Author Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel" (Read 342338 times)

RAFster122s · « **Reply #1350 on:** January 31, 2017, 09:36:22 PM »

So, ask him when they will provide you with a new loaner for the day while they fix their screwup?
And you Jeep better not have another issue like that happen or you will be documenting both issues with the discric/regional customer service/satisfaction representative from the factory.

riverfever · « **Reply #1351 on:** February 03, 2017, 07:06:52 PM »

More wire and sleeving showed up tonight so I got a little bit more done. I got the front turn led's installed, headlight back on and sleeving installed for all three. I was hoping to run them all in one loom but they wouldn't fit in in the sleeve so I ran them all separately. Then I drilled the frame on both sides just above the mounts for the tank so I could install a P clamp on each side and keep the looms tight up against the frame. I'm finally ready to carefully end the sleeve on each of these looms (just downstream from the first P clamps) and deal with all the grounds and then run new sleeve back to the M Unit.

I also got new tabs made for the rear turn signals. They look that exact same as the last ones but 6mm longer.

riverfever · « **Reply #1352 on:** February 03, 2017, 07:12:45 PM »

I know the lighting sucks but I love the way these Blaze turn signals look. And I love that there's only the wires for the turns and headlight in the headlight bucket.

Stev-o · « **Reply #1353 on:** February 03, 2017, 07:54:19 PM »

Hey Riverman....have you tried to fit the fuel tank lately? That p-clamp looks a little high

riverfever · « **Reply #1354 on:** February 03, 2017, 08:03:21 PM »

Yes sir. I've had the tank on/off before installing them all. Fits fine.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #1355 on:** February 03, 2017, 08:09:32 PM »

Chris, the good news is you probably don't have to worry about your pet squirrel coming back if he isn't back he will not be this winter.

You just introduced him to his new winter home...he'll be back this summer when you put the lawn furniture cushions back out...

Hopefully not to be ever seen again. You could tell Heather you wish you could have skinned him...what a necklace his nuts would have made for her. The reaction to that gift would truely be priceless.

Well, maybe not priceless, what does it cost for a divorce in Colorado?

The blaze turns are really really difficult to see.

Do you have enough clearance between the tank and your P clamp on the backbone?

David

riverfever · « **Reply #1356 on:** February 03, 2017, 08:53:21 PM »

You guys are making me panic. I had to put my martini down and go quadruple check the fit of the tank. The clamps up front aren't even close and the ones I know you're talking about, while a tad higher than what I wanted, have a whisker of room before they hit the top of the tunnel when I press down on the top of the tank real hard. The pic is deceptive.

Thank you for looking out.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #1357 on:** February 03, 2017, 10:55:16 PM »

Watching and waiting.

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #1358 on:** February 03, 2017, 11:02:16 PM »

How is that big bunch of wiring any different than stock?...other than the very nice sleeving

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #1359 on:** February 04, 2017, 03:40:04 AM »

Quote from: CB750 Cafe Racer Fan on February 03, 2017, 10:55:16 PM

Watching and waiting.

OK I laughed.

riverfever · « **Reply #1360 on:** February 04, 2017, 07:05:34 AM »

Quote from: seanbarney41 on February 03, 2017, 11:02:16 PM

How is that big bunch of wiring any different than stock?...other than the very nice sleeving

Sean I'm not really sure why you appear to be so against my decision to replace the stock wiring/electrical components and run new wire/Motogagdet on my build. I suppose I could try to justify it to you but...I can't comprehend it for you. PM me your address so I can send you a care package containing the old parts and hacked up wires. I'm sure you'll be able to salvage them for your build or, at the very least, make a lovely charm necklace.

540nova · « **Reply #1361 on:** February 04, 2017, 07:07:25 AM »

Quote from: riverfever on February 04, 2017, 07:05:34 AM

Quote from: seanbarney41 on February 03, 2017, 11:02:16 PM
How is that big bunch of wiring any different than stock?...other than the very nice sleeving

Sean I'm not really sure why you appear to be so against my decision to replace the stock wiring/electrical components and run new wire/Motogagdet on my build. I suppose I could try to justify it to you but...I can't comprehend it for you. PM me your address so I can send you a care package containing the old parts and hacked up wires. I'm sure you'll be able to salvage them for your build or, at the very least, make a lovely charm necklace.

