Phil's Mods

[AndyIsRiding]

All I can say is "IMPRESSIVE".

Great Job, cannot tell the Police if they hit you "I did not see him in the dark" :2thumbs:

 

[rcantrell52]

Phil,
Great additions to a Great looking Spyder.
Regards,
Reese

 

[SpyderWolf]

Phil, did you enter the Spyder Customization Contest in Maggie Valley?

 

[Phil]

Phil, did you enter the Spyder Customization Contest in Maggie Valley?

Nope. We're flying in due to schedules so I won't have Darth there to enter. PLUS.... I look at yours and others and you guys are so far ahead of my mods.... That's not a defeatist thing, it's a recognition of your quality quality! :bowdown:

My plan is to ryde to Cuba next year for sure and hopefilly next BRP event.

 

[SpyderWolf]

Nope. We're flying in due to schedules so I won't have Darth there to enter. PLUS.... I look at yours and others and you guys are so far ahead of my mods.... That's not a defeatist thing, it's a recognition of your quality quality! :bowdown:

My plan is to ryde to Cuba next year for sure and hopefilly next BRP event.

I am looking forward to meeting you at this event, so please be sure to look me up. I am going to wear a flourescent orange shirt to the BBQ so, like my Spyder, I shouldn't be too hard to find. :thumbup:

 

[Phil]

I am looking forward to meeting you at this event, so please be sure to look me up. I am going to wear a flourescent orange shirt to the BBQ so, like my Spyder, I shouldn't be too hard to find. :thumbup:

Will do!! Won't make the BBQ due to travel schedule. We'll be staying at the Fairfield Inn.


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[SpyderWolf]

It was a real pleasure to meet you and your wife at the Owner's Event. I am happy that you were able to find me, and that my Spyder made you smile. :thumbup:

I hope you had an uneventful trip back home as well.

 

[Phil]

It was a real pleasure to meet you and your wife at the Owner's Event. I am happy that you were able to find me, and that my Spyder made you smile. :thumbup:

I hope you had an uneventful trip back home as well.

Likewise!! Since Bobbie & I flew in and out, ours was much less eventful than most that came. There is NOTHING like seeing your RYDE in person Michael. I'm STILL smilin


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[Phil]

Utopia Backrest Mod

Nope. Not how to add a Utopia. That's here-- http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24907

This is a Mod TO the Utopia. I called Utopia after I installed mine to ask if they had ever done an adjustable lower lumbar support for one of their backrests. Apparently I'm the first to ask (story of my life by the way). So I set out to figure a way to make one.

You know the 'forest and the trees' thing? I was walking through WallyWorld with my bride and told her I was going to wander into hardware. We met up and she saw the furrow in my brow. "What are you looking for" she asked. I proceeded to tell her about the mod I wanted to do. I HAD picked up a small blood pressure cuff, but even it was too big, but she got the idea. "Why not use a bicycle inner tube and just cut it to size?" I did a bee line for the bicycle aisle and bought two of these (reason is later):

(crappy photo sorry)


I proceeded to chop and seal and mess with it and this was the prototype I made:

It really is a bad job, and honestly it leaks... slowly. I used several different types of sealant folded over the ends, and even bent the aluminum angles to try to cap off the ends. I used whatever I had around the shop
NOTE: I'm looking for better ideas on how to seal the tube so PLEASE send them along...... Hence the reason I bought a second tube

I zipped open the cover (on the bottom of the seat) and tucked the air bladder into the seat:

I aired it up (after closing the zipper as far as I could) and folded the valve into a convenient position:

And here are 2 views of the results:

I took it out for a test run and WOW!!!! I love the extra support in my lower back. I MAY just carve some extra hard foam and slip in there if I can't get a good seal on the tube, BUT I'd really like to be able to adjust it with a pump every-so-often.

Who knows... maybe Utopia will catch the idea and make it an option?!

 

[MarkLawson]

Man, I want to come to your house and play!!!

