HOW TO - make a laydown lic plate for under $10

zmilin

Street Tracker
I posted this in BA.com so for some of you this is redundant but there may be folks here that arent over there so here it is.....

OK...so I figured I’d share this with everyone. I made this in under an hour for under $10 with hand tools.

BEFORE YOU PROCEED
• Your working with metal...its sharp after you cut it, BE CAREFUL!
• You will be displacing your turn signals….have a plan for those.
SUPPLIES NEEDED
Sheet metal – I went to Home Depot and got a small sheet (Shingle) for $.95.
Screws with flat heads on them. They are in the screw aisle above the assorted specialty screw trays. They are brown in color. Part # – 23MMCNBLTWBZ $3.97
SS washers and nuts – ¼ x 20 coarse thread, they are $.98 per bag. I got nylon lock nuts because I didn’t want to use locktite but wanted to make sure these weren’t going to come off.
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REMOVE YOUR REAR INDICATOR ASSEMBLY
Remove your lic plate. Disconnect turn signals at the small black plastic connectors.
Remove your tail light assembly (3 x 10mm bolts on the underside of the fender/mudguard).
Remove the flanges sleeves from the rubber grommets. Leave the rubber grommets in place.
If the large rubber pad has come off put it back in place.
See pic below.
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MAKE YOUR LAYDOWN PLATE • Mark your sheet metal for 4” x 7”
• 5/8” From each edge mark a line. The four intersections will be four 1/4” holes for the lic plate bolts (not shown in the pic below, I forgot to do this).
• Find and mark your center line on the plate (3 ½” from the edge).
• On that center line from bottom to top mark 5/8” and 2 ¼” (2 2/8 in the pic….DOH!).
• On the bottom line you marked at 5/8”, from the center line mark 15/16” on each side.
o The above two steps have just given you the positions to drill 3 x 11/32 holes.
Should look like this but with the addition of the 4 holes marked for your lic plate bolts.
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Trim, file, drill, file and it should look like this.
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Make sure the rubber grommets are in place as well as the rubber pad, insert your flat screws through the plate, line up with the three grommets, push on and secure with washers and nuts. Don’t over tighten or the metal will bend. Should be snug but not gorilla tight. Should look like this.
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Mount your plate and frame. Should look similar to this.
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Now….sit back, heal your wounds (I told you to be careful…..metal is sharp!) and have a Dr Pepper (or whatever)!

Also had this little addition
SO....went to Lowes today and found they have a much better selection of steel plates than Home Depot.
About $10 for a 8x12 sheet...thick enough to keep it stiff and possibly mount the signals to, thin enough to look good.

Had to resort to using my jig saw to cut it all out.
 

WaterTower

Scooter
Question where did the brake light finally end up ?

Yeah more pic's:mad2::mad2::mad2: of the bike from side and distance would be great :C

Is that a Bonneville don't recognize all the chrome beside the seat ?
 

zmilin

Street Tracker
Question where did the brake light finally end up ?

Yeah more pic's:mad2::mad2::mad2: of the bike from side and distance would be great :C

Is that a Bonneville don't recognize all the chrome beside the seat ?

Dude....chill...:chair:
The brake light didnt move. Its a Triumph America not a Bonnie or Thrux.
I dont have any distance pics of the bike after the laydown project but you can peruse all the pics you want here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24489610@N05/collections/
 

paul

moped
Hi there why did you not use the original blinkers when you relocated the number plate. Would have looked a lot better.Still looks quite good.
 

zmilin

Street Tracker
Hi there why did you not use the original blinkers when you relocated the number plate. Would have looked a lot better.Still looks quite good.

I didnt use the OEM lights for a few reasons: 1) I needed them to fit between the bags and fender 2) I wanted red driving lights 3) I wanted the back to be smooth as I could get it. The clown nose will go away one day as well and 4) cause Im that guy that never leaves good enough alone.

Here are more pics as requested earlier.
The left bike is Karens the right is mine. I kept her OEM lights mounted to shorter stems that mount to the plate bracket I made for hers. If you can visualize wings bent down or tabs so to speak. Turned out nice. I didnt take any pics when I made it so no instructions there.
3460477598_2b60c3cb35_b.jpg


A side view of both.
3460480710_6794b014e7_b.jpg


A better shot of Karens.
3459666433_195a56b56a_b.jpg
 

paul

moped
Hi there again the photo of the bike with the oem blinkers looks great.Thats the way they should have made them from factory you did a good job.Wanting to do the same on my SPEEDY.Would like to see close up photo of how you mounted the blinker stem to the number plate. Would appreciate greatly if you can thanks. Cheers for now from PAUL.
 

paul

moped
Hi there thats good enough for me to see how you fitted the blinkers.Thanks heaps for all the information . I will post some photos of my SPEEDY. When its all done .So thanks alot again you have been very helpful to me this is a good forum .So bye for now and RIDE SAFE from PAUL.
 

paul

moped
Hi once again want to know is there a certain way of removing the blinkerstem from the blinker light on the rear. I am stuck with this . Thanking you Paul.
 

Dave

Street Tracker
take the whole assembly off the fender, then use a box end wrench on the inside nut of the turn signal stem
 

zmilin

Street Tracker
take the whole assembly off the fender, then use a box end wrench on the inside nut of the turn signal stem
What Dave said....use some heat too...I used a small torch. The loctite is a beyotch and heat helps.
 
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