**Please note: I take no responsibility for personal stupidity, accidents with tools or limbs or damage suffered by parts during your attempt at performing this modification. Also, this headlight modification may not be legal in your Province or State so if you don't want to be hassled please check with your local laws. All images posted here are my own unless watermarked as borrowed from a site.**
Ok so now that all of the disclaimers are out of the way, let's get on with things.
I decided to do this mod after my first night ride on my 2001 F4i - PATHETIC LIGHTS!! Now some may say that I'm spoiled since my car has Xenon headlights installed from the factory, but still. I'd argue that you need clear vision at night even more-so on a bike then in a car...so here we are, trying to upgrade!
A note about Xenon's and projectors. Some people may use these terms interchangeably but in reality they are different. When I say projectors, I mean the actual unit inside a headlight that has that round, convex glass disc which acts to focus the beam of light (or "project" it). When I say Xenon's, I mean the actual gas-filled headlight bulb that requires a special plug and ballast which fires up the gas in the bulb so that it shines. If you need more information about aftermarket HID/Xenon kits, just Google "xenon kit" or something similar.
Just as an enticement, here is the FINISHED product:
Beam Pattern, Off, Off, On.
Alright, so being somewhat handy myself, as well as having some very handy and willing friends, I decided to embark on a task for which I haven't been able to find any DIY instructions for elsewhere on the internet. My goal: take the projectors from a 2003-2004 Yamaha R6 headlight and install them where the reflectors are in the 2001-2004 CBR F4i headlight. Also, while I was at it, I would replace the stock H7 headlight bulb with a Xenon-gas filled bulb and retrofit the necessary ballasts etc into the bike's wiring system. The end result would be higher and clearer light output and greater night (and day) visibility.
So, I went out to r6messagenet.com and found someone there with a 2003-2004 R6 headlight for sale (thanks Denny!) - expect to pay $150-200USD depending on supply and demand. There may also be some on ebay, but they are likely a rip off. It's hard to find a damaged one (cheaper and you don't need the lenses)...good luck! :)
Then I went out and got a Xenon kit with two bulbs and ballasts (often stores sell "motorocycle" kits that only have one bulb/ballast since many bikes only have one headlight bulb for low beams - for this application I bought a "car" kit with two that way I can run both sides at the same time, or just one for the 'winky' look). Again just Google "Xenon kit" and you'll find a store that will sell you one. Expect to pay anywhere from $300-500USD for a "car" kit. Buying used is always in your favour if you can assure the kit is in good condition.
Note: when you buy a kit, you can choose which Kelvin bulb you want...anywhere from 4300K to 10 000K. Stock Audis are 4300K and most factory cars are in the 4000-5000K range, which is the temperature that will ultimately provide the most light output. The more blue you go (higher K value), the less actual light you get. It's really up to you as to the look and performance you want. I purchased a kit off of a friend and one of the bulbs was busted so I just decided to get two new ones at 5000K (his kit was 4300K for an Audi A4).
Ok so now that you have your R6 headlight and Xenon kit, you need you get your F4i headlight out.
First, remove the mirrors (two hex bolts per mirror, total of 4). Next, remove the three hex bolts from each side of the bike, near the turn signals (total of 6). Now, remove the two hex bolts on the inside of the front fairing, one on either side of the gauge cluster - look around - they are fairly obvious (total of 2).
This will loosen the whole front end. However, if you look from the front of the bike just under the fairing (above the fender), on either side you'll see two small (round) black plugs/tabs that connect the front headlight fairing to the black plastic fairing that wraps around the back of the front tire. Take a good look...they are pretty obvious. If you're careful, just pry the headlight fairing section away from the black plastic and the tab will pop out and release the whole unit (total of 2 tabs). I had to cut one of the tabs off because it just wouldn't let go (grr). The last thing you will need to do to remove the headlight fairing is to disconnect the main wiring harness plug. Look carefully, there's a small tab that you can push down to separate the plug easily. Be careful - you don't want to break this plug.
Now that you have the headlight fairing unit off of the bike, you can now remove the headlight from the fairing. There are 4 obvious screws that hold the headlight in place: two black screws near the top attached to anchors and two gold screws near the bottom on the outsides of the light. Finally, there is one long screw that is in the centre, kind of hidden below a couple of relays. Look around, it's way down there. Once you've undone all of the screws, the headlight should come free (total of 5 screws).
Ok so now that you have the headlight off of the fairing and bike, it's time to open it up. The method that I have used with success is the "baking" method using a household oven. I can't be held responsible if you melt yours into a plastic soup :). Preheat your oven to BAKE @ 250-300F - make sure that you have all the racks out except the bottom one. I went with 275F.
Make sure you remove ALL of the extra "crap" from the headlight before you bake it - the wiring system and the headlight bulbs especially. To remove the bulbs, remove the plug (mine was purple) that plugs into the bulb. Then, take off the black rubber weather ring (twist it 180 degrees and just pull it off) from the back, unscrew the gold screw that holds the bulb bracket down (careful, it's spring loaded and almost took out and eye when I took it out the first time) and then just pull the bulb out. Note: when you're handling any type of bulb, always touch them on the base and never the glass, as hand oil will transfer and may cause it to explode when it heats up. Leave the backings open when you bake it.
