Has anyone wired their own bike???

[nastyjones]

I look at my soggy,patched, rusty, crappy old wiring harness & long for the solid reliability of a brand new one. Has anyone rewired their own bike? I'm sure I could never get all the different colours of wires but if a person took their time couldn't you replace one wire at a time. Do you need to get specific gauges of wire to do the job right?

Everybody's thoughts please.....

Paul

[oldschoolorange]

You need to have the right size wire. Meaning that you can go with a larger size wire but not a smaller one, Besides that just take your time and You can really clean things up when you start to remove excess from the harness

[spchips]

I went through mine completely. once removed from the bike:

-removed all shrouding.
-temporarily secured junctions.
-inspected all wires (check for nicks or bad spots) and wiped off moisture (even after months of being in a garage, they were still very wet.
-patch and repair as required.

-with the wiring diagram, check to make sure everything goes where it says it should, eliminating any "backyard solutions".
-mark or tape off everything you have traced and understand.

-cover the wiring harness as you see fit. I used the "underhood dressing" (think vacuum cleaner hose) stuff in black, but I think the slit tubing would have been better, as getting the stuff I used where it had to go was a bit tight.

I had the benefit of an extra harness and a stripped frame to help me understand what I was doing as I went, and it was still tough. I would definitly recommend a harness "restoration" rather than building one from scratch. Even if yours seems pretty shot, it's still mostly there when you think about it, to it's better to start with that.

imo of course

[Tnutz]

if the bike wasn't EFI with a HUGE amount of wiring, i would have done it long ago...but i did clean up most of the connections i have come across during maintinance.

[Commodus]

Yep, and it's really fun too!

Okay, well maybe just I think it's fun, but I like to solder and I like brand new wiring. Just be sure and get the same colours, so you can still use your wiring diagrams.

[chef1366]

I rewired the rear section of a XS650 in the dark while raining with a bic lighter to make it home.











No Sh*t.

[txironhead]

I completely created the wiring harness on my CB750 chopper from scratch. The previous owner had butchered and hacked the original so badly the wiring diagram was completely worthless, he'd eliminated the blinkers (I like choppers, but I'll keep blinkers on the bike, thank you very much) and he had even used extension cord to replace some of the wiring! Either the bike caught fire, the battery leaked all over everything, or he got a crimping kit for Christmas and decided to go nuts, I don't know.

Anyway, I used all 16ga wires througout, except of course for the starter and battery cables, an aftermarket motorcycle fusebox, rigged the solenoid to a "pushbutton starter" mounted in the sidecover, and reinstalled bullet blinkers. I used solder and heat-shrink tubing all the way, no connectors to corrode, except where a connector was absolutely necessary. I got all of my wires from Napa, it's good quality automotive grade wire, heavy duty insulation and a large variety of colors. You can even ask them to special order, I believe you can get striped insulation (black w/white stripe, etc) from the catalog. You can scan your wiring diagram and if you can't go with exactly the right color and/or stripe wire, make the modifications to the diagram electronically, even color the wires if they weren't to begin with, and print it out to keep with your manual. I did this and even went as far as to laminate it. I gave it to the guy that bought the bike and he was very impressed.

[Hap Call]

I rewired a car from scratch once and here are some of the lessons I learned:

1. Do not use crimp-on connectors. Ask people who have "custom" choppers like early Iron Horse CHoppers and Titan motorcycles about this. Solder your connections using rosin core silver solder. Rosin core solder is used on electrical or electronic equipment.

2. Base the wiring diagram on the stock diagram. Blow up the stock diagram with the zoom function on a copier so that you can easily see the individual wires on the diagram as you work. Mark each wire off with a red marker as you complete the wire run so you can see what you have completed and what you still have to do.

3. Make sure all soldering surfaces are spotless. Use flux to clean the wire prior to soldering. Do not use old silver plated connectors that have been sitting in a box for 10 years and are corroded. Silver plated connections are fine but not corroded ones.

4. Heat the metal you wish to solder, not the solder itself, and let the heated metal melt the solder so it flows into fine crevasses. Practice a bunch until you get it down…this is not just two or three times but until you KNOW that it is good every time you solder. This practice may seem like a waste of time but believe me, it pays off later in saved time.

5. You can go to a junk yard and find different color wires from old junk cars that are plenty long enough to replace the old wires and still have the same color code. Offer the yard guy five bucks...it's more than he would have gotten if he had just smashed the car.

6. Don't be afraid to use lots of ty-wraps...you may have to cut a bunch off later but they are so helpful in keeping the harness organized as you build it. Run one wire at a time, ty-wrap it in place, terminate both ends, put heat shrink over each termination leaving no bare metal, then move on to the next wire.

