Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel"

[riverfever]

Would the old spade connector come out from the front or the back?

[calj737]

Should come out from back. Those socket connectors can be replaced. Crimp new spades on wires, then "push" them into place from back side. There's a plastic tooth that holds them in place, need to depress that from front (biting into wire on either side).

[riverfever]

OK...I got it out. Pretty simple really. Off to Radioshack to see if they have what I need. Thanks again Cal.

[riverfever]

Bit of an update. Yesterday my new gauges, left side control and horn showed up. So I started this morning.





With the smaller gauges, I felt the need to go back and rework the mount I previously made for the ignition. This flows/looks better.





At this point I think the gauges are wired correctly. The tach was easy but the speedo was a bit more involved. Here's where I have some questions. There are positive and negative wires for each of the four indicator lights (turn sigs, oil, neutral, hi beam). There's 2 more wires for the back light for the gauge. I took all the negatives together and grounded them. I left the turn signal wire hanging because I don't have them yet. I took the positive for the oil and wired it to the blue/red wire which should be the oil sensor. I took the positive for the neutral and wired it to the green/red wire from the NSS. I took the positive from the high beam and wired it into the blue from the headlight. When I turn the key on, the gauges light up but even in neutral, I don't get the neutral indicator light to illuminate. Not sure if the motor needs to be running for this to happen. I don't have an issue with the oil light not coming on. I'd rather not see that light up but I do want to know that I have it hooked up correctly.



Next I started working on the left side control. This looks to be a bit of a pain and I would love some help. Here's the switch mounted. I considered drilling the bars but the wiring harness is pretty big and I'm not sure a hole that big in the bar is a good idea.



This is the wiring diagram and I don't know where to go from here.





The black and pink will go to the horn so I can handle that.
Wondering if the yellow for hi beam will connect to blue?
2 turn signal wires will get ignored.
Green should go to white for low beam.
I have no clue what the brown/white wire is but I'm thinking hot with the key?
No clue where to go with headlight main wire, and parking light, and the kill switch main and ground.

[riverfever]

I am really struggling with this wiring. I know it's hard to help over the internet but I took some pics and made a few diagrams in the hopes that it will make it easier for you all. This first pic is how I have the speedo wired up. I think this is all ok but I have no Earthly fawkin idea.



This nightmare details the left control switch that's really not been fun.



This is a shot showing the wiring coming off the headlight. You can see the blue wire for hi beam That ends in a double female bullet connection. There are 2 blue wires connected to that. The one on the bottom is from the speedo and it's supposed to be for the hi beam led. The other blue wire is supposed to be an extra wire for a kill switch. I have no clue why I have it connected to this spot other than I guess I saw blue but now feel like a jackass.



This is another shot of that area from above. You can see the white wire in the middle. This is the low beam off the headlight. I have no clue if this is wired correctly but this is how it was when I bought the bike. The low beam came on with the key and I had no option for anything else. It appears to be keyed 12 volt source. The blue and white wire on the lower left is that same one for the kill switch. The yellow one going into that (upper left) is supposed to control the hi beam of the left control. This also seems wrong now that I think about it.



This is a black and white wire coming off the left control and it's supposed to also be for a kill.



Finally...this is an awesome photo that shows the green wire coming from the headlight. The black and white wire just below it is that extra wire for the kill. The light green wire on the other side is for the low beam off the left control. Having looked at these pictures I have also realized that in my infinite electrical wisdom, I did not use the best connectors as they aren't really insulated. I will also fix that but right now it really makes no difference. Please help. Thanks.

-Chris

[riverfever]

I really do feel like an idiot. It's funny because I was nervous about taking carbs apart and I never gave this a second thought. Wiring is hard. Body work is hard. Made a lot of progress tonight. Things aren't done yet but I can now see the end of the tunnel. More to come.

[dagersh]

I think your wiring looks pretty good.

