apexio
04-18-2005, 11:46 AM
The US version of the TNG Venice comes with a pair of turn signal lights mounted on the handle bars. They are ugly and redundant. There's another set of blinkers mounted on the front body of the scooter that look much better, but have no sockets, bulbs, or wiring. It's an easy modification to remove the US blinkers and activate the Asian blinkers. In addition to looking much better, you also get the benefit of being able to see your turn signals plainly, whereas the US signals are hidden from the riders view by the handlebars.
Cost:$10 or less.
Ordering Time: 0-72 Hours
Modification Time: 30-60 Minutes
You need:
Phillips Screwdriver
Sharp X-acto knife
Wire Cutters
10mm Wrench
Soldering Iron, Flux, Solder
3/32" and 1/4" Heat shrink tubing
2X Pico 5414PT Chrysler Side Marker (Any auto parts store should have them or be able to order them. I got mine at a local auto parts store that had them at a parts warehouse downtown, and they had them in stock by the next morning for no fee) You can also get them online at http://store.qualitydist.net/7464.html)
2X Matching Bulbs (Generic press-in bulbs, available at any auto parts store)
1) First remove the US blinkers. There's a phillips screw holding the clear cover in place on the back of the housing. Remove it and take off the clear cover. There's another smaller screw holding the yellow plastic housing in place, remove that too. Now you can pull out the inner silver housing and bulb until you can get a pair of wire cutters behind it to cut it free. Snip both wires and it come off. Now use that 10mm wrench to remove the bolt holding the rest of the housing to the handlebars. Save all the parts you've removed in case you ever want to re-install them.
2) To install the new lights start by removing the phillips screw holding their housings to the scooter. Install your new bulbs into the new sockets you've bought:
http://www.forked.net/socket.jpg
The sockets need to be slightly trimmed with an x-acto knife to fit into the housing. Go slowly and take approximately 1/8" off of each of the four square flanges that mate with the back of the housing. It should be obvious where to trim if you try to insert the socket into the housing. Keep trimming until you can use some effort to squeeze the socket into the housing (be sure you have the bulb in the socket first). The tighter the fit the more water tight and mechanically sound it will be. Once you get it inside, you can twist it a little to lock it solidly into place.
3) Mount the completed blinker housing on the scooter, running the socket wires through the square hole provided and secure it tightly with the original phillips screw. The only thing left to do is solder the socket wires and the original blinker wires together using heat shrink tubing to protect them. Before you do any cutting or soldering, be sure you leave enough length to allow the steering column to turn fully left and right and a little extra length to create a small drip stopper in the wire. Solder the two black wires together (negative) and the brown and green wires together (positive). I used two pieces of 3/32" heat shrink to cover both of those solder joints and then a 4" piece of 1/4" tubing to cover the entire length of exposed wire from where the original cover ends all the way into the blinker housing.
You're all done. You now have a single set of blinkers instead of two, and they are installed where they should be; on the body, not the handlebars.
When I find my camera I'll post pictures of the process as I have another Venice yet to convert.
-Jon
Cost:$10 or less.
Ordering Time: 0-72 Hours
Modification Time: 30-60 Minutes
You need:
Phillips Screwdriver
Sharp X-acto knife
Wire Cutters
10mm Wrench
Soldering Iron, Flux, Solder
3/32" and 1/4" Heat shrink tubing
2X Pico 5414PT Chrysler Side Marker (Any auto parts store should have them or be able to order them. I got mine at a local auto parts store that had them at a parts warehouse downtown, and they had them in stock by the next morning for no fee) You can also get them online at http://store.qualitydist.net/7464.html)
2X Matching Bulbs (Generic press-in bulbs, available at any auto parts store)
1) First remove the US blinkers. There's a phillips screw holding the clear cover in place on the back of the housing. Remove it and take off the clear cover. There's another smaller screw holding the yellow plastic housing in place, remove that too. Now you can pull out the inner silver housing and bulb until you can get a pair of wire cutters behind it to cut it free. Snip both wires and it come off. Now use that 10mm wrench to remove the bolt holding the rest of the housing to the handlebars. Save all the parts you've removed in case you ever want to re-install them.
2) To install the new lights start by removing the phillips screw holding their housings to the scooter. Install your new bulbs into the new sockets you've bought:
http://www.forked.net/socket.jpg
The sockets need to be slightly trimmed with an x-acto knife to fit into the housing. Go slowly and take approximately 1/8" off of each of the four square flanges that mate with the back of the housing. It should be obvious where to trim if you try to insert the socket into the housing. Keep trimming until you can use some effort to squeeze the socket into the housing (be sure you have the bulb in the socket first). The tighter the fit the more water tight and mechanically sound it will be. Once you get it inside, you can twist it a little to lock it solidly into place.
3) Mount the completed blinker housing on the scooter, running the socket wires through the square hole provided and secure it tightly with the original phillips screw. The only thing left to do is solder the socket wires and the original blinker wires together using heat shrink tubing to protect them. Before you do any cutting or soldering, be sure you leave enough length to allow the steering column to turn fully left and right and a little extra length to create a small drip stopper in the wire. Solder the two black wires together (negative) and the brown and green wires together (positive). I used two pieces of 3/32" heat shrink to cover both of those solder joints and then a 4" piece of 1/4" tubing to cover the entire length of exposed wire from where the original cover ends all the way into the blinker housing.
You're all done. You now have a single set of blinkers instead of two, and they are installed where they should be; on the body, not the handlebars.
When I find my camera I'll post pictures of the process as I have another Venice yet to convert.
-Jon