Kawasaki Vulcan Forum banner

Vintage style VN900 "Vaquero"

7K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  andyvh1959 
#1 · (Edited)
At least that's what I kinda see in my project to mount a late 70's Suzuki Windjammer style fairing to my buddies 08 VN900. I have the fairing modified (a lot to fit the wider cruiser style forks) and have the mount figured out to clamp to the crash bar and u-bolt to the frame downtubes. The fairing is solid again (found lots of cracks and poor mods done by the previous owner), but I found these old ABS plastic fairings are pretty easy to repair and modify. In fact, the parts of the fairing I cut out, I cut them up and mixed them in a glass jar with Acetone and created a sticky "slurry" I used to create new shapes, fill cracks, add braces, etc. The radio face area I built up to include a storage tray at the top for a GPS or smart phone, along with a power outlet to the left. Still adding a small amber LED on each side of the face panel near each speaker which will blink with the directionals.

I took the original funky fairing directionals out and replaced them with 3.5" LED spotlights. The original VN900 directionals will mount to the fairing mount. The headlight is a H4 Silverstar. I installed a cool Pyle bluetooth radio MP3 player along with marine grade speakers. The spotlights are controlled by a small switch at the LH grip cluster. Now my buddy will have a frame mounted fairing that is lighter in total weight than the original windshield and mount hardware (I weighed it all), with big lockable storage pockets, stereo, extra lights. Fun project.
 

Attachments

See less See more
5
#4 · (Edited)
Well, doing another one may be hard to do. I finally found out the fairing is a Pacifico Shadow Classic , but I have never seen this particular faring before on any bike from the 70's, and I had a Windjammer on a Honda back in 78. I recall other Jammer styled fairings. I emailed Craig Vetter if he knew what brand it was before I bought it and he replied it might be made by Ancra.

Once I found out it is a Pacifico Shadow it was easy to find a bunch of old adds for the fairing.

I plan to paint the center section around the lights a "chrome" paint, to emphasize the shape and detail, with a narrow red strip between it and the other areas. The rest will be the white pearl metallic and olive silver metallic like the gas tank.
 

Attachments

#6 · (Edited)
I'll know how well it works in a few weeks. I'll get his bike back and mount the faring and try it out on the road. The only part I don't like about this fairing is the stock windshield because it tapers up narrower than I think looks good. If my buddy doesn't like it I have a pattern made for a 6" wider windshield that will barely taper much at the top. Gustofssen makes custom windshields to fit any bike.

Now that I know it is a Pacifico Shadow Classic fairing, a little craigslist and ebay searching has turned up a few. So they are out there.

Hopefully by mid-June I'll have this one mounted and more pics to come.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Here are some pics with dimensions to get an idea of what is needed to mount a late 70's Pacifico Shadow frame mounted fairing to a 2008 VN900. I hope to have the fairing mounted later this week and then its on to finish work and painting. To anyone thinking of mounting a late 70's Windjammer style fairing to the VN900, here's some details:
1. The wide fork legs requires nearly 13" wide space inside the fairing, especially for the fork legs to turn inside the fairing. I had to cut out a lot of the fairing lower flange and actually cut into the side compartments, which I plastic welded shut with heat formed ABS sheets to fill the openings.
2. The headlight comes off the bike, and in it's place is a small electrical box that contains the connections of the fairing harness to the bike wiring,
3. The VN900 has no gauges above/front of the handlebar, and those old fairings were made to fit around the gauges which turned with the handlebar. In order to fill the gap ahead of the forks I made a valance panel that fills in the gap, and is mounted in the fairing, and a lower valance mounted to the forks that turns under the upper valance.
4. The fuel tanks on cruisers like the VN900 are pretty wide, so for this fairing I had to heat the inside rear corners and form bulges to clear the tank.
5. The faring mount clamps onto the factory crash bar, and then uses 2.5" wide u-bolts to clamp the mount to the frame downtubes.

To this project I added a new Bluetooth/MP3/USB marine radio and 3.5" marine grade speakers, micro LED turn indicators, 3.25" LED driving lights and a Silverstar H4 headlight. The stock turn signals relocate to the fairing mount bracket.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
Slightly off topic. . .

. . . but I'm curious as to how expensive/difficult it would be to fit the new generation vaquero/voyager fairing on my 2009 Vulcan 900? I assume your fitment was custom, with brackets and all, but have any of you guys heard of people trying to do this?