7. Allow enough length of wire as it travels from the steering head to the headlight bucket that it does not bind or pinch was you move the handle bars from lock-to-lock. If not, fatigue will eventually cause the wires to part. Not good.

8. Do not use heat shrink on the portion of the harness that is directly over the motor...it will not hold up. Use a heat resistant wire wrap. You can find it at an electrical supply house such as GE Supply, WESCO, or Graybar. Do not use the cheap stuff from an auto parts house.

9. GO SLOW! If you take your time you will get a well made, professional grade, reliable harness. If you go too fast, you will get a jumble of wires that are hard to trace and will make you wonder if you did something wrong every time the bike skips a beat.

That is all I know.



Hap

[Nerobro]

This is something I'm donig this winter. I can't wait.................

[REDDY]

HAP's post should be copied and laminated and put in a frame. He's got it.

[MissFabulous]

Great write up Hap!

I do a lot of soldering (I'm semi-old skool and still make some of my own needles) and the part of about practicing if you're not used to soldering is right on. My tips on soldering:

Set up your work station. make sure you have plenty of handy, safe places to lay down your iron (bricks could be handy in the garage as opposed to glass plates, but they work too) Make sure you have enough cord slack but not so much that you might lay the iron down on or near it or that you'll trip yourself. Keep in mind that once you start doing it, the handle feels so cool that it's easy to forget just how hot that tip is and the damage it can cause! Think about your work area and which areas you'll be in and make sure you can reach everything and lay the iron down safely BEFORE you start warming it up!

Start with a lower temp soldering iron. Ones that get really hot can harden or blacken stainless steel and make it near impossible to get the solder to stick to it. I worked with other artists who liked the speed of higher temp irons, but I prefer to be patient and use lower temp. 30-40 Watts takes a bit longer to melt the silver, but it gives me more control. Your comfort level may be different.

Clean the tip regularly while working and keep a metal file handy if anything builds up on it.

Have extra tips available and try different shapes until you figure out which are most comfortable for you. Change the tip as soon as it starts getting corroded or seems like it has dead spots- this will save you time.

Ventilation!!! Flux fumes are toxic! Breathing them is bad and for some reason, makes everything taste weird for a while after that. I also feel more muscle aches the next day when I solder and I suspect the flux fumes are behind this. Many are irritants as well. I like pouring a bit into a small disposable cup and using a q-tip to put it on my connections.

Cut your wires longer than you think you need - at least a foot to start with, so that you can still work on them easily or in case you over-strip them and lose a wire or two and have to redo the stripping. Make sure you have enough slack that you can get back to them if you need to but not so much that you can neatly stash them.


Has anyone used one of those "cold heat" soldering irons that immediately get hot and then immediately cool off? I've been wanting to try one, but I am skeptical.

Also, any suggestions on flux? I prefer the liquid kind (Stay Clean) over the goopy stuff my dad used. With tattooing, Stay Clean is also non toxic once it's neutralized (with baking soda and water) while other types are not safe for the body. Any need to neutralize the flux after connecting wires on a bike? Bad idea or good idea?

When I look at my 1100, I'm not pleased with the dried up old electrical tape all over the place... I'll probably be doing a lot of this kind of clean up myself. I also have the additional fun of fishing out the stuff that was from the old radio in the fairing and a few other mysterious things...

[Boondocks]

...Also, any suggestions on flux? I prefer the liquid kind (Stay Clean) over the goopy stuff my dad used. With tattooing, Stay Clean is also non toxic once it's neutralized (with baking soda and water) while other types are not safe for the body. Any need to neutralize the flux after connecting wires on a bike? Bad idea or good idea?...

Stay Clean flux - bad idea for electrical soldering and should never be used for this purpose. Using corrosive chemicals on electrical connections will cause damage. As Hap mentioned in his post, only rosin core solder should be used for electrical connections.

[nastyjones]

Thanks, to all that replied. I might have to use the wiring diagram from my manual since I currently don't have a harness to trace the wiring. I don't think I'll have any problems because I'll do one wire at a time. I'll use the gauge of wire Hap recommended & practice, practice, practice.

Paul

[Busafied]

If your trying to get the harness exactly like it is, then follow what HAP's written-

If you simply want the bike usuable again-

`1 ckt for ltg
`1 ckt for start/run
`1 ckt for charge

alot depends on your intentions-

I did the above while trying to get the most "basic" ideal wiring setup for one of mine.
Was tired of the speghetti mix, and tired of not hearing it run, couldn't find a replacement harness at the time.

GL,
Ron

[ChopZooki]

I am building a hardtail so I just want the basic's. What all should I keep to make important stuff reliable?