Initial Thoughts
One of the few flaws, to me anyways, of the '03's is the mudflap/rear blinker combo. To remedy this situation, I choose a CustomLED (www.customled.com) Integrated tail kit. My chosen vendor suggested McCoy Motorsports as the outlet of choice for the purchase since they were running a special on them. I paid $179.00 plus $10 for shipping for a total of $189.99 (yes, I know, fantastic math skills! what else did you expect 6 years of college to impart upon me?). There were many other vendors out there that had similar kits but I chose this one as I had seen a animation of it somewhere and the blinker lights are offset a bit to the outside of the brake lights on their respective sides so it gives it a bit of an animated look as if the blinker is kinda of moving in that direction. Aside from that, it's also much brighter then the stock LED's. So by installing this, I could clean up the rear quite a bit and make room for my pipe as well. When I received the piece (2 days), it was quite the looker. Lots and lots of LED's, good directions and some real nice waterproof wire splicers. I couldn't wait to get it installed.
The Install
After reading through the directions once, I set about installing it. Now, one quick word. You'll need some kind of rotary tool (ala Rotozip, Dremel, etc) and a cutting wheel. I went to Home DePot and looked through their tool corral for Dremel cutting wheels. I came upon a small canister of them, about 36 of them for $5.99 that were less than an 1/8 in width (#409 wheel I believe). Then I saw a cutoff wheel pack that included the same canister, plus another one of different sizes and about 20 other sizes (2 each of those) for $9.98 so I grabbed that as you never know what other uses you might have for them... Just some shopping advice... what can I say, I'm a cheap ass.... Anyways, once you get the passenger and drivers seats off, you can unbolt the stock mudflap from the trunk and then proceed to remove the plastic pop rivets from the undertail by pushing in the center of them until they "pop" and then pull them out. Drop the undertail down and let it hang for the moment. Then remove the one allen bolt that holds the tail on right above the tail light assembly (and 2 smaller pop rivets at the drivers seat). You can now remove the tail and start disconnecting the wires. Now you can follow the directions included with the piece. The hardest part is cutting off the lense. Just be slow and steady with the cutting wheel and you'll be straight. Don't cut to far through otherwise it'll make remounting the lense a nightmare. Luckily, you can "feel" the change in the materials (lense vs. the backing plate) when you cut throught the lense. Work your way around the lense, then pry off with a flat head screw driver, but be gentle. With the supplied splicers, connections are quick and simple. The whole process probably took about an hour. I used clear silicone sealant (hi grade) to re-attach my lense. Let the lense sit up over night and then re-install.
Post-Installation
The light looks great! Cleaned up the back end so much it's unbelievable. It's also very bright. Almost has a strobe effect to it when the blinkers are on, especially with the higher flash rate due to the higher efficiency of the LED's (fronts also flash faster). What more can I say? The piece was really well built, easy instructions made for an easy install, and it looks great when it's operating. Other wise, no one would know you put it in. Just looks like you unbolted everything from the back of the bike. Now if my pivot kit would just get here!
If any one has any questions feel free to contact me!
Penfold
:jump :hump :mrgreen: :boob :drink
One of the few flaws, to me anyways, of the '03's is the mudflap/rear blinker combo. To remedy this situation, I choose a CustomLED (www.customled.com) Integrated tail kit. My chosen vendor suggested McCoy Motorsports as the outlet of choice for the purchase since they were running a special on them. I paid $179.00 plus $10 for shipping for a total of $189.99 (yes, I know, fantastic math skills! what else did you expect 6 years of college to impart upon me?). There were many other vendors out there that had similar kits but I chose this one as I had seen a animation of it somewhere and the blinker lights are offset a bit to the outside of the brake lights on their respective sides so it gives it a bit of an animated look as if the blinker is kinda of moving in that direction. Aside from that, it's also much brighter then the stock LED's. So by installing this, I could clean up the rear quite a bit and make room for my pipe as well. When I received the piece (2 days), it was quite the looker. Lots and lots of LED's, good directions and some real nice waterproof wire splicers. I couldn't wait to get it installed.
The Install
After reading through the directions once, I set about installing it. Now, one quick word. You'll need some kind of rotary tool (ala Rotozip, Dremel, etc) and a cutting wheel. I went to Home DePot and looked through their tool corral for Dremel cutting wheels. I came upon a small canister of them, about 36 of them for $5.99 that were less than an 1/8 in width (#409 wheel I believe). Then I saw a cutoff wheel pack that included the same canister, plus another one of different sizes and about 20 other sizes (2 each of those) for $9.98 so I grabbed that as you never know what other uses you might have for them... Just some shopping advice... what can I say, I'm a cheap ass.... Anyways, once you get the passenger and drivers seats off, you can unbolt the stock mudflap from the trunk and then proceed to remove the plastic pop rivets from the undertail by pushing in the center of them until they "pop" and then pull them out. Drop the undertail down and let it hang for the moment. Then remove the one allen bolt that holds the tail on right above the tail light assembly (and 2 smaller pop rivets at the drivers seat). You can now remove the tail and start disconnecting the wires. Now you can follow the directions included with the piece. The hardest part is cutting off the lense. Just be slow and steady with the cutting wheel and you'll be straight. Don't cut to far through otherwise it'll make remounting the lense a nightmare. Luckily, you can "feel" the change in the materials (lense vs. the backing plate) when you cut throught the lense. Work your way around the lense, then pry off with a flat head screw driver, but be gentle. With the supplied splicers, connections are quick and simple. The whole process probably took about an hour. I used clear silicone sealant (hi grade) to re-attach my lense. Let the lense sit up over night and then re-install.
Post-Installation
The light looks great! Cleaned up the back end so much it's unbelievable. It's also very bright. Almost has a strobe effect to it when the blinkers are on, especially with the higher flash rate due to the higher efficiency of the LED's (fronts also flash faster). What more can I say? The piece was really well built, easy instructions made for an easy install, and it looks great when it's operating. Other wise, no one would know you put it in. Just looks like you unbolted everything from the back of the bike. Now if my pivot kit would just get here!
If any one has any questions feel free to contact me!
Penfold
:jump :hump :mrgreen: :boob :drink
