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	WorkShop > Yankee Intruder > Light Bar

The Yankee Intruder
by; C. Gustave Sandberg (Sandy)

Introduction
There can never be enough light to illuminate the road!
The stock 55W light just isn't enough. When I changed it to an Ion-Blue 100W bulb that helped allot but,
There can never be enough, There just can't!
Putting on an after market Light Bar and a couple of flood (passing) lamps would help cure the light problem BUT,
the Intruder has that nice long, narrow, minimalistic look. And that big Light Bar with those two big honking lamps . . . No!
Small clamp on lights are available with a $$$ price. That's a bit high, but I like the look.
The automotive after market has a great selection of driving lights but none that have a bike friendly mount.
That's where this Yankee Light Bar comes in.
This will hold two driving lights, yet keep the narrow, stream-lined look.

An artists concept of how the lamps will look using The Yankee Light Bar (bracket) to mount a pair of automotive driving lights.

Sections:

• Fabrication
• Purchase the bracket / Lights
• Installation
• Powering

Fabrication

• Sheet Metal stock,
  1/16" aluminum, approximately 1.5" by 5"
• Saw to cut sheet metal
• 1/4" Drill bit
• 1/2" Drill bit
• 1-1/4" punch, or narrow blade saw, or nibbler
• Binford 2000, excessive horsepower, hand held drill or drill press
• Bending brake, or bench vise
• 2x Rubber grommets to fit 1/2" OD with a 1/4" ID (see text)
• 2x 1/4" Flat Washers (see text)

Instructions
To start, you might want to go to the Installation section and read where and how this bracket mounts.
Actually you should read this whole procedure before going on so you can visualize this bracket and send me an email if you can't 'see it'.

The bracket can be made of many types of sheet metal. I chose 1/16" aluminum mainly because I had it. Steel can be used if you have a better capability at that medium.
Small pieces of aluminum can be purchased at many home centers, or look for a sheet metal working shop in your area, and quite often they will just give you a piece this small.
It is a good idea to make a paper or cardboard version of this bracket first to see what it looks like and how it will fit the bike.

	This is a reduced size drawing of the bracket. Click on the picture to go to (what should be) a full size drawing, that can be used as a template.

Lets start by looking at the bracket drawing, as you might need to make some changes, depending upon your selection of driving lights.
The bracket has five (5) openings (holes).
The two (2) outer ones are for the driving lights.
The inner two are to mount to the studs coming down out of the existing headlight assembly.
And the (big) hole in middle is to allow clearance for the wire harness going into the headlight.

The outer two holes are listed as 1/2" diameter. This size is for a 1/4" driving light mounting bolt going through a rubber grommet that is used to provide vibration isolation. If this isn't required or the lights you're using have a different mounting bolt size, just change them to match. It turns out that there a couple of recesses in the triple tree clamp under the headlight that will allow the driving light mounting studs clearance through the bracket.

The 1/4" inner two holes are placed so the headlight mounting studs can be used to hold this bracket up under the lower triple clamp. These are the placements on my '90 Intruder 1400. I don't think the Intruder has changed since the late '80's, so it should be accurate, (but please double check)!

The large middle hole for the harness clearance, can be hand cut using a saber saw, a jig saw, a metal nibbler, or if you have one, a 1-1/4" hole punch. The exact size and shape of this hole aren't critical, but you must leave plenty of clearance so the bracket doesn't cut or chafe the harness.

Now, two brackets could be made instead of one with this large cutout, but I found that the alignment of the lights change as you're riding, since it is very difficult to clamp the separate brackets down secure enough. This is why I used one larger bracket instead of two.

Any questions so far?
Yes . . . you in the back, wearing the black T-shirt and leather vest. (a real individualist)
If you're so concerned about the alignment, but you cut such a big hole. How do figure to keep the bracket stiff enough?
Yes the big opening does almost cut the bracket in half. This indeed weakens the bracket. But with a small bend toward the front of the bracket (dashed line) we can caret a lip that will add some stiffness to the length of the bracket.
Way Kewl ! Gotcha man !

