Thursday, May 16, 2013
The New Hand Controls Install Part II The Wiring
The internal wiring is done.Today I ran the internal wiring. I used 16g stranded copper wire for the job. Originally I had 18g ready to go, but upon closer inspection it seemed a little skimpy and I think 16g is more appropriate for 15 amp circuits. Its what the MoCo used. Its what Ill use. It was a little tricky to get the wiring done, mostly because the terminal posts on the new switches are so damn small - a third hand tool is critical for your sanity. If you dont have one, it is an indispensable aid and I recommend you go buy one. Also, having two holes for the wiring to go through required me to think a little bit more during the fishing process, but it was not any more painful than usual once I got going.
Some people use fishing line and a bolt, others blow a string through with compressed air, others still will suck a string through with a vacuum, etc. I think the best way is to fish a light chain through (link to the technique in a previous post). The weight makes it an easy, fast and predictable way to get through the bends and it pops right out your exit hole pretty much without any effort. Then you tape the wires to the end of the chain, make a huge mess with baby powder and push/pull the wires through. Simple.
Next up, since different colored wires were used for the new switches and I wasnt sure what did what on the new switches, I had to use the original wiring diagram from the service manual and some educated guesses in order to come up with the new wiring diagram. I double and triple checked all the connections to make absolutely, positively sure that the final wiring would be correct. It was, and everything worked.
The new wiring scheme.
Some people use fishing line and a bolt, others blow a string through with compressed air, others still will suck a string through with a vacuum, etc. I think the best way is to fish a light chain through (link to the technique in a previous post). The weight makes it an easy, fast and predictable way to get through the bends and it pops right out your exit hole pretty much without any effort. Then you tape the wires to the end of the chain, make a huge mess with baby powder and push/pull the wires through. Simple.
Next up, since different colored wires were used for the new switches and I wasnt sure what did what on the new switches, I had to use the original wiring diagram from the service manual and some educated guesses in order to come up with the new wiring diagram. I double and triple checked all the connections to make absolutely, positively sure that the final wiring would be correct. It was, and everything worked.
The new wiring scheme.After that was finished, then basically all that was left of the wiring was to secure the final connections. Weather-proof, crimped, heated connectors were chosen to ensure long-term reliability. And as I mentioned earlier, a third hand tool is critical for maintaining a reasonable level of frustration.
Pretty straightforward, but just make sure all your wiring is correct!
Harnesses all back together again.
The new HI-OFF-LOW beam switch. Dont forget that shrink wrap tubing.Now with the handlebar setup almost done, all thats left is to get them on there, reconnect the harnesses, mount the hi/lo beam switch on the headlamp bucket, wire the banjo bolt pressure switch to the front brake, bleed the front brake, and then finally grind down that lip on the stock HD levers. Ill probably end up hitting the rest of the lever with a scotchbrite wheel to make it look nice and even.
