[Mr Magic Fingers]

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Hi everyone.



I recently have replaced my seat on my 82 Aspencade. It’s a really good Saddlemen seat. I am a good size guy and like to have my seat back and with this new seat my wife does not have much room back there for her to enjoy this new seat too. Were not the “Ken and Barbie” body types.



I did a couple of searches on “Trunk Relocation” and came up with a few ideas. I know that I could have purchased one for $50.00 or so but I would rather make one myself as I can get exactly the fit I am looking for and I enjoy doing the work.



This whole project cost me a total of $10.00 for the steel bar and SS nuts and bolts. Build time was about 3 hours. Not including the drying of the paint.



It is important for me to say that I did not come up with this particular idea. From what I can tell “Lil Pete” originally came up with the idea and then “Maddog355” put it into words with limited pictures. In his article HERE he says “Hopefully one of the members will take some pics and do a step by step of this for theFAQ section as it is a must on the 1100s.”.



So here I am as I am rolling this project out. I hope you like it.


As a reference, this is what we are starting with. We will be removing:

(1) – Six rubber feet. The 4 thin ones that are horizontal are taped in place and the 2 thicker vertical ones have two rubber tips inserted through the trunk. Remove them carefully by prying back on them. Remove the old tape from the feet and trunk. Cut the two rubber insert tabs off the other two feet flush with the feet. Clean them and set them aside. You will need them later.

(2) - Removing the Trunk Latch Pins. There is a nut inside the trunk. They are probably greasy. Clean them and set them aside as well.

(3) – Remove the two Trunk Latching Plates from the trunk. There are 4 nuts and washers inside the trunk for each side. You might as well clean these up too and set them aside.



Take this time to give the belly of the trunk a good cleaning. You will be using two face foam tape here and a clean surface is a must.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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If your trunk had storage bags on either side of the passenger back rest, then the two Trunk Latching Plates will have wire brackets that will have to come off. This was used to hold the storage bags in place. You will have to use your imagination on how to stop you bags from blowing in the wind. Mine were long rotted away so I bought 2 $4.00 camera bags from Walmart. I used a small dremel tool to cut off the brackets.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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How to line up your new mounting holes for the Trunk Latch Pins.



This might seem kind of weird to some of you but this was very easy way for me to line things up. There are no good land marks on the bottom of the trunk to take accurate measurements from.



1) Put masking tape on the trunk. It will give you a surface to draw lines on.

2) Make sure the trunk is level (note the upper level).

3) Use a small torpedo level to draw plumb lines on either side of the old holes used to mount the Trunk Latch Pins. Do this for both sides.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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Drilling the hole for the Trunk Latch Pins.



I set back my trunk back 3.5 inches. Use your own measurement here. If you want 2.5 inches or 1.75 inches here… then do it. It’s what ever size you need.



For me, I measured 3.5 inches from the top of the original hole to in between the two parallel lines. This will be the top of my new hole as shown here. I drilled the same diameter hole as the pins. It does not look like it here as the masking tape does not have clean edges.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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This is the cardboard template I measured off to guide me in duplicating the Trunk Latch Plate extenders. I punched holes so I could mark the steel bar and then use a center punch to mark where I would drill my holes through the steel.



Again, I used 3.5 inches. It must match what you previous used when drilling out the new Trunk Latch Pin holes.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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I used 2.5 inch wide steel bar 1/4 inch thick for the Trunk Latch Plate extenders and 1.25 inch wide steel bar 1/8 thick for the support for the Trunk Latch Pins.



I matched the new Trunk Latch Pin holes that I just drilled to the smaller steel bar and drilled holes it.



Here is a picture of the steel bars cut, drilled, painted and the Trunk Latch Plates installed. Note how the holes on the smaller steel bar for the Trunk Latch Pins are off-set. There is a good picture coming up of this bar installed. You can see why it is offset.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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This picture shows one of the new mounting holes I drilled into the trunk. If you take note of the reflection on the surface of the trunk, there is a slight bend / ridge at this point in the trunk. I thought long and hard about how to overcome this dilemma.



Just putting a large piece I steel bar here would offer poor support and I would eventually run into cracking problems in the trunk. There is quite a bit of backward pressure put onto this from the passenger leaning back. Last thing I wanted was to crack my trunk.



What to do???

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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I ended up putting a small curve into the width of the steel bar. This was just enough to match the curve in the trunk. I basically tapped it down the center with a hammer on a 2x4. I didn’t need much. You can just see the curve in this picture.



NOTE: If you did not set back the trunk at 3.5 inches, then your holes may not line up on this ridge. You may not even need this step. Just be mindful of where your holes are in relation to that ridge.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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To transfer all the stresses from the trunk to the steel bar and then to the frame of the bike, don’t just rely on the two Trunk Latch Pins to do that. You HAVE TO bond that bar to the trunk. If you use rivets or nuts and bolts that’s asking for trouble as there are too many holes in the trunk now.



I used heavy duty exterior mounting two face foam tape. This stuff is awesome and will bond the steel bar to the trunk permanently! It’s not going to fail and will provide the support that is needed along its length.



Again, make sure that the trunk is very clean. Peel and stick this very gently to trunk making sure that you put the tape on the INSIDE of the curve of the steel bar (if you bent it like I did). Make sure that everything lines up and the holes in the trunk and the holes in the bar line up.



You get 1 chance with this before you press it into place.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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Now you can add the new steel bar that you made for the trunk that has the Trunk Latching Plates. I used ¾ inch long SS nuts, bolts and lock washers to do this. I use SS where ever I can on this bike as I fabricate new things or remove other stuff.



When it comes time to add the Trunk Latching Pins, you MUST have a large washer in place before adding the acorn nut on the inside. This will distribute pressure of the acorn nut on the inside plastic of the trunk. Failure to do this will probably crack the trunk on your first ride. The steel bar and the large washer act as a clamp and the foam tape is the bonding agent. You want the stress to go around the hole and not through it.



Here is a close up of the Latch Plate and Latch Pin installed.



NOTE: Please note the direction of the Latch Pin. Both Latch Pins are pointing to the right (as viewed from behind). If you do not line them up like this the trunk will not latch into the frame of the bike.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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The finished product.



After mounting the 3 steel bars, test fitting them on the bike and making sure that everything lines up and works well, I checked to see where I would need to reuse the rubber feet. This will stop the chatter and the clinking of metal on metal and will aid in the support of the trunk.



The old rubber feet were reused and in some places the thickness required a thick and thin one held together buy that wonderful foam tape. The foam tape was used to mount them to the trunk.


The open holes were caulked from both sides. In my case the caulking will dry transparent.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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This is how the “new” feet line up on my install. There is 1 on each side just in front of the lock. If you chose to set the trunk back other then 3.5 inches that I did then things down here would line up differently. You may need to mount “new” feet elsewhere too.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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The new room gained by this modification…

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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From a distance…

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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I hope this little “How To” guide helps you if you were thinking about relocating your trunk. It was an easy project to do. My wife loves the extra room back there now and we’re not so squished. She admits to being a bit nervous as she feels “loose” back there. She will get use to it… I already have!



If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.



Tim.

 

[Mr Magic Fingers]

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Ginsco (and others),



Thanks for the compliments. Good luck with your mods tonight.



We are "fluffy" people and the extra 3.5" were needed. You may not need this amount of room. Too much is just as bad as too little room with the pillion not havingany place to have his/her back against (too far ahead).



Don't go over the 3.5 inches as it (I think) makes things too unstable.



Good Luck !!



Tim.