LOL, great response!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stev-o · « **Reply #1362 on:** February 04, 2017, 07:17:24 AM »

Quote from: riverfever on February 03, 2017, 08:53:21 PM

I had to put my Appletini down and go quadruple check...

Clarified that for you...

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #1363 on:** February 04, 2017, 07:41:29 AM »

Here's an attempt:
Chris made a maximum effort at both repairing his crusty, faulty harness, and attempting to configure a separate year harness to work (a repop for his year is unavailable). These electrical gremlins have a huge setback to getting his bike reliably roadworthy. So, faced with a re-wire, he went with something he could ostensibly wire himself (with some help from Cal) that is a significant upgrade.

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #1364 on:** February 04, 2017, 08:11:55 AM »

Wow, major freakout over a simple comment that contained a compliment on River's nice sleeving job. I would be glad to delete it at River's request.

riverfever · « **Reply #1365 on:** February 05, 2017, 07:51:38 PM »

I was able to get some work done this weekend. I ended all the looms, dealt with the grounds, and then made new looms for the rest of the backbone.

Here's both sides all done.

Here's a better shot of the Blaze turn pins. I should have grabbed a picture of the headlight bucket. There's 7 wires inside. Three for the headlight and four 26awg wires for the turns. That's it.

And finally, I thought it would be a good idea to hook things up to the M Unit and power it up and see if everything worked. Horn, headlight (hi/lo), start, and both front turns worked fine. This was very exciting. The only issue was that the M Lock wouldn't work. There's only three wires for that and the other grounds grouped with its ground were fine (switches worked) so I didn't think that was the issue. Brown was straight to the M Unit and red went to battery POS. So I took apart two looms so I could see all three wires and the soldered joints. I removed the heat shrink from each wire and, while there was a little crispy spot on the brown (which could have happened while heating the shrink) they seemed fine. I cut each wire so everything was clean, used jumper wires and ran red to battery POS, green to battery NEG, and brown back to the M Unit LOCK. Nothing. This is strange because Cal walked me through how to power the M Unit and M Lock on the bench not long after getting them and we programmed the fob and they both worked perfectly. Not sure what the issue is now.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #1366 on:** February 05, 2017, 09:06:31 PM »

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #1367 on:** February 06, 2017, 04:24:12 AM »

Chris,
Where did you get the little rubber loops that you screwed to the frame to hold the wires? I like the look of those; it makes things look really tidy.

Oh...and I'm sure cal will aid in sorting your wiring but if it's only 3 wires, I would "test" the M-Unit again by just running 3 separate temporary wires. I'm sure one has to come from the battery so replace your current wire with a new temp one directly coming from the battery. One of them is almost certainly a ground so run a new ground wire to somewhere you know will ground it. And then run a temp wire for whatever that 3rd wire is (maybe a wire from the ignition switch to provide switched power? If so, you could just run a 2nd wire from the battery to it so that line is getting power as well).

If that fires up the M-Unit then the issue is on one of the 3 wires. And I'd put my money on the ground most of the time.

Ron

540nova · « **Reply #1368 on:** February 06, 2017, 06:06:39 AM »

Quote from: Restoration Fan on February 06, 2017, 04:24:12 AM

Chris,
Where did you get the little rubber loops that you screwed to the frame to hold the wires? I like the look of those; it makes things look really tidy.

Those are Adel clamps, available at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. they're about $2 each at Lowes, for the smaller sizes.
We use them on aircraft at work, and have them from 1/8" to 4" opening.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

riverfever · « **Reply #1369 on:** February 06, 2017, 06:28:28 AM »

Quote from: Restoration Fan on February 06, 2017, 04:24:12 AM

Chris,
Where did you get the little rubber loops that you screwed to the frame to hold the wires? I like the look of those; it makes things look really tidy.

Oh...and I'm sure cal will aid in sorting your wiring but if it's only 3 wires, I would "test" the M-Unit again by just running 3 separate temporary wires. I'm sure one has to come from the battery so replace your current wire with a new temp one directly coming from the battery. One of them is almost certainly a ground so run a new ground wire to somewhere you know will ground it. And then run a temp wire for whatever that 3rd wire is (maybe a wire from the ignition switch to provide switched power? If so, you could just run a 2nd wire from the battery to it so that line is getting power as well).

