Topic: 74 CB550 Modern Cafe - Isn't this thing done yet?

[calj737]

So, I've been dealing with electrical issues for about 4.5 months. On and off, on and off. Finally, I decided to exorcise all electrical work done by others and install a complete MotoGadget system.

Just to give you some ideas of what the electrical looked like from the "professionals at the shop":

Area from end of tank, heading to seat hump-



Rear brake switch. Notice the bullet connectors underneath


Underneath seat, as it "was". No shrink wrap, no loom wrapped, no harness, just a nice messy, loose gaggle of wires...



Tail light and license plate and indicator runs



Real workmanship here!


Bloody beautiful! why worry about how it looks?



No possible chance this will ever fail?



Changed my mind, I don't need these after all...



"You just tuck those under the seat when you install them..."




And now, finally the exorcism begins-

New headlight bucket wiring with the MotoGadget m-Button.

From this:


To this:


Proper install for coil wires



Just a tad tidier under the hump now...


This is wired picture of the m-Unit.
Signals from all hand control at the bar comes to this unit thru the single green wire in the middle, on the left side of device.


The brown wire at bottom left of device is black wire from key switch, plus black wire from Reg/Rec on left side of prior picture. The grommet carrying the Gr, Red, Bl, Yw and Brn are service to the front end of bike.

The right side of the device is essentially 12v "out" power to the lights, indicators, horn, starter solenoid, brake light and gauge, ignition (coils). Ive used Bl/Yw to the "rear" also as a second tap on those same ports.

Left side, under the tank now. Service to lights, horn, headlight all in the shrink wrap. The open blue wire is incomplete at the moment (12v service to gauge).



Close up of left side on m-Unit wired




With some great help from Devin (late night parts supplies and some technical answers) and some great out-of-band help from TwoTired, its wired (properly), fires either via push button or kick, and charges perfectly. Been a frustrating at times 4.5 days. But tremendously valuable to learn it all and understand it better. I think my next 2 bikes will be a LOT easier now that I know all the tricks and have a valid wiring diagram relevant to my devices.

Did I mention I hate wiring....

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Wow. What a difference. I thought my rewiring was fairly clean and tidied with loom until seeing yours. I am planning to use the m-unit on the next buld.

[02z06dave]

Very nice wiring.  I want to use that motogadget setup on my next bike. Looks awesome

[riverfever]

Really tidy install Cal. Lookin good. 

[Retro Rocket]

That looks better, i'll come back to this when i start playing with my motogadget parts...

[Stev-o]

Looks great, Cal.  I hate wiring too, it's a b1tch to be color blind.

[calj737]

Appreciate the kind words, gents. Yep, wiring is a b1tch... Things that made this whole affair much more difficult was the change to all non-stock components, and the omission of a right hand control.

Now, using the MotoGadget m-Unit was intended to aide in organizing and reprogramming the harness essentially. But, geez, for an absolute neophyte like me, deciphering the original, substituting the changes, and then creating the new, well let's just say I feel like I've untied the Gordian knot. Probably not the much of an accomplishment actually, but sure as hell feels like it. 

I've still got to wire in completely my MotoG Gauge. Remaking my bracket today since I'll need a second push-button switch to control all it's display functions. One hugely important function is the voltage meter embedded in the gauge! There's also a gear indicator (luxury) and oil pressure, trip/odometer plus electronic speedo. All sits beneath an analog style rev counter. That was the easiest part: wire straight to the #1 coil blue lead. Even I got that right

More updates hopefully end of day tomorrow. After this, just gotta finish my rear fender and then off to a new dyno shop as an evaluation of their abilities before my 500 build with CR-26s gets done.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Cal,

I have a Motogadget Chronoclassic gauge. I'm now wondering if I need two buttons to control all of its display functions.

PS. Awesome job on the wiring.

[calj737]

Thx, Don. You only need a single button to toggle thru the gauge. I'm using a second push button as my Start/Kill. I only use a single left side hand control.

