Even something small like this might work too:

 

So not a lot done this weekend as I had to fix the brakes on my car, but at the same time it was nice and relaxing to do something little to get back into the groove of things.
After taking off the lower support for the airbox and battery I needed a way to hold the rear brake light switch. Ended up just making a little bracket which should do well.

The bracket:

The bracket and switch mounted:

 

A great solution to this problem. I fab'ed similar parts for my builds. Trying to think ahead on CX-4, as I plan on going the mono-shock route. Remembering to leave this section of tubing in place (with the tapped hole) will be important. The spring length dictates if I can move it further down the frame and tapping a new hole...

 

Thanks! I know what you mean about thinking ahead. Once I took off all the stuff on the rear of the bike I wanted to start cleaning up the frame and grinding down the little tabs and whatnot, but then I thought to myself that I better keep everything as is and see what I can do with the existing mounts. It saves lots of time and money if you plan ahead.

I love the look of a mono shock! That sounds like a good way to mount it too as like you said you can utilize the hole that's already there hopefully.

 

I am currently working on designing the battery holder that sits under the engine where the h-box used to be. I have been looking around at a few designs and noticed a lot of the boxes had open tops. Has anyone had any issues with this or think I should go a different route with a fully enclosed box?

 

So on this page, I showed what my battery box looks like. IMO, the open top design is fine so long as you provide holes in the bottom for water to drain. On my first build, the battery was laid on it's side, with the idea of enclosing it with a lid. It never really panned out as clearance and the inability to properly route the stiff cables became an issue for me. I have been riding the bike with it exposed under the engine for the past two years without a problem. Although I probably just jinxed myself...

 

I remember seeing that box a while ago and it looks great! I would get a smaller battery like the Anti Gravity one you have in there but I am strapped for cash right now lol. Would be a lot better though as it is pretty tight down there.
I was going to cut the corners out of the bottom to allow drainage but then saw that someone just drilled a whole bunch of holes on the bottom section and that looked like it would work better.
Oh that's perfect then, I figured if so many people had done it it must be alright, but I just wanted to make sure. LOL, yeah be careful what you say.....the bikes are watching you

 

So here is the plan for tonight: Get the pieces cut out and fitted together.
Here is the plan for tomorrow: Weld the box together and hopefully everything fits.

Pretty straight forward but something is guaranteed to mess up haha.

View attachment Battery Holder Drawing.JPG

Edit: The box dimensions are correct and will fit under the bike, but the mounting brackets are not! They are way too long. Just a heads up for anyone else using this design.

 

First things first....that drawing isn't totally correct lol. The box itself is the correct dimensions but for some reason when I measured the distance between the two mounting holes I was off by a couple inches .
So I made the box alright then stuck it under the bike and found out where the tabs had to go. The ones attached to the engine are fine, but the ones that go to the frame had to be shortened a lot, and on the one side flipped around.
But I got everything made last night for the box and even picked up some rubber strips from work to help provide some cushioning for the battery, so everything is on track.

Bending the box:

All the pieces cut out and ready for welding:

I have yet to drill the holes in the bottom panel but will do that tomorrow night hopefully.
On my lunch break today I will try and weld up the box.

 

I did end up getting it welded yesterday, and although it isn't the prettiest it will do nicely I think. I have yet to test fit it but looks like everything welded nice and straight which is a bonus.
I will clean it up a bit more tonight and then get ready to spray it with truck bed liner.

The battery box in all its "glory":

 

Lookin good.
Don't forget drain holes of some sort.
Don't want water to accumulate in there for sure...

 

Thanks!
Yup I just finished drilling them a little while ago. I did about 25 holes so it should provide plenty of drainage. Just waiting for the paint to dry now.

 

I saw this one coming by on Facebook.
Inspiration for your fender idea.

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I like it! Although I don't know how practical it would be with all those cutouts lol
I like how with the mono-shock and frame cut away you can see the whole rear tire. With parts of the frame covering the hugger for me, I don't think I'll need to go this extreme in detail, but it definitely does serve for inspiration so thanks Volaussie!!

 

No worries, mate [emoji106]
It's pretty rad and impractical. Your layered idea would work out better.
Although I think you should layer an other part of your bike for balance. Or it could look more awesome than the rest

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I must say though, it is unique which I like about it!
Yeah I was thinking the same thing, but I can't think of anything else to layer like that I might just end up cutting the plastic one that was attached to the air box though as it is cheap and simple.

 

Naaah that would be too much hahaha
You could layer it not with the end of one plate over the beginning of the other.
But two plates with a gap in between and one overlapping the gap and on top of the two other plates.

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Oh yeah I see what you're saying, that could work too. I think if I go that route though it would look better with each plate overlapping the next. I'll see what I can come up with looking at it over the next little bit. I will probably work on the license plate mount next just because I want to get all the welding out of the way before I go back to school.

 

If you go for the scale overlap, then I'll make a front fender like the second idea.

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Yeah I think both could look great. I am just a little worried with how they will match the rest of the bike. The more I look at it the more it seems that something like the classic styling might work out better for the look I am going for. We'll see when the time comes though...

 

Finally got a chance to upload the photos of the battery box.