To layout the cuts, I printed the drawing 1 to 1 and glued it to the metal. If the template drawing doesn't print out the correct size, as measured by the dimensions, you can use a photo-copier to enlarge or reduce the size with some trial and error.
Or, you can capture the jpg image of the drawing (right click on the full size drawing, and 'save picture as' bracket2c.jpg). From there you can manipulate the size to match the printed dimensions using a drawing program such a Paintbrush, Photo-Paint, and others. The overall size of the jpg image is 6" x 3.1".

From here it is the time consuming detail of actually cutting the piece.
I used a center punch to mark the holes, and a sharp knife to sketch the outline.
I first cut the rectangle out, just outside the lines (to be filed later) using a metal cutting saw (hack saw, scroll saw, or band saw). Next came the bend. By putting the large side into a bending brake or a bench vice at the dashed line, and carefully bending the metal, (not too fast or the edge could break or weaken.
In a bench vise a hammer could used to form the bend.
With this piece of metal with it's small lip, the smaller holes were drilled.
Always grip the metal in a vise, bench vise, or a vise-grip tool to prevent the metal from 'taking-off' and tearing up your hand.
The large hole can be punched with a 1-1/4" punch, or cut out with a saw. I don't recommend using a large 1-1/4" drill, as it will probably 'catch' and twist the metal into the scrap pile.

These are photos of the bracket. The look / size of your holes could be different, depending upon your choice of driving light.

Now that the holes are cut, a quick trial fit is in order. Test fit the bracket up into the triple tree and over the studs. Notice that the bend is to the front and down.

	This is looking up under the lower Triple Tree. The bracket (without lights), is being test fitted using the Headlight Bolts to hold it up.

Make sure there is enough room under the light and between the forks for your driving lights. If all this checks out, go over the piece with a file to remove sharp edges, and to prepare for finishing.
If you need to (steel plate) or just want to, you can spray this bracket with a clear coat to protect it from corrosion.
After that dries, you are ready for the installation process.

Installation

• 10mm Socket, and ratchet handle
• socket / wrench size needed for your driving light mount hardware
• Phillips Screw driver with #2 bit
• sorry, no Binford 2000, massive horsepower, power tools required

Instructions
Assemble the bracket / driving light, starting with the anti-vibration grommets.
Work the grommets into the outer two larger holes. If the driving lights you purchased have different mounts or, don't need the vibration isolation, then this step will be different.

	Here, the grommets are installed, ready to add the lights.

The lights are now mounted to the bracket, using the 1/4" (6mm) stud through the grommets, with the flat washer between the grommet and the nut.
Tighten the studs carefully so the lights won't vibrate and turn in the grommet, but loose enough so you can turn the light for aiming.
The stud may need to be cut shorter to fit into the cavity in the Triple Tree casting. If so, be sure to leave them long enough so a couple of threads protrude past the nut.

	Here is the Light Bar with the lights mounted to it. Notice the position of the bend, to the front and down.

Gary Ford's Installation. Here is how the GMan gave his 'uncorked' Intruder more light.

Powering the lights
This part is very open for individual ideas.
You can power the lamps so they are on only during High Beam operation. You can have them on all the time, or add a switch can be used to selectively use the lamps.
I recommend adding an in-line fuse and powering the lights from the battery.
If your lights came with a switch, and or a relay and that's what you want to use, then wire them according to the instructions provided with the lights.
As mentioned before in the introduction, this paper is meant to show how some automotive driving lights can be added. The mounting was the tricky part.
As part of the Cruisah Lights Installation Instructions,
a couple of wiring schemes are shown.
If you do need more help just e-mail us and we can see if we can help.

Purchase the Bracket

If cutting and bending sheet metal isn't how you want to spend your free time, we can make one for you for about $15. If you want to buy one, just write me an email, and we can make the arrangements.

If you wish a full size template on sticky back paper, that you can apply to your own sheet metal and cut out, we can send you one via mail at no cost, but we request a photo (hardcopy or jpg) of your bike after the installation, and we'll add your bike to this site.

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