Use a cookie sheet lined with tin foil and just place the whole headlight on it and place into the hot oven. Watch it carefully. I put it in for about 5-7 minute intervals, removing it to pry it open a little at a time. Have a few flat head screwdrivers on hand (sturdy ones!) in various sizes, especially really small ones. The headlight unit is sealed with really gooey stuff - have some paper towel around to wipe the screwdrivers off. Basically now you get into something that may take a little or a long time...I did about four oven "bakes" - the last one for almost 10 minutes. Start small at the top of the headlight...and BE CAREFUL! The tabs that hold the headlights together are delicate and can break easily. Start to wedge the smaller screwdriver in and twist the two parts apart. Work your way around the headlight, putting it back in the oven as it starts to cool. It helps if you have someone else with you putting in larger screwdrivers in as you go to prop the headlight apart.
You may have to slide a small screwdriver into the seam and work your way around (without twisting) first just once or twice to get some space before you start twisting the pieces apart.
Make sure as you go along that you try to "cut" the goo either with a screwdriver or scissors so that it doesn't snap back and spray everywhere.
Eventually you'll get the headlight lens apart. Sit down and have a beer or something. The F4i lights are way more frustrating then the R6. :)
Soooo, while you're baking and prying, you might as well do the R6 light now.
Again, remove all the bits and pieces...the back bulb covers just screw off and you can remove the bulbs easily. Also, there are a few screw-on bits and pieces near the nose that I removed as well. As with the F4i, just bake, pry, repeat. I chose to do one lens at a time - it's ok to bake the headlight with one of the lenses off. The goo on the R6 light is a lot less tough to get through...just slowly work your way around.
Ok so now that both headlights are apart, you can now take out their "internal" bits. Start with the F4i...looking at the back, the reflectors are held in with three screws. Unscrew the two screws with a screwdriver - the third is held in with a bolt that requires a 10mm wrench. Once you loosen the screws, the reflector will fall out of place. Yes, it's just that easy!
Moving on to the R6 headlight...again there are three connecting points that hold the projectors into the headlight housing - two screws and one "ball & socket screw". By now you've noticed that the projectors are a separate unit from within the actual housing...when I first started this mod I thought the projectors were actually molded into the plastic but as you can see, they aren't :). Basically the way the projectors are connected to the housing allows you to adjust the aim of the beam on a vertical and horizontal axis - adjust either of the two screws and it changes the angle, rotating along the third "ball & socket" joint. Get it?
So the easy part is removing the two screws from the back of the headlight unit. Easy, right? Next, you basically need to pry the projector off of the bottom "ball & socket" joint - a little bit of elbow grease and some careful finessing will do the trick.
Now we're done stage 1, the disassembly. From here on, we enter stage 2, the construction. This stage will require some cutting of the F4i and R6 housing, fiber glassing and general retrofitting and testing to see if the headlight will fit properly on the bike without having to cut the ram air ducts (a goal of mine). Decide whether you have the patience, time and tools necessary to go on from here or if you'd like to call it a day for now.
Arguably the most important part of this stage is the measuring and prep work. If you get it right and are careful, it can save you a lot of heart ache down the road.
It was impossible for me to test measure the headlights to see if I'll hit the ram air ducts so basically I just dove in but I DID use a black permanent maker to trace where I was going to cut.
NOTE: A word about cutting and safety. I set up an area in my garage with a drop sheet and bought some safety goggles - I HIGHLY recommend that you do the same as cutting the plastic housings makes a huge mess and plastic flings everywhere. I'd hate to hear about someone taking out an eye...
OK so what we're doing here is cutting out the backing of the R6 housing that holds the projectors in place, cutting a similar sized hole in the back of the F4i housing and then solidifying everything in place.
This is the easiest way of securing the projectors into the F4i housing as we're using the OEM Yamaha bolts which where made to secure the projector units vs. having to fabricate some elaborate system.
Start with the back of the R6 housing. Mark where you want to cut the around the two bolts and the "ball and socket" joint with a Sharpie and then...start cutting! I used a Dremel tool with two different attachments: the Heavy Duty Cutting discs (come in a tube of several) and a Drill bit. Mostly I used the cutting discs but in hard to reach areas and around tight corners, the drill bit was really handy to use...you just drill down into the plastic and pull the tool sideways through the housing. The drill bit makes a HUGE mess but you gotta do what you gotta do.
It's hard for me to tell you exactly how to cut the housing out, so I'll just show you the pictures of what I did. Note: try to trim away as much of the plastic around the bolts as possible - it makes fitting it into the F4i housing much easier. #1, #2, #3.
The first side that was cut was pretty rough but once I knew what I was doing, the second side went much smoother and quicker.
I cut one side of the R6 out and then fit it into the F4i housing before cutting out the second side of the R6 housing, that way I would be able to account for mistakes made the first time. However, if you're confident in my instructions and pictures and assurances :), you can cut both sides of the R6 out at once.
