The factory Honda gauges aren't bad looking and they're easy on the eye. At nearly 40 years old, some of them are starting to become lazy, and their luster is waning. The real reason for not using them on this build was that they didn't have the look that would really blend with the aluminum over black theme.
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The search for suitable gauges was addressed by Speedhut - who not only sells a complete line of gauges, but allows for extensive customization of them within their handy online website. There are font styles/colors, background colors, pointer colors, night led lighting color choices, etc, and all documentation is available online so you can see what you're getting into before your purchase... In addition, a GPS speedometer would eliminate the stock Honda speedo cable, and the electronic tachometer would get rid of that cable too.
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Like anything else, these can be pricey - and there is about a 6-8 week lead/build time for their customized gauges (Speedhut provides a progress status along the way within one's account dashboard). The finished look though makes it all worth the wait!
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The gauge set is analog style and here's that actual order sheet (less the pricing):
- GPS Speedometer / Tachometer combo (with programmable shift indicator light)
- Coolant temperature gauge (electronic with sender and programmable warning light)
- Oil pressure gauge (electronic with sender and programmable warning light)
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If lots of wires causes anxiety, then the wiring for all the gauges can certainly be intimidating.
* The speedometer / tach has a GPS antenna lead, and wires for high beam indicator, left and right directionals, and wires for an "inverter" used for the dimmable led night lighting within the gauges. Lighting to the other gauges is supplied through the use of an additional daisy-chain harness with built-in connectors.
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* Positive and negative leads for all three gauges.
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*Both the temperature and oil pressure gauges have their own multi-wire sensor whip/connector.
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The Speedometer, all of these wires, along with the turn signal flasher unit has to share the the coffee pot with the headlight (and its wiring)... Things can get a little "busy". The white terminal block was used during intitial hookup and to keep track of everything. Once determined everything worked, the terminal block was eliminated in favor of space-saving crimp/shrink wrap connections:
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The stock Honda coolant and oil pressure sensors have to be removed and replaced with Speedhut's. As of this writing, if anyone goes with these gauges for their GL1100, visit your local Autozone and grab the following item which contains the correct metric adapter(s) for using the Speedhut oil sender to into the Honda GL1100 block.
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The oil sender swap is very straightforward with the correct metric sender adapter. The coolant sensor can be a bit more challenging mostly due to lack of room between the sensor and a boss that protrudes from the engine block.. It's almost impossible to get a normal socket around the sensor unless it's thin walled:
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When Speedhut's coolant sensor is screwed into the adapter, it's longer overall than the stock Honda unit but poses no installation issue in the GL1100:
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Speedhut coolant sensor (left) - stock Honda coolant sensor (center) - metric adapter (right):
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During the gauge install, a custom control switch panel was also installed. This control panel will house most of the functions (and a couple optional ones) that are typically found on stock handlebar controls (high beam, coils, signal, fan switch over-ride, etc..)
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The switches themselves are a common long-shaft ceiling light switch rated at 5 amps each. These will be hearty enough to engage the directionals, coils, etc. One exception is the factory Honda cooling fan which is now activated by a common 12 volt/30 amp automotive lighting relay. In the event the fan needs to be turned on manually, one of those ceiling light switches only has to supply a tiny amount of current to trip the relay to energize the fan. The housing for the switches is an old bicycle chainring spacer and the cup it's mounted to is a wheel bearing grease cap which fits perfectly into the center hole of the chainring spacer (I know what you're thinking 'cause I was thinking it too when I put this together - lol!!):
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Here is the functional but unfinished gauges and control panel:
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The gauge housings are black plastic which would be fine for an in-dash mounting but on this build we don't have a traditional dashboard, and we don't want the back of the gauges to remain exposed. The speedometer housing is well hidden within the coffee pot but for the oil pressure and coolant temperature gauges we need to create a backing that will make these look finished.
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For this we volunteer another one of my beloved cooking items: A "Happy Home" egg pan.
It's going to take quite a shopping few trips to the dump to replace the kitchen items used on this bike but that's part of the fun!:
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Those little domed inserts fit perfectly around the gauges and their finish should hold up well to bug splatter. If not, some non-stick cooking spray should do the trick!:
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And the front salt-n-pepper shaker ends that were not used were mounted on the domes are attached:
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The center of the control switch panel uses the top of a vintage spice shaker (hence all the little holes). It was needed to mount the little black knob seen in the center of the entire cluster - which is the dimmer for the internal gauge night lights!
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This photo was taken before a nice custom aluminum perimeter ring was added (but can be seen in the photos above!
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The next post is a goodie and will tie the entire bike together from end-to-end and is exclusive to this build!
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~CrazyJerry~
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