"Bike In A Box" - A GS450-hearted FrankenScrambler

[CrawlingForward]

Broke down more definitely the color schemes for the new harness and calculated the estimated current and fuses for the 3 primary circuits going on the bike.

Color Convetions:
Red - Unfused Hot & Component Hot
Black - Universal Ground/Signal Generator
Orange - Brake Lights
Blue - Right Signals
Brown - Left Signals/Signal Generator
Yellow - Lighting (Headlight/Taillight)/Generator
White - High Beam
Green - Engine Hot/Signal Generator
Violet - Tachometer Signal?
Gray - Switched Hot (relays, etc.)
Tan - Left Coil
Pink - Oil Pressure Switch Ground
Light Green - Neutral Ground
Light Blue - Right Coil (or tachometer signal)

Split fuse block into 4 circuits:

• Lights: 18w Headlight + 15w (1.5wx10) Hi-Beam + 12w (1.5wx8) Amber Signals + 3w (1.5wx2) Plate + 18w (best guess) Taillight/Brakelight = 7 amp fuse
• Components: 30w horn + 30w (best guess) Dash/gauge = 7 amp fuse
• Engine: 80w (best guess) = 7 amp fuse
• Aux: TBD = spare 7 amp fuse

All amperage besides battery/starter unfused circuits are <10amps, so use 18ga wire. (Battery cable to starter/solenoid should be stock. Battery/relay/fusebox and R/R power should be 16ga or maybe 14ga for peace of mind)

Generator puts out 200w @5000RPM, so roughly 17amps. Peak continuous draw should be less than 13 amps - 5 amps lights (hi+low+taillight+license) + 5 amps ignition + 3 amps dash


Can either of you confirm the current draw of the typical digital tachometer? I've gotten estimates ranging from under 2 to about 5 amps.

Also, I took the service manual and added up all the wattages of lights it gave (totaling around 9 amps), then subtracted that from the 15amp fuse and got a max of 6 amps for the ignition system current draw. I also saw some posts about coil current and ignitor current and they seemed to add up to a similar conclusion, but can anyone confirm that the engine/ignition current is under 7 amps?

[pete]

I've been working on something similar for the Katana but haven't started narrowing down colours or deciding on fuse sizes yet.

I've never looked at current draw for the Acewell gauge but I can't see it being even 2 amps to be honest.

As for the ignition, each coil has an impedance of 3 to 5 ohms, so take the lower value which will cause the highest current draw (V = IR) and at 12 volts you get 4 amps. Of course your R/R will typically have the system at a higher voltage (say 13.2 to 14.8 or thereabouts) which means more current so just under 5 amps.

Make sure you give yourself room to move with the fuses, I would be running a 15 amp for the ignition circuit, and 10 amps for the other circuits except maybe Aux depending on what you plan on using there. Putting a fuse of exactly the right size in (or even just a small overhead) is asking for them to blow under a surge or peak type scenario.

[Mista M]

Welcome to the forum and to Michigan. Your down the road from where I grew up, Flint. Check out the bikes on the bricks in flint.
Like how detailed you are. Why the gs850 front end, ground clearance? Gs500 front end fits and offers dual disks and lower weight. Try battery sharks for Li-ion batteries for cheap.

[CrawlingForward]

Welcome to the forum and to Michigan. Your down the road from where I grew up, Flint. Check out the bikes on the bricks in flint.
Like how detailed you are. Why the gs850 front end, ground clearance? Gs500 front end fits and offers dual disks and lower weight. Try battery sharks for Li-ion batteries for cheap.

Yeah, height was the main thing. I'm a relatively tall guy at 6' 1" and wanted a taller bike. Since I was doing the rear from scratch, getting height there was no problem, but I needed to be able to match it on the front as well.

I built my battery box specific to the anti-gravity battery dimensions, but if Battery Sharks has one of the same dimensions or similar, yeah, they're definitely a bit cheaper!

I hadn't heard of Bike on the Brick, I'll have to check it out!

