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Yamaha sells a simple plastic cover for the back of the instrument housing. It covers the bracketry and cleans up the looks nicely. Thing is, it costs $49 and change for a bit of plastic!
As mentioned in the Speedometer Visor thread, the idea of making one seemed like a good project. Off to Home Depot and Walmart for repurposing ideas I went. Last night, I struck "gold"(stainless steel, actually.) at Walmart.
Thermos makes a food & beverage container that comes with a steel lid in the exact size needed to fit the back of the speedometer housing - 4" ID.
I took a chance and bought the thing with the idea that if the lid transformation doesn't work out, I still have a nifty new Thermos.
If it does work out, same ending only my bike gets a small add-on.
I gave it a rough fitting and determined it was indeed the right size for the job. A bit of Dremel cutoff wheel work later and it fit really well. While the stainless steel was a good look, I opted to spray paint it with some black bumper restoration paint by Rustoleum.
There was a screw-top thread made into the plastic liner of the lid for securing it to the bottle. *** When I cut & sanded it off, the cap was ever so loose fitting on the speedometer back. Perfect!
I have some 3M automotive use double-sided tape for securing body trim parts. A strip of that along the inside edge ought to make up the gap left by removing the threads and hold it in place.
Right now, it's 37F outside - not too good for pressure sensitive adhesives. So, I'll wait and install it later. Until then, here are some photos of the part source and the final product.
*** The plastic liner itself actually would make a good cover if you didn't want to cut the stainless steel outer shell and go through the trouble of rolling over the raw edges and smoothing things out.
The plastic popped free from the metal when I cut the wiring notch. I just bonded the two back together with some RTV silicone.
As mentioned in the Speedometer Visor thread, the idea of making one seemed like a good project. Off to Home Depot and Walmart for repurposing ideas I went. Last night, I struck "gold"(stainless steel, actually.) at Walmart.
Thermos makes a food & beverage container that comes with a steel lid in the exact size needed to fit the back of the speedometer housing - 4" ID.
I took a chance and bought the thing with the idea that if the lid transformation doesn't work out, I still have a nifty new Thermos.
If it does work out, same ending only my bike gets a small add-on.
I gave it a rough fitting and determined it was indeed the right size for the job. A bit of Dremel cutoff wheel work later and it fit really well. While the stainless steel was a good look, I opted to spray paint it with some black bumper restoration paint by Rustoleum.
There was a screw-top thread made into the plastic liner of the lid for securing it to the bottle. *** When I cut & sanded it off, the cap was ever so loose fitting on the speedometer back. Perfect!
I have some 3M automotive use double-sided tape for securing body trim parts. A strip of that along the inside edge ought to make up the gap left by removing the threads and hold it in place.
Right now, it's 37F outside - not too good for pressure sensitive adhesives. So, I'll wait and install it later. Until then, here are some photos of the part source and the final product.
*** The plastic liner itself actually would make a good cover if you didn't want to cut the stainless steel outer shell and go through the trouble of rolling over the raw edges and smoothing things out.
The plastic popped free from the metal when I cut the wiring notch. I just bonded the two back together with some RTV silicone.
That's amazing for a thermos... cough I mean... gauge cover 
