Anyone tried to mount a Vetter Fairing on the newer Magna?

[kdf9511]

Whoo Hoo......  Got a call at work from the wife to let me know there was a big box on the porch for me.  My Vetter Windjammer SS showed up today.  I can't wait to get home and put it on tonight before I ride from Houston to Leonard tomorrow.

I will have pics of it mounted by next week.

[John Brunken]

That's a pretty quick installation!  I've been fabricating mount hardware, checking fit, designing parts, etc for my SS installation on my '99 for a couple of weeks.  ...But, almost done!  I still have to refit my VTX headlight to blend with the SS curves. (No, not using the Vetter headlight.)  Also have to sort out all the wiring, and finally remove the fairing back off from the bike and paint it with the same matching candy-glory red paint as the tank and bags.  I should have some pics up in about a week. It's been a real adventure that I can't recommend to anyone who doesn't enjoy custom installations. It definitely wasn't a bolt-on!  John

[kdf9511]

I got lucky and found the correct mounts from Vetter for the 1st gen V45.  The only thing I had to do was get some longer front tank mount bolts.  The mounts took about 10 min total to put on.  The wiring was pretty simple.  

I did run into one hitch though.  On the Vetter the running lights are tied together into one wire.  If you plug this into one side of your harnes for the turn sigs when you hit the turn sigs you will loose the running light on the other side.  What I did was make a Y cable to go from the Vetter harnes to the bike harnes.  Only now when you hit the sigs it doesn't flash completely off, but you can still tell very well that it is flashing.

Here are a couple of pics.
One
Two

[John Brunken]

Have you thought about the fact that the factory kitted mounts hold that entire fairing and windshield to the bike frame with just a couple of hose clamps?  I don't know of any history of them coming off, but just imagine if they did!  You might want to think about some stainless U bolt clamps to back-up the hose clamps. I know I'd sleep a lot better and not have that on my mind while going down the highway!  Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. I'll post some pics of mine as soon as I can! Good luck!

[kdf9511]

That is what I will eventualy do.  My last Vetter had the U bolts and I was much more comfortable with how it was mounted.  I used the hose clamps just because they are what I had and I was short on time.  I do like how on these mounts have a tab that bolts to the front tank mounts.  you cant see it in the pics though.  I was actualy supprised when I went to Craig Vetter's website and looked at the original owners manual and saw that the hoseclamp is what was originaly supplyed with the mounts.

[John Brunken]

I promised I would post some pics of my Vetter installation once it was done.... so here is the almost finished product!  I suppose the important thing to note here is that the mounting is entirely custom. I soon discovered that the fairing wouldn't go on to the normal position without droping the radiator down and forward about an inch. I think the first pic should show how I did that.  I also added a mount right off of the top, between the forks, to react the huge drag forces of this big fairing.  They say the original mounts were perfectly safe, but I have my doubts.... so here is my modification/addition.  I took these in the glare of sunset, so some of the photos are hard to see detail in.  Feel free to contact me if you want to undertake the same project... but be prepared to bend some iron!

[John Brunken]

Three more pics!

[John Brunken]

Last 2 pics!

[kdf9511]

Very nice.  I like that.  One queston,  when you swaped out the stock bucket for the VTX bucket did you have to modify the fairing in any way?  I have to do something on mine to get some more light.

[John Brunken]

I had to make a couple of mods to get the VTX headlight to fit.  First, I had to cut-off about two inches from the rear of the VTX housing to get it to sit deep enough in the fairing to suit me. This took some real will power considering that I spent a couple of hundred bucks on that custom bucket!  Second, I had to make a sheet metal mounting bracket and fasten it to the bucket to support the headlight. I didn't use any of the standard Vetter type mounting.  If you'd like, I could try to get a few close-ups of that area. Oh... I also changed out the bulb to a brighter one.  Another source of light could also be a couple of "driving lights" (like PIAA's) that mount on ther forks.  Let me know if you need more details!  And, thanks for the compliments!