Headlight Conversion (general advice, criticism, etc welcome)

Here is my first thread I started last year to bring anyone who cares to weigh in, up to speed.

http://xjbikes.com/forums/index.php?threads/brand-new-to-the-xj-world.46437/#post-417451

The bike is all road worthy I took care of all the safety precautions that were mentioned and suggested to me (in the above link) last season. On top of taking the saftey advice i have decided for the most part not to change the bike much, but want to make a few changes that can be undone without much complication.

I believe i correctly attached 2 more images of what the bike looks like now.
http://tinypic.com/r/2lao3m/8
http://tinypic.com/r/35kiknq/8

I wasn't into the bike with so much chrome and shin everywhere (definitely still think some looks great). I looked into plastidip and found great results, i decided to plastidip the fenders (which had barely and looked great for the age, check the link above for original pictures) handle bars because they were starting to look rough, and now the ugly 2 piece doesnt stick out too much to me, i also did the decals on the tank and the plastic battery covers (not sure what they are called) because the decals and the covers paint was starting to go. What i love about the plastidip is the nice flat black look that it gave, and overalll if i took the time to paint it right it looks pretty clean too. Now on the flip side of the plastidip i painted the fenders twice this summer just to see how easy infact the plastidip can be removed. To my surprise it came off so easy and the chrome looks good as ever. kind of a win win for me, i prefer the flat black look as of now, but i ever change my mind its so easy to go back to all the chrome and in the mean time its getting protected from the elements. this is very important to me due to all the responses in keeping the thing stock and i now preferences can change over time so i wanted to leave that as an option.

Now on for what I hope to do, as I said I dont want to change too much and if i do i want it to be easy as possible to change back. Ive been looking around on this forum and have found some helpful things but nothing really agreed upon by multiple members. I want to switch out the ugly square headlight for a 7" circle one. Is there a specific headlight off another bike, a company that you recomend using, any other ideas? I do want to keep it more on the cheaper side but i appreciate any and all answers. any easy way just to mount it up to the exisiting bracket for an easier sawp if i am so inclined to later on. Also can anyone shed any tips or links to how id go about with the wiring to the headlights?

Again everything is welcome, still newer to the bike world as this is my first motorcycle but i loved it last season and hope to ride it for much more.

thanks again for all help in advance guys!

http://tinypic.com/r/35kiknq/8

 

If you post the "[ IMG ]" code on those pictures, you'll be able to have your pictures show up in the post like this:

"[ IMG ]http://i57.tinypic.com/2lao3m.jpg[ /IMG ]" gets you


and "[ IMG ]http://i58.tinypic.com/35kiknq.jpg[ /IMG ]" gets you

 

awesome thanks for the tip!

 

I bought a used round headlight from an '83 Maxim XJ1100 and it bolted right into the factory ears for the rectangle headlight with no modification whatsoever.

I think the same would be true for just about any of the large round headlights from the Secas or Maxims.

 

Okay cool thats what i was hoping to hear. Any recommendations of where to buy these parts reputably or just simple ebay searches? and any tips on the wiring or was it that straight forward?

 

Reputably? It doesn't get better than Len aka Chacal from XJ4ever. Start an email with him at info@xj4ever.com to get an order going.

 

great! thank you

 

another quick question, since i have a 2 piece rectangular headlight assembly how would the low/highbeam work moving to a singular headlight? if anyone can provide me with wiring instructions or tips that would be really helpful!

 

I'm going to start off with the disclaimer of I don't actually know the answer. My 82 started with a single headlight. I'm wondering if your two headlights have two wires running to them each. If so, it's probably a high beam lead, a low beam lead, and two ground wires. In a single headlight, you'll have a three prong plug; high, low, and ground. You should be able to just connect the corresponding wires and that would be it.

By all means, anyone who has done the square to round conversion, please correct me or elaborate as needed.

 

You have a dual beam headlamp and a fog lamp that is mounted underneath it (it bolts to the lower triple clamp and is not attached to the headlamp). You would either lose the fog lamp, keep the foglamp, or find a round foglamp to put in the place of the rectangular one. It is wired seperately from the headlamp, and has a seperate switch (on the right control pod).

You will not need to make any wiring changes to fit a round headlamp.

 

the feedback and help from you guys is always fast and really helpful, thanks!
looks like ill place my order soon from chacal for the 7" that fits the other maxims and secas and go from there!

 

Keep up the pics and keep us posted on what you do with the fog light. Looks like another mod to add to my list. Damn you all for making it seem so doable.

 

Hmm... now I kinda want a fog light, too. I'll do it after I convert all my other lights to LED. (Don't worry, I already changed to an electronic relay.)

 

http://www.ledsupply.com/led-housing-kits
pick you power, pick your price

 

I'm looking into using these https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/motorcycle-led-bulbs/, but your link will be very helpful for other projects in the future.