 

[Phil]

Man, I want to come to your house and play!!!

Bring it on my brother!! We have plenty of room for guests.:2thumbs:

 

[cougar]

Phil,

U want to seal the cut ends with a "hot" patch like they used to do in the olden days. Some tire shops still do them.

Cougar

 

[Phil]

Phil,

U want to seal the cut ends with a "hot" patch like they used to do in the olden days. Some tire shops still do them.

Cougar

Excellent. I'll ask around. Thanks much Cougar.


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[t64507]

when u do the hot patch make sure to burn the glue
i know it sounds fubared but it will seal better
and thanks im going to try it

 

[Phil]

I'm almost an Elka fan. I HAVE my Elka shocks but I've had a mod done before installing ::

The springs are powder coated with satin chrome. Should make the purple lights sparkle.
Installed pics to follow.

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[1VENOM]

:2thumbs: Great job, excellent pics and write up. opcorn: Thank you for sharing.

 

[CanAmMick]

Phil,

Where did you run your wires for you gps. I have one that I want to install but not really sure how/where to run the wires. Would you by any chance have any additional pictures?

Thanks!

Mick

 

[Phil]

Phil,

Where did you run your wires for you gps. I have one that I want to install but not really sure how/where to run the wires. Would you by any chance have any additional pictures?

Thanks!

Mick

Hey Mick!
First, On this 4th of July, I thank you for your service.

No additional pics of this part of the mod right now. I do plan on working on my headlights soon so when I have them out, maybe I can get some pics.

I added a front, extra fuse block, then wired in a 3 outlet 12vdc concenience cluster in the empty space behind the headlights and behind the cluster. I plugged in a 12vdc to USB adapter. Inyo the USB, I plugged the iPhone power chord and routed it out the center of the handlebars (there is a hole plug there that is easy to remove). Routing the wire to that spot is really easy. Adding the outlets took a bit of time.

 

[Phil]

We have Elka!!

Tonight it went down to 92 so I headed to the garage to install the newly powercoated Elkas (pics above of the power coated springs)

First thing was to get a reference on the current headlight alignment. I used the garage door:

I did one line for the heads and one for the fogs, just for fun. You can see that I had already done the HID mod on the fogs. IF everything works right, I hope to do the HID/ headlight mod tomorrow.

Next... open the garage door to let out the fumes and catch a little bit of the slightly cooler evening air...

What everyone has written about the difference in difficulty between the right and left is highly understated. I did the right one in about 45 minutes start to finish. REMEMBER, I'm the electricl geek, not a wrench guy so I had a lot of tool trial and error. If I had it to do over, personally, I would remove the frunk due to the difficulty with the left top bolts.

The issue is that on an RT, the top left bolt has VERY VERY little clearance to get wrenches or drivers in, and even little room to slide out the bolt!!!

I had to wiggle the bolt out by hand and sort of slide it into the air intake.

But I managed to keep after it for about 60 minutes and finally got it out and got the Elka sort of in place:

Here you can see the bolt back in place after installing the Elka. This shows there is about 1.5" from the end of the bolt to the frunk body:

Well, 3 hours start to finish, here are the results--

I was hoping the purple lights would sparkle off the satin chrome springs and they do!

I reaimed the lights, using the tape line as a giude and took my test ryde....
WOW!!!!!:shocked::shocked::shocked: I had read everyone's review, but they are as understated as the work involved to remove the upper left bolt! I took ride through our community that I've done hundreds of times with the stock shocks. NO, NO NO comparison! I headed for manhole covers water valve covers and known dips in the pavement. I hardly felt them at all!!! My out loud comment was that it was like ryding on butter (assuming you like ryding on butter). Thank you Len. Thank you John. Thank you ELKA!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[cougar]

Alas. Another Elka believer!! I see it is still too hot to live in Texas. Let me know when the evenings get cooler!! Phil, do you guys have a pool?

cougar