[CrawlingForward]

Lots of little bits going on.

Got the 2nd gen GS500 carburetor and stripped it of all the emissions junk. Also ordered a choke cable that will mount next to the petcock on the left side. Same as others have found, the weight is almost half. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the idle adjuster. I know Pete, you cut it down and glued the knob back on or something, right?



Finished the eletrical bits surrounding the battery box!



Video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BHEKQfXBBJN/

Figured out my Speedometer mod won't work, though, as Hall Sensors are plane-specific, so the parallel configuration wouldn't read.

Video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BHyLxuTB7G_/

I was already planning on putting a rear license plate bracket on the rear swingarm, so I'll probably just mount it in that and put the sensor on the rear sprocket.

I'll still use the speedo to prevent the hub looking weird, I'll just cap it off with a bolt of something.

Lastly, I redesigned the front end (again...like 4th time) in order to utilize a *stupid* bright LED lightbar I bought as a high beam. So, no more number plate like I had planned, but I think it'll look really cohesive when I'm finished. I cut and bent all the pieces for the hi-beam/speedo/turn-signals/headlight/wire-hiding-plate last night, so hopefully I can get some pictures of that welded up sometime soon!

[CrawlingForward]

Oh, and from my quick hooking it up to a spare PowPowPowerwheels battery, it seems like it holds it's settings even when disconnected, so I may not need a direct-to-battery hot for it. Not sure why it's wired for it, though. (And it *does* need both hots to have power to operate, took me a bit to figure that out).

But after thinking about it, the power toggle switch right next to it will have direct-to-battery, so I'm not sure if there's anything to gain by *not* giving it direct-to-battery except less complexity when troubleshooting...

[CrawlingForward]

Ok, keep forgetting to update here. Haven't made a ton of progress, but got a few things sorted and figured out.

The only real thing I've physically accomplished is the bracketry for the front lighting.



I was originally planning on making a number plate that would house a bunch of LEDs, but decided that the the spot/flood combo beam was just too awesomely bright and aim-able to pass up. I think it sacrifices a bit in the looks department, but after a lot of back and forthing, I decided that I wasn't willing to compromise on my function-over-form philosophy for the bike.

So the link below is the front-end as it stands right now. I'm not a huge fan of it and it's not nearly as cohesive as I would like, but I think once all the other elements are added (shock boots, turn signal plate, proper handlebars, levers, etc.) I think it'll come together alright.

http://www.instagram.com/p/BIolfZ1B_fa/

I've been working through various iterations of the turn signal and taillight designs. I originally wanted to do a resin castin of my logo for the taillight, but it never seemed to fit the look I'm going for. I think I've finally decided to just use a panel of 1/2" LEDs for both. It seems silly simple, but I think it's finally the look I wanted. And with the turn signals I think I'll be doing the same, with 4 side marker/turn signals and a front panel of 6 1/2" LEDs between the two front lights. I *really* want to make the front signal LEDs sequential, and I think I figured out how to do it using Arduino and an AdaFruit Pro Tinket and a couple Optocouplers to detect signal input. I think it's probably pretty doable, but we'll see.

[CrawlingForward]

Been doing lots of planning and more electrical diagraming, but not much physical progress with 4 weddings, a funeral, a new clacking sound in the BMW r65 and a baby on the way.

Got a plan to make some sweet progressive turn signals for the front using an Arduino Adafruit Trinket Pro and a couple of OptoIsolator breakout boards. Hopefully will get back to working on this soon.

[CrawlingForward]

Crap, I haven't updated this is a while. Not saying I've made progress in a while either, ha ha, but there's at least a couple things to update on.

I feel I'm pretty justified in the delay, though, seeing as how I had a son, fixed the r65, sold the r65, bought a 1974 CB350f and a 1989 Harley Sportster as projects, got those both running, made a hand-hewn log bed for my son, bought a new car, and am in the process of buying a house. (I didn't want to clutter up the thread with any of those projects, but if anyone is truly interested in any of them, let me know and I can post up some pictures)

So...yeah, stuff has been busy.