Once you have one (or both) of the R6 housings cut out, now you can start cutting out the back of the F4i housing. Again, it's hard for me to describe how and what to cut out, so I'll just show you the pictures. #1, #2, #3. Note: don't worry about cutting out the F4i "hole" for the headlight bulbs...but make sure you maintain the R6 back "hole" as you'll use the OEM Yamaha backing to seal it up.
This will take a bit of your own discretion - just trim slowly as you need, to make it fit. What you're looking for is making sure the back "hole" of the R6 housing is poking through the back F4i housing. I'd recommend screwing the projectors onto the piece of the R6 housing that you've cut out and make sure that when you have all of these parts in the F4i housing, that you can close the front lens properly. Just look at the pictures for fitting the two together....#1, #2, #3. And for test fittings...#1 & #2.
Now that you know that everything fits and everything works, I'd recommend doing a test run with headlight bulbs. I knew that I couldn't get the projectors to sit level on both 'axes' (horizontal and vertical) - I was worried that because of this, that the light and the cut off line would be all crooked and that I'd end up blinding others on the road. After the test fit, everything looked fine so I knew I was good to go with sealing up the housing.
I'm just going to tell you how I sealed the housings up, but if you have a better way, then be my guest. :)
First off, I made sure I jammed the R6 housings (with the projectors attached to both bolts and the "ball and socket" joint) really well into the F4i housing to where they needed to be to fit. Then I used a bit of superglue in various contact patches to make sure that the housings didn't move when I did the final sealing. Once the housings were "spot welded" with superglue, and dried overnight, this is when I did the test fit on the bike.
Next, I got a plastic repair kit from Canadian Tire - the kit came with two different types of epoxy, some strips of a mesh fabric as well as a mixing stick. In addition, I purchased a cheap plastic mixing board. Something like this. Please be sure to wear a mask and work in a well ventilated area as this stuff totally stinks - also, I highly recommend good rubber or latex gloves. What I did was cut the roll of fabric up into small squares that would fit in the gaps all around the back of the F4i housing so that they were ready to go. Next, I mixed the epoxies together in small amounts at a time, coated the strip of fabric I was using in it, and then placed it over a portion of the gap. I kept going around until all the gaps were filled. Once all the gaps were filled, I went over the hardened fabric with more epoxy mixture just to be sure. This stuff dries and sets quickly, so you have to work somewhat fast. Mine wasn't pretty, but it worked out well.
I let the housings sit for a couple of hours, then I used a sanding bit on my Dremel to sand the rough edges down - this is just to make it a little nicer looking, and to make sure I didn't have the plastic filler sticking out where it wasn't needed (thus taking up precious space). *PLEASE WEAR YOUR MASK WHEN SANDING*
Once I finished sanding, I masked everything off and blasted the epoxy with flat black spray paint. Finally, I went to a local gas station to use their compressed air station to blow out all the sanded epoxy out.
SO! They're done! :)
Basically, just go backwards putting everything back together into the front fairing hooking everything up.
At this point you have to decide if you're going to use Xenons (blubs/ballasts etc) or if you're just going to use the stock halogen bulbs. If you're using the stock bulbs, just replace them in, plug and go! If not, read on...
WIRING THE XENON'S
Now that you've decided to to use HIDs, get out the kit you've purchased and let's get wiring!
I originally tested my HID system on the stock wiring set up and after firing up the xenons, I immediately blew a fuse. Knowing that this was because of the initial draw of power to fire up the ballasts, I simply switched the headlight fuse to a larger one (20A). Normally this isn't a good idea, but Xenons run on LESS power in general, but more power on start up that's why I kept blowing a fuse right away. The higher A fuse helps get over the start-up surge, but is fine for constant running.
To wire up the ballasts and new wiring follow these simple steps:
1. Plug the wires together that run from the ballasts to the wires coming from the bulb. This is pretty basic - there's a female and male end - only one way this can go!
2. The power wires coming from the ballast need to go into the headlight bulb plug coming out of the F4i wiring harness. You need to determine which ballast wire is + and which is - (these should be labeled on the ballast)
3.Plug the + wire into the + side of the bulb plug, the - wire into the ground side of the bulb plug. For my F4i, according to the wiring diagram, the green wire that runs into the plug is the ground so that side of the plug should be where you put the - wire. Hope this makes sense...check your wiring diagram.
PHEWF - DONE!
Now that you're finished wiring the HIDs, reassemble all the body work and...enjoy!
This was a long and somewhat stressful process for me, but the drive to have the finished product kept me going. This project solved a lot of key issues I had with my F4i: poor night time lighting, poor daytime "noticibility" to others on the road & finally, funny looking headlights (they always looked like weird 'eyes' to me).
I made this a 'winter' project, as where I live, we have a long off season. If you don't want to be out of commission for however long it takes you to do this, you can always buy a spare F4i headlight and then sell it afterwards...I didn't have the money or the patience for this option. :)
I really hope that this LONG DIY helps you with your retrofit, whether it's on an F4i or something else. I hesitate to leave my email address for risk of a million emails, but I will if you are REALLY stuck with something - but please don't email me because you're too lazy to read through this or at least try! :)
Have fun and safe riding!
Cheers,
Kristina