If that fires up the M-Unit then the issue is on one of the 3 wires. And I'd put my money on the ground most of the time.

Ron

This is precisely what I did last night. I cut all three wires for the M Lock to remove the soldered joints from the equation and used jumper wires. Red went straight to battery POS. Black/green went straight to the ground at the coils and brown went straight to the LOCK port on M Unit input side. Neither fob did anything. I'm concerned because when I first got all of this stuff, Cal walked me through things and we wired it up on the bench and programmed the user fob and everything worked great. Since then, it's been sitting in a box on my bench until I got the mount polished recently and installed it and ran the wiring.

RAFster122s · « **Reply #1370 on:** February 06, 2017, 07:10:35 AM »

Would the mount have any way of causing the lock to break a connection or short a connection? I think I would check the MLock on the bench out of the mount before shipping. If nada then ship, if it starts working then it may still need to be replaced due to intermittent issue with wire or teminal or socket or any number of issues. If removing works but it dies again when put in holder or becomes intermittent then it needs to go back. I hope it is either dead or alive, the in between is bad ju-ju.

David

greyghost18t · « **Reply #1371 on:** February 06, 2017, 07:35:59 AM »

I am excited to see this progressing.. I am interested to see what is causing your problem. Great progress though.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #1372 on:** February 06, 2017, 09:24:36 AM »

Quote from: RAF122S on February 06, 2017, 07:10:35 AM

Would the mount have any way of causing the lock to break a connection or short a connection? I think I would check the MLock on the bench out of the mount before shipping. If nada then ship, if it starts working then it may still need to be replaced due to intermittent issue with wire or teminal or socket or any number of issues. If removing works but it dies again when put in holder or becomes intermittent then it needs to go back. I hope it is either dead or alive, the in between is bad ju-ju.

David

I think part of what David is saying has merit though. If it were me, prior to shipping, I'd go with an even simpler route. Hardwire the red to the battery positive. Then try running the black/green to the battery negative.

I'm not saying that anyone else is dumb enough to do this, but I know I certainly have. I have made the assumption before on multiple places on the frame that the wire was being grounded...only to find out that wasn't true later when I tried it with a good ground.

Before shipping that, I'd give it that one more sanity test just to be sure. If that fails, then I'd go ahead and ship them to cal.

Edited:
Never mind. I just re-read cal's quotes and I had missed the part about where he says the M-Unit still fires up just fine but it's when it's powered to the M-Lock that it appears to be an issue. OK...forget what I said then because you've already verified that part. Any chance it's a grounding issue with the M-Lock itself being accidentally grounded somewhere else?

Ron

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #1373 on:** February 06, 2017, 10:32:14 AM »

Quote from: calj737 on February 06, 2017, 10:09:39 AM

No, Ron, unfortunately did all those baseline tests. I've asked Animal Control to come dust his workbench for Squirrel tracks. I'll prove my point sooner or later.

Perhaps once you figure out the issue (or get a replacement...whichever), you & I should get on our German-made bikes and ride them out to the Hinterlands of Colorado and perform a bit of "wildlife management" for Chris? Just to ensure that this doesn't become a recurring problem that he continues to blame on 'the squirrel'.

Restoration Fan · « **Reply #1374 on:** February 06, 2017, 10:37:22 AM »

I would actually have quite a bit more done on the 500 if I hadn't bought the BMW. I'm probably averaging 3 days per week of one hour or more rides on it. Quite a few of them have been 2 and 3 hour rides.

I did make the stupid mistake of driving it into downtown Atlanta on Friday to pick up tacos from a place called Taqueria del Sol that Kelli really likes. I thought it would be a nice surprise for her when she arrived home from spending the week in DC. As I left, I contemplated taking an extra jacket with me and an extra layer for the legs but thought, "Nah...it's not that bad; it's 50 degrees outside". Well, by the time I made the return trip, it was just over 32 and I was really regretting that decision.

From now, I'll be carrying extra clothes in one of the paniers...just in case.

News:

Author Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel" (Read 342338 times)