So: the 450

Mostly been ignored, but I did make some progress in a couple areas.

Printed V6(?) of the dash.



Reduced the potentiometer diameter to make room for a hazard button because...why not!?



Messed up the bolt spacing when I widened it, though, so V7.0 is coming soon.

Next up I made the front turn signal bar. Used my new SWAG portaband saw table to cut out the aluminum



Then used automotive edge trim and a heat gun to make it look a little neater



And finally, after a couple different orientations and not being satisfied with the front end's looks, I cam up with an arrangement I finally love!



It still blocks visibility more than I think I would like, so it might change again soon, but for now I like it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMDUlx9h_IJ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMDUlx9h_IJ/

Been working on my sheet metal TIG skills by filling the bolt holes in the Harley fender I bought and cut up for this project.



Next I picked up a couple pit bike footpegs and ground them down to be able to fit the stock brackets



To mirror the turn signal bar, I created a tail/stop/turn bar for the rear of the bike.



It's *stupid* bright, especially the turn signals. I'm definitely going to have to put some resistors on them to bring them down a bit. And before someone calls me out on how silly it is to put the brake light in front of the luggage rack, don't worry. I'm going to integrate a cable extension and mounting bracket on the rear of the rack, so when you've got cargo, it's just a quick wingnut unscrew and relocate. That's the plan, at least.

Next up was figuring out the mounting and routing of front brake lines (GS850 dual disc) and shaved the front of the GS850 triple tree. I don't actually have pictures of this online, but I'll add it eventually.

Lastly, I've been working on seat shape, mounting, upholstery etc, and think I've finally figured it out, but it'll mean I need to cut off and move forward the rear gas tank support (again).



I'm feeling a little better about my progress after having to write it all out, ha ha. It'll probably be summer before I start working again, as we should be closing on the new house this month and even after we move in I want to get the Honda fixed up to sell by spring and the Harley ready to ride soon after. But this project is still on the rotation, so we'll see!

[sam000lee]

This is awesome! Been a couple months since I saw this thread keep it up!

[CrawlingForward2]

It has been so long since I updated that my account got deleted, so I created a new account to try and update the thread.

Current update? None.

Ha ha, we bought a new house a couple years ago and I've been putting every spare moment into, building chicken coops and fences and organizing the garage and building an addition with a dream laundry room for the wife.

Needless to say, the 450 is still in it's component pieces waiting for more attention. It's all sorted and organized and everything is still documented, so now that the chickens are in the coop and out of the workshop I can start moving the CB350Four and the Sportster into the workshop to finish those and I can hopefully start getting the 450 back together.

So no real update, but wanted to at least secure a new account and assure the project is still waiting in the wings!

[pete]

Wow maybe my Kat will actually be finished before someone else's project

[CrawlingForward2]

Bumping my own thread so my account doesn't get deleted again. Wah wahhhhh.

This project has not been forgotten, but it's on the waaaaaay back burner. I need to sell my CB350F and get the Sportster running and out of the shop so I can get to it. You know, after I get the 800 other projects done. I've set a goal to get this bike by the time I turn 40.

...I'm 34.

[salty_monk]

Figured a bit of inspiration might help....

IMG_2230 by salty_monk, on Flickr

IMG_2231 by salty_monk, on Flickr

IMG_2232 by salty_monk, on Flickr

IMG_2233 by salty_monk, on Flickr

IMG_2234 by salty_monk, on Flickr

IMG_2229 by salty_monk, on Flickr

[CrawlingForward2]

Oh, that is a baller machine.

Yes, I'm still alive.

No that bike hasn't been worked on.

I've built a million things around the new property, cleared a bunch of land, worked a bunch of all of our 5 vehicles, raised kids, got two other motorcycles back on the road, but the 450 sits and waits. I've got #gs450 alerts set up on the Gram and love my bike, it's just a matter of getting my other bikes set up as commuters and then I will get to the 450. Someday! I will not forget about it.