WPZ
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- Chicagoland, Illinois, USA
I went ahead and following the excellent advice of Beemerphile and more, I re-keyed the Missus' OEM trunk to match the key of the ignition/frunk/sidebags. The Honda re-key kit had me caught short for a minute until I uncovered the adapter plug-tangy thing that the e-clip clips to.
Thing is, the ignition key isn't really something you want to leave more or less full-time in the trunk lock, as it looks pretty inviting. Yet, while the shorty original key was in use, it typically remained in the trunk lock for easy immediate use without removing the main keyset from the ignition switch. It only got removed for higher-security moments, like getting lunch in sketchy places.
Many years ago, I spied a post a ZX1100E guy grabbed from an ST1100 forum about converting his sidebag keys to knobs. Well, I've been promising to do that to my ZX's Givi keys pretty much every weekend for the last fifteen years. I'll get to it, just you wait.
So I hit the locksmith for a couple of spare flat keys, hacked off the handle part of the key and attached a "knob" of my own fabrication.
What I did was take a hunk of the 1-inch-thick (25mm) HDPE high-density polyethylene I'd used for the NC's home-made leg wings and cut a plug about 1" wide with a drill press-mounted 1 1/4" Milwaukee hole saw with the pilot bit removed (so there's no 1/4" hole in the center). For such a short cut, the lack of the pilot drill isn't a big problem; it just requires some clamping and slow cutting.
Then I set the key remnant into a pair of Channelocks, heated the key to almost red and pushed it into the center of the HDPE plug. It took more force than I expected, as the melted plastic must find its way out of the new hole.
After it cooled a bit, in to the lock it went and voila, a semi-permanent "knob".
Yes, I do intend to get a little better and more professional finish on the exterior of the polyethylene- this is "proof of concept".
The other good thing is that with the plug on the key, it's not usable in the ignition switch: not enough clear key to seat and unlock. So even if it gets left in the trunk, it's not an easy ride-off theft issue. Even if a passing thief recognized the knob as a key anyway.
It of course works on the sidebags and frunk so the engine may be kept running while knobbing open the various storage units. I guess I could make more for the sidebags, eh?
Thing is, the ignition key isn't really something you want to leave more or less full-time in the trunk lock, as it looks pretty inviting. Yet, while the shorty original key was in use, it typically remained in the trunk lock for easy immediate use without removing the main keyset from the ignition switch. It only got removed for higher-security moments, like getting lunch in sketchy places.
Many years ago, I spied a post a ZX1100E guy grabbed from an ST1100 forum about converting his sidebag keys to knobs. Well, I've been promising to do that to my ZX's Givi keys pretty much every weekend for the last fifteen years. I'll get to it, just you wait.
So I hit the locksmith for a couple of spare flat keys, hacked off the handle part of the key and attached a "knob" of my own fabrication.
What I did was take a hunk of the 1-inch-thick (25mm) HDPE high-density polyethylene I'd used for the NC's home-made leg wings and cut a plug about 1" wide with a drill press-mounted 1 1/4" Milwaukee hole saw with the pilot bit removed (so there's no 1/4" hole in the center). For such a short cut, the lack of the pilot drill isn't a big problem; it just requires some clamping and slow cutting.
Then I set the key remnant into a pair of Channelocks, heated the key to almost red and pushed it into the center of the HDPE plug. It took more force than I expected, as the melted plastic must find its way out of the new hole.
After it cooled a bit, in to the lock it went and voila, a semi-permanent "knob".
Yes, I do intend to get a little better and more professional finish on the exterior of the polyethylene- this is "proof of concept".
The other good thing is that with the plug on the key, it's not usable in the ignition switch: not enough clear key to seat and unlock. So even if it gets left in the trunk, it's not an easy ride-off theft issue. Even if a passing thief recognized the knob as a key anyway.
It of course works on the sidebags and frunk so the engine may be kept running while knobbing open the various storage units. I guess I could make more for the sidebags, eh?
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