NC30 sidelight replacement/alternative
Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 6:20 pm
For quite a while now I have been suffering with an intermittent side light issue on one of my NC30s.
Having checked the obvious (bulb change) I was still having problems and it turned out the original rubber bulb holders were so old and worn out that the bulbs were simply falling out.
Having unsuccessfully tried to ‘tweak’ them with a set of pliers to hold the bulbs better, I had to admit they had had their day and needed changing. After a bit of a search and a couple of e-mails to Rick Oliver he confirmed my worst fears that the original items were NLA so I would have to look for an alternative solution. Here started the. Halle good as the Original Honda items were designed for T7 capless bulbs, but no amount of searching came up with some replacement T7 bulb holders….
As such my next option was to move up to the readily available T10 connector/ bulb and somehow make that fit. After a chat with Rick Oliver we decided that either some nifty file work on the headlight housing to suit a bayonet T10 bulb holder or finding a flexible T10 mount to fit the original hole were the best options. Before setting about my headlights with a file I decided to try and find a solution that wouldn’t need any modification to the headlights so a quick search on Amazon produced two options. As they were pretty cheap I decided to order both so I could play around with them and see what worked best.
The original sidelight mounts fit into rubber grommets that are in the headlight shell..
The new T10 bulb mounts would never fit into the original grommet so that was removed. The remaining hole was a smidge under 13mm…
The two holder options I ordered were a plastic one and a rubber one. The plastic one measured at just under 12mm…
…whereas the rubber one, whilst actually advertised on Amazon as being 14mm in diameter, measured up as a smidge over 13mm but being rubber that is obviously was a bit flexible
Once the bulb holders arrived they were both test fitted. The plastic push fit holders worked fine and I would say we’re about a 95% fit. They were just a fraction loose but would ,to be fair, would have worked fine. However I am a nerd and wanted it to be 100% so went with the rubber holders. As I said they were advertised as being 14mm in diameter with the sidelight hole in the headlight being just under 13mm, but with a bit of wiggling and patience they will fit and are obviously nicely snug.
Whilst I was at it I also added some micro connectors to my Amazon oder and having decided that I was going with the rubber mounts/holders spliced them into the cables so I could disconnect the side lights (rather than remove the holders) whenI need to remove the headlights to fit my trackday fairings.
After that it was just a matter of refitting everything and hey presto, new sidelights with no issues and future proofed for the foreseeable
Having checked the obvious (bulb change) I was still having problems and it turned out the original rubber bulb holders were so old and worn out that the bulbs were simply falling out.
Having unsuccessfully tried to ‘tweak’ them with a set of pliers to hold the bulbs better, I had to admit they had had their day and needed changing. After a bit of a search and a couple of e-mails to Rick Oliver he confirmed my worst fears that the original items were NLA so I would have to look for an alternative solution. Here started the. Halle good as the Original Honda items were designed for T7 capless bulbs, but no amount of searching came up with some replacement T7 bulb holders….
As such my next option was to move up to the readily available T10 connector/ bulb and somehow make that fit. After a chat with Rick Oliver we decided that either some nifty file work on the headlight housing to suit a bayonet T10 bulb holder or finding a flexible T10 mount to fit the original hole were the best options. Before setting about my headlights with a file I decided to try and find a solution that wouldn’t need any modification to the headlights so a quick search on Amazon produced two options. As they were pretty cheap I decided to order both so I could play around with them and see what worked best.
The original sidelight mounts fit into rubber grommets that are in the headlight shell..
The new T10 bulb mounts would never fit into the original grommet so that was removed. The remaining hole was a smidge under 13mm…
The two holder options I ordered were a plastic one and a rubber one. The plastic one measured at just under 12mm…
…whereas the rubber one, whilst actually advertised on Amazon as being 14mm in diameter, measured up as a smidge over 13mm but being rubber that is obviously was a bit flexible
Once the bulb holders arrived they were both test fitted. The plastic push fit holders worked fine and I would say we’re about a 95% fit. They were just a fraction loose but would ,to be fair, would have worked fine. However I am a nerd and wanted it to be 100% so went with the rubber holders. As I said they were advertised as being 14mm in diameter with the sidelight hole in the headlight being just under 13mm, but with a bit of wiggling and patience they will fit and are obviously nicely snug.
Whilst I was at it I also added some micro connectors to my Amazon oder and having decided that I was going with the rubber mounts/holders spliced them into the cables so I could disconnect the side lights (rather than remove the holders) whenI need to remove the headlights to fit my trackday fairings.
After that it was just a matter of refitting everything and hey presto, new sidelights with no issues and future proofed for the foreseeable
Paul is the other one 
