Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel"

[540nova]

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!


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[calj737]

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

I suppose I could try to justify it to you but...I can't comprehend it for you.

Oh, go ahead and try. Some things are worth the effort despite the futility of the outcome.

[Stev-o]

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

Clarified that for you...

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

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.

[calj737]

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.

Anyone who has paid attention to Chris' unending electrical issues with his frankenbike would know this clearly. His comment is nothing more than a persistent, rhetorical snipe at anyone choosing to use an M-Unit. He has yet to visit a thread where the owner of the bike in installing one and pose the same, inane query.

It's exactly as Chris posted: he could try to justify it, but why? It's Chris' bike and Sean should perhaps spend more time on the "What did you do to your bike" or the "Pissed off" thread where can circum-ejacualte over why people choose to update their bikes with modern electrical components. Besides, "If it looks good, it works [sic] good". Unless it's a German made electrical component I guess 

[seanbarney41]

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]

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]

[calj737]

Just when I thought I cold kick you out of the nest, too  3 Simple wires and you bollox it up. Waiter, check please!

[Restoration Fan]

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

[calj737]

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. Rubber P clamps, bought at McMaster

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).  The m-unit fires up fine when wired directly to the battery. The m-lock fired up fine before he began wiring the bike; we tested and programmed it actually about 2 months ago. I had Chris remove the wiring and run jumpers and check/double-check all his connections and the m-lock. Nada. I'm stumped so he is shipping it to me tonight. I'll test it here on my end, and if no joy, I'll run it up to Devin for replacement.

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

Simple minds think alike, Ron. 

[540nova]

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.


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[riverfever]

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]

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

[calj737]

Would the mount have any way of causing the lock to break a connection or short a connection?

Bite your tongue, David! I spent entirely too long machining that work of art for it to be the culprit 

My current hypothesis is that Chris' rabid squirrel has snook into his garage, tampered with the M-LOCK so that whenever Chris waves his fob, his patio furniture is deployed on the deck, the trap is remotely opened, and any wrongfully imprisoned quarry are freed. I've warned Chris repeatedly about tormenting the wildlife up there to no avail.

I stumbled recently onto a scheme being planned on the Squirrel Dark Net where they are preparing to tamper with his fuel lines on his Jeep. Just when Chris finally receives his vehicle back from the Dealership with a new seat cover, replaced wheel bearing, corrected suspension, his beloved vehicle will catch fire. Insurance will fault Chris for aftermarket DIY modifications and the squirrels will perch in the nearby trees, laughing insidiously, all the while enjoying snacks of his pilfered furniture. They're a nasty, vengeful lot this tree rodents. 

[greyghost18t]

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

[Restoration Fan]

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

[calj737]

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.

[Restoration Fan]

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'. 

[calj737]

Its going to be 72* here tomorrow. I'm filling up the tank today! Its been months, literally, since I rode my bike. My son on the other hand, has been enjoying it immensely and keeping it in condition for me 

[Restoration Fan]

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.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Its going to be 72* here tomorrow. I'm filling up the tank today! Its been months, literally, since I rode my bike. My son on the other hand, has been enjoying it immensely and keeping it in condition for me 

Just like kids to bring it home on empty!

[calj737]

Ron throw a 1-piece rain suit in your tank bag. Slip that on, and you'll be right as rain (sorry about that pun). Seriously though, the windproof nature makes a HUGE difference in cold weather riding, plus the 1-piece really helps keep your warmth inside.

Of course, had you sat down and eaten a taco or two before the ride, methane-filled rain suit would have helped even more. 

[Restoration Fan]

Ron throw a 1-piece rain suit in your tank bag. Slip that on, and you'll be right as rain (sorry about that pun). Seriously though, the windproof nature makes a HUGE difference in cold weather riding, plus the 1-piece really helps keep your warmth inside.

Of course, had you sat down and eaten a taco or two before the ride, methane-filled rain suit would have helped even more. 

Funny you should mention that but I was looking at those this weekend.  I have to buy one for the trip I'm taking in August where we'll be riding from Pittsburgh up through Canada and back for 9 days.

[BLAC]

I (sloppily) updated the squirrel for you... a more appropriate nut.