YAY! to the org Paul! Also, hopefully, did I lead you here?

 

[05 Busa LE]

Brilliant invention. Suzuki needs a lesson on this one.

 

[ThommoHawk]

YAY! to the org Paul! Also, hopefully, did I lead you here?

Hi there - YEP you led me back although I did join some time back - 2011... I use the same username 'ThommoHawk' on several forums (was my old BF2 moniker for those that RP).

I originally made the conversion for my GSX1400 and have done about 130+ of them to date but have since done SV1000/SV650, Hayabusa and now Yamaha XJR1300 for which I produce a replacement neutral switch that also gives a selected gear output so I do not have to rely on a speed/rpm arrangement which never works very well IMHO.

Nice bikes Busas, I've never ridden one (tried a B-King) but have always liked the look of them and I also work on a few Busa powered cars too.

 

[Chaney3000]

I'm in if it can be done over the winter. I didn't understand much of that email.

But I want the coolest gauge cluster in my city

 

[Lillblack]

Can you give us a price of build with LEDs in US currency

 

[rusheriv]

Current exchange rate is £1 = $1.62 Below is the same passage with US $.

Thanks for your interest in the conversions for Gen1 Hayabusa's. I have a standard reply so I'll include that below but if you have any questions - do email or phone me to ask..

The conversion is for Gen1 Busa clocks and adds a gear position indication by reading the existing gear position sensor and then lighting a RED LED beneath the appropriate position on the tacho. If using standard dial faces, the LEDs can be below the numbers or the rpm markers but if using Lockwood dial faces then the LEDs must be below the marker positions for technical reasons. (hope that makes sense)..

The conversion requires you to connect just a single wire, that I also supply and it comes with the japanese style insulated bullet connector fitted.

The GPi conversion is $202.50 and return postage to UK mainland locations is $17.82 for Royal Mail Special delivery. If you want a change in backlighting to blue at the same time, then that adds 121.50 as there are some 30+ LEDs to replace and I always re-bias them, increasing the brilliance still further.

I normally turn them round in approx 4-5 working days. (receipt to despatch)

Payment can be by cheque, direct transfer or PayPal (+3.6%) and if you want to proceed, just let me know and I'll give you a delivery address. I confirm safe arrival by email and keep you posted on progress. Once complete, I confirm the despatch and tracking details too.

I can supply and fit Silver Lockwood dial faces specifically designed for the BUSA if required and that would add $89.10 to the cost as the work is somewhat difficult and time consuming to do well.

For UK Postage I would use Royal Mail Special Delivery which is signed for, tracked, next day before 1pm from despatch and insured to $810.00.

If you are located outside the UK - let me know where and I will quote postage accordingly based on actual location. I have carried out conversions by post for people in Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Hungary, Denmark, USA, Australia, New Zealand among others.. so distance is not a problem.

 

[Chaney3000]

So this is a 200+ dollar mod? Wow, didn't think it would be that much.

 

[black diamond busa]

Wow didn't know there was that much of a difference between the two dollars

 

[rusheriv]

Yep. When he posted about this back in March 2012 everyone was "Wow", "I want it" and "how much to do mine". Then he posted some prices and the thread fell silent for a couple of months, revived with a couple of questions, and then crickets.

The parts to do the mod are fairly cheap. It's knowing what to do with them that gets expensive. Kind of goes along with the story of the seemingly high priced invoice presented by a famed fix-it man that details the difference between value of work done and value of the knowledge behind it.

Also explains why you may have never seen this setup previously. If it were cheap and easy to do everyone would have it.

 

[ThommoHawk]

OK - will re-post the pictures from last night's post as I got the link wrong (was tired..) and it won't let me edit this morning.:dontgetit:

It's great to see there is interest and I'll post again in a bit with more details about the process of conversion.

 

[ThommoHawk]

ok - just had a question sent to me by PM which I'll repeat below and answer here as it seems a few may be interested in the reply.

QUESTION:
Some of the members here have had their gauges backlit by a company here, but the result does not include the gear set up; if they have previously had work done to their gauges, does that prevent you from working your magic? Also, I am not familiar with Lockwood gauge faces, can you post pictures?

Do you have pics or video of gauges that have each of the mods you described- and then all of them? Just to give people a good idea of what they are getting...

Thank you,

ANSWER:
OK - I've been contacted in the past about the 'illumiglow' ? range of backlighting (dial faces). As I have not actually ever seen one of these in the flesh so to speak I cannot be sure but the GPi conversion I do does rely on the ability of the dial faces to be translucent to RED light. This is because I mount the RED LEDs below the dial faces, through the clear plastic supporting structure so that they illuminate directly through the fitted dials. With standard dial faces I know this works as the marker positions and also the numbers are translucent and readily allow the RED light through. I have occasionally been sent GSX1400/XJR1300 clocks that have aftermarket dials that are really just printed pieces of paper that have been plastic laminated. Whilst they sometimes look OK, they do not really have the properties required to allow the backlighting to work as designed and illuminate the face evenly, nor do they allow the RED light through readily, tending to show a dull red blob instead.

