Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xtras

Technical stuff specific to the V and Xtra raptors
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Spyke
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Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xtras

Post by Spyke »

Just for you, ozz!

The manual reckons you should take the forks off just to get the instrument panel, but I disagree! It's a bit fiddly, but it's possible.

Removing the horns, front indicator lenses, indicator side pods, under nose piece, front fairing, and headlight are fairly straight forward, but then you'll be able to see that the instrument panel is retained by three bolts with crown washers - 2 are easy to reach but the final one at the bottom is inaccessible due to the headlight support.
If you stoop down at the clutch side you can see the headlight support is retained by two big brassy coloured bolts, remove the upper one of these:
Headstock.jpg
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Then you can tilt the headlight support down and access the plastic baffle, the ridgy bit in the centre of this pic:
Baffle.jpg
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The baffle is retained by three plastic posts into rubber grommets, gently pull on the baffle to feel the tight spots and pull the baffle up and out of the grommets. Be careful, and you should then be able to wiggle the baffle out of the way, turning the steering to one side can help you find the gap it needs to fit through. Once the baffle is out it is possible to remove the easily-accessed bolts with crown washers, and if you then lift the instrument panel up at the front a little bit you can slide the instrument panel itself rearwards slightly to release the final bolt/crown washer/grommet assembly from the slot in the headlight support.
Instruments.jpg
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A fairly liberal application of Mothers Naturally Black to all surfaces of the grommets seems to restore their pliability, and if you then put a dab of rubber grease into the grommet holes when you refit things they plop into place quite nicely again, ready to be ignored for another 10 years!

If you're doing this to replace the instrument panel bulbs you'll need six 5mm wedge bulbs - 4 for warning lights, 2 for backlights. The bulbs are held in bulb holders so it's a simple job to open up the instrument panel and swap the bulbs over, make sure you test them though before putting the whole thing back together.
:tada:
Last edited by Spyke on |May 9th, 2014|, 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Road racing's where it's at - going round in circles all day is for hamsters.
ozzraptor
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Re: Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xt

Post by ozzraptor »

OMG :oops: :shock: thankyou! Great write up with pics and very thorough. :happyhappy: This looks like a job on a nice sunny day when i fit new set of bars :toocool: Were these pics taken when you did your dash lights ?
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Spyke
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Re: Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xt

Post by Spyke »

Yeah I'm just putting her back together ready for the weekend's shenanigans! Roll on Sunday :revrev:

BTW, checking the manual as I refit, it looks like those big brass bolts don't get tightened too much, I guess they are "Instrument panel support-to-steering head fastening" and only get 9 or 10 Nm. I did them both, as the lower may have loosened with all the tilting, it did seem a little bit looser anyway. Although they are big bolts they don't really have a lot of work to do. With all of this give yourself plenty of time, if you rush you might break something, luckily I've got the time and the inclination to do things methodically and do "rubber maintenance" as I go, seems a good time to do this in the hope she'll continue to not show her age. 8)
Road racing's where it's at - going round in circles all day is for hamsters.
ozzraptor
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Re: Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xt

Post by ozzraptor »

Spyke wrote:55 years agoYeah I'm just putting her back together ready for the weekend's shenanigans! Roll on Sunday :revrev:

BTW, checking the manual as I refit, it looks like those big brass bolts don't get tightened too much, I guess they are "Instrument panel support-to-steering head fastening" and only get 9 or 10 Nm. I did them both, as the lower may have loosened with all the tilting, it did seem a little bit looser anyway. Although they are big bolts they don't really have a lot of work to do. With all of this give yourself plenty of time, if you rush you might break something, luckily I've got the time and the inclination to do things methodically and do "rubber maintenance" as I go, seems a good time to do this in the hope she'll continue to not show her age. 8)
ahh rubber maintenance , where can i buy some of that , me needs some of that stuff :) since you have had a good look at the way the gauges are mounted it might be a good time to ask you about my gauges, it seems that they are slightly off center (to the left )when the handlebars are straight, just wondering how this could happen, makes the bars look crooked or maybe my handlebars are not straight ,anyway will find out soon enough when i get my replacement (thanks CT :happyhappy: ) because i think the stock bars bend easily especially if you have had a little tip over :shock: :drunk: little things bug me if they dont look perfectly straight :mrgreen:
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Spyke
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Re: Removing and replacing the instrument panel on Vs and Xt

Post by Spyke »

Yeah I'm a big fan of rubber maintenance, now that these ladies are getting on a bit things are drying out, I used to be a big fan of Black Magic, but I can't seem to find that in Oz now, so I'm trying Mothers, although the Autoglym was recommended to me as well. The rubbers that were easily removable all seemed to feel more pliable, and the ones that weren't easy to get out just got a coating with a cotton bud, at least they look a bit fresher after that.
BlackMagic.jpg
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MothersNB.jpg
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autoglym_vinyl.jpg
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Rubber grease is good to lube the grommets that retain the bodywork knobs, they were getting a bit tight, making me feel like I was going to break the peg off before the rubber would release, not fun!

Not sure what's causing your misalignment, maybe one of the dash pegs isn't seated properly in its grommet? But yes, you'll probably see what's going on when you get in there.
Road racing's where it's at - going round in circles all day is for hamsters.
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