As many others mentioned, with the open top of the box I had to drill some holes for drainage, because the last thing you want is that box filling up with any liquid at all. So it was off to mark out the holes and start drilling.
I know I didn't need as many holes as I put in it, but I figured "why not"

Laying out the holes and getting the right size drill bit:

After drilling all the holes how it sat:

After cleaning it all up and wiping it down it was time to spray it with some color. I was originally going to use truck bed spray, but then I found this undercoating stuff used for the bottoms of cars and wheel wells. Plus it said it was rubberized which would help keep all the electronics in check if anything bad were to happen. So I went with that and it worked well.
One thing to note, this stuff takes a long time to dry, so even though it says it only takes an hour to dry to the touch, don't stick your finger in the bottom of the box where the paint is thicker to see if it is dry, as you will leave a nice imprint (ask me how I know <_< ).
But it did turn out nice and should be plenty protected from the elements.

The box all painted and ready for some rubber:

Time to add some dampening. I cut strips of 1/8" thick rubber and glued them in place on the bottom and sides of the box. Made sure to test fit everything, and it was nice and snug in there. Won't be sliding around or hitting the walls anymore:

A nice fit, almost like it was made to be that way...

And finally a picture of it mounted under the bike. I originally thought that I would be able to get at the terminals of the battery (in case I needed a boost), but the mufflers and frame are in the way. So I may have a separate wire with a cap on it tucked under the seat just in case I need to boost the bike (which has needed to happen before).

 

Excellent work on the battery box!

 

Thanks Bill! I think it turned out alright....a little rough here and there, but alright

Agreed! Handsome work. This is very similar to my vague plan. I'm gonna go with lithium, so I might be able to make the box smaller and also fit some other stuff in there. Seems like airflow could be engineered a bit to cool a rectifier, no?

Ha haaaa you just couldn't wait...here's my solution: spray a piece of scrap at the same time, as thickly as your thickest coat, and touch THAT to see if it's dry.

NO TOUCHEE!

Thanks to you too chaetophile! Yeah if I had the money I would do that too, sounds like it is the way to go. Plenty of oomph with a small size.
Yeah you could have some fins underneath to direct airflow around the rectifier, almost like the bottom of a race car. I will be putting mine under my seat pan and may do something like that.

Yeah I know....I have a bad tendency to do it lol. It has happened on more than one occasion and I still haven't learned my lesson. I'm like a small child with a candy, I can't keep my hands off haha. But I do like that idea a lot!! I will do that from now on and keep my paint poking fingers off the actual piece

 

Agreed! Handsome work. This is very similar to my vague plan. I'm gonna go with lithium, so I might be able to make the box smaller and also fit some other stuff in there. Seems like airflow could be engineered a bit to cool a rectifier, no?

Ha haaaa you just couldn't wait...here's my solution: spray a piece of scrap at the same time, as thickly as your thickest coat, and touch THAT to see if it's dry.

NO TOUCHEE!

 

Started work on the rear license plate mount. I am also working on the rear hoop and seeing if I can get my cousin to bend it for me. A guy at my work was very helpful and gave it a go, but the jig we used was a bit too small in the radius so the piece didn't meet up with the frame properly. Will hopefully have the hoop bent by the end of the week though.

So I went off the drawing and started to cut some cardboard and bend some coat hangers to make the mounting bracket. I figured the best way to make the bracket was in two pieces with the tubing welded in between them:

It was time to start bending the tubing to match the coat hanger template:

I have learned that it is very hard to work with tubing. I needed it to be tubing so I could run the wires through it, but in order to get the tight bends I wanted I tried to do little bends but just ended up kinking the tubing. Tried to hammer it out to make it smoother and after a while I ended up with square tubing lol

So needless to say I needed a different method to get a nice rounded bend. So time to take out the jig saw and make relief cuts all along the edge of the pipe. This actually worked pretty well and I was able to get the right angles I needed just by cutting more slots:

After doing one and making sure it was the right fit, I used it to lay out the second one which made it go a lot faster:

Sooooooo much nicer than the other ones lol:

Happy that they came out fairly even :biggrin-new:

Picked up some welding gloves too so I wouldn't have to borrow my coworker's anymore. Hopefully today I have time to fill in the larger part of the cuts, just enough to stop the pipe from bending back. Then I will use Bondo on the inside edges to make it all nice and smooth and fill in any holes.

 

Hopefully today I have time to fill in the larger part of the cuts, just enough to stop the pipe from bending back. Then I will use Bondo on the inside edges to make it all nice and smooth and fill in any holes.

After tacking, go back and weld them all in. Then file the beads off.

The Bondo would probably crack when it flexes.


R

 

Bending tubing can indeed be something else. Nice job

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you can use sand to help bending: fill sand in the tub and close each end to bend without cuting

 

..........oh yeah......I should've done that. I am an idiot LOL

 

make sure the sand is dry if you are going to do it..........also, there are shops out there that have bending equipment if it makes it easier.........it did for me
google is your friend

 

Good point! Moisture and metal don't go so well together. Would it affect the actual bend though? Just curious. Yeah I thought of that but was worried of the cost. I figured if I could save some money I should give it a go, but definitely the proper equipment would make life so much easier.

 

sorry, I thought you were heating the tubbing with a torch to bend it. Its a method a lot of people have used which is why I say to use dry sand because if its damp and you heat it the water becomes vapour and can burst the tube

 

Ohhh okay that makes more sense. I didn't even think about that, but you're right, the steam would have a large effect, especially since both ends are plugged.
We have a small torch at home and I did heat up a few of the bends on the first piece, but they ended up coming out worse than the cold bends (I probably did it wrong though). I think if I had a proper jig to bend them around it would've turned out better.

 

there are some vids on youtube about bending with sand and heat

 

I probably should've looked at those first lol. I will watch them though and if I end up doing the rear hoop section myself I will use what they say for sure. Thanks for the tips!