I chased a weird fault on my ’75 CB550F for weeks.  I finally had to take the whole harness apart to find a factory 3-way splice had corroded – it was still attached, but was not passing current.  I learned a lot about chasing circuits from that experience!

Stupid question...  is the battery hooked up yet?  Trial and error will help a lot.  It sounds like your grounds are good - which they need to be, so test and retest your grounds via the battery +.

Another stupid question...  Test light and Multimeter?  Wiring Diagram?   You NEED these!!!

OK – off the Handlebar Controls
#1 Yellow - Hook into the Blue on the Headlight Unit.  I think you already did this.
#2 Black – Hook into the Horn Ground…  I know, self explanatory!
#3 Brown – Cap off until you hook up your TS lights
#4 Green – Theoretically  should go to White on the headlight (Low Beam), but you need to see what the #6 Red wire does  as well, if the Green does not work.  It may be that you need to use the Red, or you may need to use both.
#5 Brown/White – Not sure, maybe will work for T/S’s acting as running lights.  Maybe cap for now, and you can come back to that later on
#6 Red – See the #4 Green description
#7 Blue – Cap, you don’t have a parking light (I think...  post a pic of your headlight)
#8  Pink – Horn (BTW, I think you can switch between attachments with the #2 Black as the horn works as long as the circuit is completed)
#9  Dark Green – Cap until you have TS’s
The 2 extras just leave alone, as I think you have your Kill already wired on the Right hand Control

Gauges
Your Oil Light should come on when the key is turned, and go off upon starting as oil pressure gets built up

The Neutral light can be a pain in the butt…  it depends on the state of the neutral switch.  On my 450 Project, I cannot get the neutral light to work even though I have continuity and the bike comes in and out of neutral smoothly.  You may need to to trouble shoot this when the bike is up and running.

HTH

Gersh

[WhyNot2]

Kewl bike.....I love CB550's.

[riverfever]

The wiring truly looks like poop. There's so many sketchy splices the PO did. I'll go through them all and make sure it's good. I've learned so much on this project. It's supposed to be fun but there's times when I get a little frustrated and this was one of those times where I started to think I was in over my head and foolish for even taking this on but I think I'm over it now.

The battery is hooked up and that's one of the revelations I had last night. I went in and fed 12 volts to the speedo led's to verify that they were in fact working. In doing so I found out that the schematic for the speedo was incorrect. I swapped wires for the neutral light and it worked. The oil led also worked but only when I forced power to it. I need to pull the left side cover and see if the wire is connected to the oil pressure sensor. Might be a bad sensor.

I do have several diagrams, a meter and test light.

Thanks Gersh.

Maybe after I get it all done I'll share how I hooked up the horn. So awesome. When I realized what I had done last night I could only shake my head and laugh. It's even better than when I was trying to diagnose a no start issue and rb550 asked if it had gas in it. He was right.

[dagersh]

Awesome!

Been there, done that.

Although usually (and repeatedly) its the petcock or kill switch!!!!

I am curious about the #6 Red and #4 Green and how the headlight works.  Also what does the TS main wire do?

Gersh

[riverfever]

Well I was told that the HL main wire is the one that comes off the fuse box. There's actually 2 of those (both red/brown) that come up to the headlight bucket. But...neither is hot with the key. I have no clue why. So...my plan for now was to take the #6 wire and go to another wire (black) that I found which IS hot with the key. As far as I know...the #4 green wire goes to the low beam. I should have mentioned that this is an aftermarket switch that controls everything. It is the only switch I have. So...this one has an option to turn on the lights, parking lights only, and hi beam. I think the TS main wire is supposed to connect to the gray TS wire that comes off the relay. Hope that makes sense.

[riverfever]

The wiring saga continues. When I take that red wire (which I was going to hook to the red/brown wires coming off the fuse box) I get sparks. I'm considering calling Dime City and seeing if they can be of any help.

Is there any way to determine what harness I have because I'm seeing differences between what I have and the schematics I'm looking at.