The standard backlighting that comprises about 35 surface mount LEDs does not present a problem to the GPi, neither do conversions where the LEDs have been replaced with similar surface mount LEDs of different colours. IF there is some other method used, e.g. some thin light tubes, or electroluminescent panels etc, then I cannot say without actually seeing a set. The GPi conversion relies on the ability to let the RED light through. My intention throughout was that the GPi would look factory fit and not really even visible until in operation so that the dial faces look 'stock'.

Moving to dialfaces, I have used faces from Lockwood International before on both Busa's and GSX1400s and I have recently had them made by Lockwood specifically for the later XJR1300 models for which they did not previously exist. They make quality faces, with the correct scatter patterns on the rear to give a good even spread of light from stock lighting positions. You can read more about them by clicking here

One slight benefit of the Lockwood dials is that when I fit them, I remove a tiny part of the rear colouring directly above each fitted LED (when beneath the marker positions - NOT the numbers) By doing this, it allows the maximum light possible through from the GPi LEDs in operation and they work very well even in direct bright sunlight. The brilliance of the GPi signals can be dimmed to one of 5 preset levels by use of an existing dash button and all warnings for engine kill remain full brightness.

Below is a pic of the Silver Busa Lockwoods fitted and showing 6th gear (sorry about the light reflection near 8, not easy to photograph with my phone)

A pic of the blue backlights.

and a pic of how I mount the LEDs below the marker positions.

I can post more pictures of the Lockwoods if asked as I have a set of Silver in stock at the moment so can take some new pics if people want close-ups.?

Re costings, well the LEDs required are about £12 to me which leaves about £60 for fitting them and I also remove all the bias resistors too so that the newly fitted LEDs are biased to about 90% of the maximum mfr specified value. This gives much more illumination that just changing the LEDs as the bias current is about 50% more as I fit. Obviously, this is not a 5-minute job and I pride myself in never having to repair / replace parts due to poor workmanship. I treat every conversion as if it was my own bike and have had 100% satisfaction from those people's Ive modded.

The price of the GPi at £125 is 10 more than the GSX1400 version, this is because I have to mount the circuit in a small black ABS box, fitted directly to the rear of the clocks enclosure as seen at the end of the youTube video and since converting the first set back in 2009, I've not increased any pricing to reflect the increased cost of pars to me. Only Lockwood dial faces and postage have gone up, costs beyond my control i'm afraid.

My background is electronics (30yrs+) and I currently support several race teams with their race cars for Motec installs, dash configurations, wiring, trackside support etc. This clock conversion thing is really a side hobby which in reality I'm not going to ever get rich over, considering the time it takes to do the conversions. I have surface mount rework equipment together with temp controlled de-soldering / soldering stations at home and I also test the clocks before and after conversion on signal generators that allow me to drive the pointers accurately to any position.

As mentioned previously, I have done conversions for owners of bikes all over the world but the main problem is always to do with transit charges. Add to that the fact that the paperwork needs to be carefully completed when sending to me otherwise our esteemed government take it upon themselves to consider it an IMPORT and promptly hit me with an import tax. Now this can be avoided (legally) as you are not EXPORTING and I am not IMPORTING as the items are being sent for REPAIR AND RETURN, which comes under different ruling. I have to be especially careful when accepting deliveries from FedEx as they seem to love hitting me with an import tax based on the declared value of the goods, sometimes up to two weeks AFTER I have returned the clocks. It has happened and I then have a job getting reimbursed despite the sender being able to avoid such occurrences, the most recent being from an owner from St Louis MO.

So gentlemen (and ladies?)... I would be happy to convert more of your clocks if you are interested, either singly or as a 'discounted group option' (to be determined), the only issues really being distance, time and money..

FINALLY (as I'm rambling) - I have not provided a kit for this conversion, always undertaking the work myself as I know it works and have had 100% success / reliability. My reputation means a lot to me and all work have been really from word of mouth or people contacting me by forum links. If there was enough interest, I suppose I might be able to produce some sort of kit for self-install with circuits pre-made & tested, but obviously you would have to do all the intricate work yourself, or find a person that can..... (many people are understandably reluctant to take on drilling the plastics below the dials etc for obvious reasons)

Food for thought perhaps...?

 

[1busa]

Thanks 4 elaborating more on the setup and options. Do you have a set number in mind to qualify for a group buy?

 

[D_phi_D]

yeah me also
I would like to be added to the dicounted list and the list of getting the mod also...

count me in please....
Deephi

 

[ThommoHawk]

Thanks 4 elaborating more on the setup and options. Do you have a set number in mind to qualify for a group buy?

I've not done it before so am open to suggestions.

I was thinking say 10% off min 5 conversions or 20% off min 10 and the saving would be off the conversion costs, not the postage as that will no doubt vary depending upon method or couriers used and return service required.

I'm up to my ears with something else today, but will come back after / over the weekend with some more details and costings in $$ for conversions.

 

[MC MUSTANG]

Paul,
You answered my question exactly as I had hoped you would! Thank you sir- it seems like there is a lot of interest in your service-

I am even interested... This board has something of a process for group buys, to protect the members; since you are busy today, it will give me time to look into a few things-

Thank you for being willing to work with us!!!

MCM