Inner Dash panel removal

[jorgecuervo]

Hello all. New to the forum as I just recently purchased a 2002 Voyager after not riding for the last 30 years. Man it's hard to believe it's been that long and that I'm that old. Anyway, I searched the forum and didn't find an answer to this so sorry if it's already posted somewhere. Will the inner dash panels come off without having to take off the whole fairing? I want to add a USB charger to one of them and I also need access to the inside of the fairing to the side of these to mount some air wings that I bought. Thanks for any help/advice you may have!

[Thud300]

The inner dash panels are the last piece of plastic to come off when removing all the front plastic bits, basically the entire fairing and upper dash come off first then you can remove those panels. Fortunately, the inside of those panels is mostly accessible by just removing the lower and upper fairings. Also, you can find power and ground tap connectors behind the headlamp assembly.

[jorgecuervo]

Thanks. Yeah I was afraid that was the case . I know the lower fairing is a snap and I'm guessing the upper isn't a big deal. Power leads are a good tip too. Looks like I'll be doing this kinda laying down then.

[ghostler]

Removing the lower fairing is easy, held on by 4 screws. Upper is a little more work, requires removing the mirrors and windshield. It is not difficult, a little tedious.

FYI, I engaged in a similar project to yours several years ago. Since I don't have the OEM CB radio, I used the CB radio tuner module space on fairing left side. This was my first crack, a piece of thin plywood for mounting plate:

Car underdash cigarette lighter power socket:

Its plastic mounting plate was extremely brittle, in a short time disintegrating to pieces. I removed the socket. Made a square plate out of sheet metal, punched a hole with a chassis punch (tool from the old radio tubes / valves days - my Dad's, he was the electric shop teacher in high school ) for the socket, pop riveted the assembly in place (Sorry, no photo).

Additional upgrade was an auxiliary fuse center for Wolo horn, heated hand grips, cigarette lighter power socket, trailer 5 to 4 wiring module, battery charger / tender.

As others have stated, you can power from the accessories circuit, which would provide a convenient 10 Amp fused connection. The nearby CB connector has 3 wires (wiring diagram Connector "D"), wires brown/white (don't use, low Amp for memory circuits with key off), black/yellow (ground), white/yellow (+12 Volts).

I wanted mine powered even when key was off, so I created a new fused circuit direct to battery. Because I wanted accessibility to fuses without disassembling the fairing, I created my own fuse center under the false tank cover, which got rid of previous owner's in-line fuses plus for accessories I installed.

[Thud300]

This is a project coming up for my 91, mine had no CB but it does have a nice ugly square hole in the left dash, so going to install a marine voltmeter/usb charger combo unit using black textured ABS plastic to cover the hole, and going to wire it to switched power with a bypass switch to B+ in case I need to charge something with the bike not running.

[jorgecuervo]

Nice pics and great info George - thanks! I have a handlebar mounted charger right now that I plugged a cigarette socket style USB charger/voltmeter/thermometer to. It pops out of the socket tho and it is just a matter of time before it flys off. The charger works good and is always powered with a lighted off/on switch, which helps to remind me to turn it off. The whole setup is bulky and ugly and at a weird angle tho so it's coming off. Previous owner must have had a toggle switch mounted in the dash panel which he removed and then filled it in with a quarter. I'm kinda tired of telling people no, the quarter doesn't mean anything to me or serve a purpose. So I'm gonna use that hole for a new USB/Voltmeter that mounts like a cigarette lighter does. I'll have to find another thermometer cause I like to see what kinda temperature I'm dealing with in the cockpit. I have the same hole for the CB but at least there's a flip up cover still on it. Trying to think of something else to go there; maybe a bunch of toggle switches to power different lights or something.

[jorgecuervo]

Yeah Thud I've been thinking about that gaping CB cut out too. Isn't that u that just fixed up that beat down Voyager that u ride to work some? I've enjoyed following your progress with it. It must be nice to be able to think of little bonus projects after tackling such a large one

[Thud300]

It is, rode her this morning

Going to see what I can do with this, arriving later today.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6 ... UTF8&psc=1

[jorgecuervo]

Ha I've been eye balling that one too. I like that you can arrange the sockets in any order u want
The size looks right except you would have to make the CB cutout larger. I would only be worried about the sun washing it out as I know it does on my handlebar setup even though the readout is plenty bright. It might require a shroud to read at full glare, but then again there wouldn't be anything critical there anyway.

[ghostler]

Nice pics and great info George - thanks!

You're welcome, Jorge. Here's a reason why I replaced the setup, plastic in the supplied socket panel was of such poor quality, that it disintegrated.

I have a handlebar mounted charger right now [....] The whole setup is bulky and ugly and at a weird angle tho so it's coming off. Previous owner must have had a toggle switch mounted in the dash panel which he removed and then filled it in with a quarter. I'm kinda tired of telling people no, the quarter doesn't mean anything to me or serve a purpose.

At home improvement centers like Home Depot, Lowes, etc., in their specialty hardware section have plastic and metal plugs in various sizes. Electrical section has metal hole covers for unused conduit knock outs. If the location is not optimal, it could be covered. To paint cover to match fairing top, new Rustoleum spray can formula now contains Epoxy, actually does a decent job at a fraction of the cost of auto paints. It is even nitro model airplane fuel proof. Trick is giving it about a week to cure and harden. Many are using these sprays for final finish on balsa wood aircraft.

It is, rode her this morning Going to see what I can do with this, arriving later today. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6 ... UTF8&psc=1

Thud300, that is really a nice module. I bookmarked it in my list, may at a later date give that a shot as it has more options, plus a switch to boot. I could use the switch to operate new LED fog lamps for visibility.

[Thud300]

Did the install this morning, only the battery cover (aka the dummy tank) had to come off. It looks good and works great, although in direct sunlight the voltmeter display did wash out, despite being crazy bright.

Further writeup and pic in the "Look what I did" section.

[jorgecuervo]

Looks good!