[CognitoMoto]

Came out nice Cal.


www.CognitoMoto.com

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Thx, Don. You only need a single button to toggle thru the gauge. I'm using a second push button as my Start/Kill. I only use a single left side hand control.

Whew!  You scared me there for a second!

[Trad]

Nice! I like the red calliper. Gives it a racy look. The black accents in the engine are a nice touch. Good #$%*.

[calj737]

Thanks, I was pursuing the aesthetic of the MBenz SLS AMG. It is the Monza Grey paintwork 2012/2013 model and similar treatments with aluminum and "black-outs". Friggin' budget has rapidly approached buying a used one of those cars, inadvertently... 

[Stev-o]

Any progress, Cal?

[calj737]

I've just come in this evening from an all evening effort on some electrical gremlins. Had a wicked ignition short, tach is wonky, and needed to re-install a frame ground.

Still calibrating the speedo, got that mounted and I think working tonight. Gotta troubleshoot a loose indicator connection, and then I should be ready to go to the dyno.

Did I ever mention I hate electrical?

The good news: went to a local bike show and saw Slingshot there, and hung with Devin for a bit. Got a really good look at his new 750 in the daylight (I'd stopped past his shop a week or two ago in the middle of the night (literally) to grab a handle bar switch, and saw it quickly. Looks really in in the sun, and it's super clean with the new instrumentation on it.

Was hoping Chaser60 would be over to the show, but didn't see his bike turn up.

[edwardmorris]

Did I ever mention I hate electrical?

Sorry Calj, I was bored just sitting around

[calj737]

Man, I'm living that drive over, and over, and over, and over, and...

1 step forward, 3 leaps back. When this dang electrical is done, I'll be fully certified to engineer one of honest damn bikes! Came in the house tonight and told the wife, the next bike that comes home will be a 2014 or newer model.

But through be told, I'm undoing a bunch of screw-ups by others (even though it's a brand new harness for a custom electronics) so it's a bit harder than a stock plug and go. Still shouldn't have been this hard though.

[Tews19]

Hey Cal did you get the results of the dyno?

[Stev-o]

Came in the house tonight and told the wife, the next bike that comes home will be a 2014 or newer model.

Willing to take a bet against that!

[calj737]

Tews- haven't gotten there yet. Still got 2 minor electrical shorts in my gauge I want to resolve first, and to set the calibration for speedo and gear indication. Then, off to dyno.

Stev-o, you're probably right. I was at Devin's shop a few weeks back and he's got a 350 he's working on with a Duc swing arm, GSXR front end, etc that has given me some ideas for another bike...

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Came in the house tonight and told the wife, the next bike that comes home will be a 2014 or newer model.

Willing to take a bet against that!

I'm heading in that direction, but to replace my beloved RC51. I love the way she handles but can only ride that beauty with numb wrists for a few hours at at time.

[calj737]

So I've been tinkering with the bike for a while now, and decided that it needs a rear fender. With the BCR front, I wanted something similar but easier. Decided to use vacuum formed plastic for this.

Started with a little math, calculating the diameter, the profile of the tire, and of course the duration of the fender desired. Carved all that out of 10# foam (pic #1)



Then covered the foam bunk with ABS plastic, 1/8" thick and pressed it





I repeated this process and flipped the ABS "other side up" to have 2 different surfaces



The smooth side will face outwards, allowing the 2 rough surfaces to be bonded together.



This will result in a 1/4" thick, 2-ply plastic fender. I'll use Panel Bond to adhere them together.



From here, I need to trim the end profiles, and the radius for the curvature of the tires. Oh boy, something else to do this weekend! Ultimately, I'll paint the fender to match the body color as it will run from the swing arm to about 1:00 on the tire.

[Trad]

Sweet. Getting #$%* done!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Cal,

Really cool process.  I haven't seen this done before.  The 2-ply should be robust enough for wind-sheer and rock chips. 

Awesome-sauce!

[calj737]

honestly, the single layer would be more than strong enough. But you know me, always over-doing stuff...