My main reason for wanting to do this is I'll need a fairing for the winter, as it's usually just been really cold, but the ground isn't always slick/wet/icy. I was planning on getting the MS batwing but I really like the look of the Vaquero fairing. If we had better income, I'd probably just get a Voyager or Vaquero, but hey, we can't afford everything we want, can we?!

Anyway, thanks for any ideas or criticism, I'm open to everything!
 
#9 · (Edited)
If my friend had given me the budget to install a Vaquero fairing on his VN900 I would have gone that route. I too like the looks of the Vaquero fairing, and I'd bet it would easily clear the fork legs, etc, but it would take some research to find out if the Vaquero faring mount could be made to fit the VN900 frame, especially since the main mount attaches to the frame at the headstock.

I did some frame design comparisons on Bikebandit.com to compare the VN1700 and VN900 frames to see if the Vaquero faring mount could be applied to the VN900.

My buddies budget for a complete fairing on his VN900 is less than $500. I bought the Pacifico Shadow fairing for $80, and with the updates, mods, radio, speakers, lights etc and I'm at about $300 into the project. I would guess to buy a used Vaquero faring complete with the mount and wiring, etc, the price would start at $800 or more. There is a frame mounted aftermarket Road Glide style fairing that may be easier to mount on the VN900, but the price on that starts at $1300 and it is not yet listed to mount on the VN900. But it is a very good looking fairing. well proportioned for the VN900. I like the look of the FXR fairing with the extra spotlights in place of the police lights.

Some other ideas: find a decent used fairing from a late 70's HD FXRT, or find a fairing from an old HD FXRT police bike. Another options may be to find a faring from a Kawasaki Z1000 Police bike. Both were plentiful after many decades of service, and they can be found on ebay, but very few are reasonably priced. Again its a matter of finding a complete one and figuring out how to mount it to a VN900. Or just find a used Windjammer, and modify the mount to work on the VN900. The trick I've found is that most cruiser style fuel tanks are wide, wider than fuel tanks common on bikes from the late 70's early 80's which the Windjammers were sized to fit.
 

Attachments

#10 · (Edited)
Getting there, the fairing mount is complete, the directionals relocated, clearance for the forks confirmed, horn mount revised, wiring box installed in place of the original headlight, harness connections made in the wiring box, extra control switch and relay for the spotlights installed and working, so tomorrow is the first test ride. Then do the paint scheme, white pearl/pewter metallic/burgundy metallic and I'll call this part of the VN900 CT (Classic Tour) completed:

The Pilot brand spotlights are controlled by a switch on the left handgrip cluster and can easily be controlled with the index finger of the left hand, and they come on with either the LO or HI beam, but only with the ignition on. One thing I don't really like is the original windshield. I feel it is too narrow from the upper mount bolts up. I feel it should be 3" or 4" wider on each side all the way up. opinions?
 

Attachments

#11 · (Edited)
Did my 1st test ride of the VN900 with the fairing installed, and pretty happy with the results. The fairing mount is solid, just some minimal vibration that should be cleared up once I do the final installation with all the right mount hardware. The switch location for the spotlights works great for easy access. I fabbed a quick little aluminum bracket to locate the radio remote on the LH grip, using the mirror mount to bolt down the bracket. The remote is infrared so it has to be pointed at the radio to get the signal, works great. Kinda surprised at the sound of the little 3.5" speakers, but the fairing itself works kinda like a bass booster. The radio right now is a Pyle PLMR86B, which I am changing to a Pyle PLM17BTB which also has the Bluetooth capability my buddy wants, in addition to the USB/SD ports, and MP3 input port.
 

Attachments

#12 · (Edited)
Getting closer, mounted the rear box, a $59 ebay special with a curved backrest and top rack. I'll paint it to match the bike. Here are some views with the lights on. The main headlight is a Sylvania Silverstar Violet White, and the spotlights are Pilot 50 Watt LED. I'm axious to get it on the road at night to see how effective the lighting is for my buddy. The total wattage draw with all the front lights on, headlight (hi-beam 55 watt), spots (100 watt) running lights (15 watt) equals 170 watt so I hope the VN900 alternator is up to it. Painting soon, finally.
 