[riverfever]

Success!! The headlight switch works as does low and high beam and horn. The gauges are all good and so are the led indicators. The only thing I need is a new oil pressure switch (unless the wire just isn't connected down there) and to get a higher wattage soldering gun so I can repair the butchered harness (mine doesn't get hot enough to work correctly). Feels good.

[dagersh]

Successfully sorting electric Gremlins is a very satisfying endeavor.  Plus, you now know so much more about the bike.

Good show!

Gersh

[Mcwilliams570]

Success!! The headlight switch works as does low and high beam and horn. The gauges are all good and so are the led indicators. The only thing I need is a new oil pressure switch (unless the wire just isn't connected down there) and to get a higher wattage soldering gun so I can repair the butchered harness (mine doesn't get hot enough to work correctly). Feels good.

Glad you got it all worked out..

Matt

[riverfever]

Worked on cleaning up a few more issues with the wiring harness today. This connector had been spliced in and the connections were really poor. This is better.



I also removed the entire wiring harness, cleaned it up, and re-wrapped it in tape.



Then I went to turn on the key to make sure everything still worked and it immediately started turning over the starter. Back apart and after a new push button for the ignition, everything seems fine. I still need to remove the left side cover and look at the wire for the oil pressure sensor and/or test the sensor and then hook up the led for the oil pressure on the new gauge. Slowly but surely.

[riverfever]

When I got these gauges from DCC, there was a note about mounting them with some rubber to isolate them from vibrations. I took some 1/4" bushings and placed them under the gauge mount and on top of the triple tree. Once the mounting bolts are all snugged it really crushes that rubber. Is this enough to keep the gauges safe or should I look at another way?

[hank3841]

Great job working your way through the wiring gremlins.  Seems all the older bikes wiring have been tampered with (cut, spliced, twisted, stripped) by PO.  Mine had installed a cell phone charger by splicing into lines among other things.  Again, bike looking good.  Can't wait to see the tank painted.
Hank

[riverfever]

Thank you Hank. This morning I removed the left side motor cover. The wire for the oil pressure switch was a little loose but even tightening it up didn't help any. I removed the wire totally, made a small jumper wire and ground it to earth and the led lights up. So...I think I have a bad sensor. I just bought one on ebay so we'll see if that does it. I read some about ditching the sensor entirely and running a gauge but I'm not sure I like that idea. I also ran wires for turn signals. Kind of at a standstill until I get the sensor and turn signals.

[dagersh]

Its great to get to know what is wrong and even better when knowing how to fix it!

Nice job!

Gersh

[zenocchio]

Success!! The headlight switch works as does low and high beam and horn. The gauges are all good and so are the led indicators. The only thing I need is a new oil pressure switch (unless the wire just isn't connected down there) and to get a higher wattage soldering gun so I can repair the butchered harness (mine doesn't get hot enough to work correctly). Feels good.

Can I suggest you to take note of all the connections in the headlight bucket and write them all down so the next time you are going to take it apart you will easily put it back together. I know that from experience. I even put a sticker in the bucket!
If you are willing to write it here on the forum, better, a lot of guys are using the same instruments as yours.
cheers!

[sourjon]

Subscribed. This build reminds me so much of my CB450 basket case last year. I found myself laughing as I read the whole thread tonight. I just bought a 71 CB500 in a lot worse shape than yours and I'm getting ready to tackle it. Thanks for the time to post all your details as I'm certain it'll be a big help for me as I get going. Yours is coming right along and I can't wait to see the tank painted.

John

[riverfever]

Very minor victory. New oil sensor fixed the issue with the idiot light in the gauge not coming on. Now it's on with the key.

[dagersh]

Yeah Boy!!!!  Feels good to know what was wrong and then fix it!

Gersh

[riverfever]

This is a shade of gray that I've been giving an awful lot of thought to lately. Tank and side covers in this color with knee dents in gloss black?



Wow the size of the picture really blows. Sorry.