Attachments

#13 · (Edited)
Delivered my buddies VN900 dresser project tonight, and the smile on his face was worth every hour I out into this project. Next is the final detail and painting the classic Howe Eng hardbags ( heavily modified) and the painting of the Ebay $60 tail box. when done he'll have a VN900 full dresser.

The Howe Eng ABS hard saddlebags I modified to add a blister in the back to fit into the stock Kawasaki bag supports, so the weight of the bags and contents are actually carried by the support brackets and mounts. The hard bags are now a direcxt bolt on replacement to the Kawasaki leather bags, with a third more capacity.

The paint match came out ok, using Duplicolor spray bombs and Duplicolor clear metallic top cover. When I have the bags and tail box done I'll also pinstripe the color transitions to add more detail. I'm pretty satisfied with the results, adapting a classic late 70's vintage fairing to a 2008 VN900, when all done he'll have the only VN900FD (full dresser) in the country.
 

Attachments

#14 · (Edited)
I just bought another complete Pacifico Shahdow fairing in really nice complete condition, for only $40, and I have leads on yet another one. I like the results of my buddies VN900 Classic with the Shadow fairing enough that thinking ahead, I could see owning a VN1600 or VN1700 and mount the Pacifico fairing to it like I did on my buddies 900. I'd create my own version of a full dresser on the very capable VN1600 or 1700.

As of March of this year I scored yet another really nice, clean, complete Pacifico Shadow fairing, this one with the flow through air vents, for $80. So now I am shopping for a VN1500, VN1600, maybe a VN1700 to build a cruiser/tourer for me and my gal. My only requirements are the bike has to be straight, normal wear, reasonable miles (like 2500 per year) and maintained well, Nomad bags perferred, mufflers on both side preferred.

With the mods I did on my buddies VN900 to fit the fairing I know I can make a really nice factory like setup, with LED spotlights, stereo, GPS, etc.
 
#15 ·
Well, an ancient thread that may still have life. I do now have a VN1600 Classic that I'm converting to a full dresser. I added a Harley style tail box on a Wompus rack. I have Vance & Hines true duals to install along with a set of Nomad bags for which I'll design my own mounts so I don't have to use the heavy complicated Kawasaki setup.

And, I have another Pacifico Shadow fairing that I'm modding to mount a set of VN1700 Vaquero gauges. I'm working with Accutach in CA to develop a tach controller so the stock VN1700 tach will respond to the crank sensor output (it does, but it took a LOT of work at Accutach). I'm now close to finalizing the installation of the gauge set into the Pacifico fairing, and its looking really good. The look will be "vintage Vaquero", and well featured; stereo, GPS, LED spots, LED headlight, short windshield, flow through air vents, to make my VN1600 a unique full dresser.

I've already changed it over to Mean Streak wheels and brake front and back, and I may mount the six-piston calipers from the Mean Streak. Front fender from a Yamaha 1100 cruiser. This winter the engine comes out to repair 2nd gear. But in the process it gets VN1500 Mean Streak heads/cams/throttle body/injectors and transmission. 5th gear will remain from the Classic to keep the highway cruising RPMs down. With the Power Commander and Baron air intake on the bike already it should make for a fun ride (all the smog crap is long gone already).
Wheel Tire Land vehicle Vehicle Fuel tank
Tire Wheel Land vehicle Vehicle Fuel tank

These pics are before the wheels change and the front fender change. I scored the Russel Day Long saddle set and a set of Vance & Hines True Duals for $450. Pipes will be installed this winter.
 
#17 ·
Here is a pic of the Pacifico fairing development with the added panels I've fabricated from ABS sheet stock to mount the gauge set from a VN1700 Vaquero. It's got a ways to go, but the gauge panel mount is pretty well done. Below the gauges are the stock air flow vents of the Pacifico fairing. Between those vents is the panel where I'll mount the stereo and GPS. I already know the main functions of the gauge set work with the VN1600 wiring, such as turn signals, high beam, neutral light, water temp, fuel gauge and speedometer (with a calibration modification controller), and the tach can be made to work off the VN1600 crank sensor signal, when modded to use a tach controller module from Accutach. I've been confirming the prototype tach controller with Accutach and it works great. Hopefully this winter I'll figure out a way to use the shift indicator from the VN1700 as well. The windshield will be a cut down version of the Pacifico windshield will give it a Road Glide kind of look.
Vehicle Light Car Motor vehicle Automotive design
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top