My front turn signal stalks and ears aren't in the best of shape.
I picked up some CB350 units that were in better shape and presentable for a daily rider, I like the stock look, but they are single wire instead of dual wire.
So, in the process of discovering too late the difference I figured I could swap the guts from one to the other. Well, I was mistaken...the wires wouldn't come out of the stock CB550 stalks, in fact they broke.
The corrosion was pretty intense on the contacts in the housing so they had been leaking and moisture had done it's deed. So, the stock ears for the headlight & turnsignal mount, a '74 CB550 feature, aren't great but they clean up OK for now.
I picked up a wiring repair from the auto section "Help" parts at AutoZone today and figured I could replace the contacts and join to proper wires and maintain the bulb housing body and possibly the insulator that holds the contacts (I'll post some pictures as soon as I take them, tomorrow most likely.)
The bulb housing is in decent shape but the contacts I don't trust to clean up well enough.
It appears I can replace the bulb holder into the 350 housing (I did like the rubber mount system in the 350 lamps and they were in good shape...) but they will go for a stock mount that is hard mounted with just free air to cool the higher wattage bulb.
It's gonna be a bit of a cludge as I'm soldering the old bullet connectors from the stock wiring to a run of new wire that connects to the wire and terminals from the Help kit... not an ideal electrical path but some decent soldering and shrinkwrap should make it passable and weathertite.
I do plan to add a ground connection wire if I can fit a 3rd wire or I'll just put a ground wire on the retaining bolt to make sure I've got a solid ground for the turn signals as the turn signal stalks/ears are rubber isolated from the forks and all. Having a solid common ground up front would be a good thing I think. Figured I'd also run the ground into the headlight bucket and make sure it is well grounded...
The turn signal housings back are just slightly a different shape but, only a well-trained eye or someone who knows of the change will recognize it I think.
I'm doing a fork conversion next year I think and so the bike will have another iteration where I clean up and replace with better stuff.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow or Friday. So you can better understand my descriptions.
Please post if you've gone through this experience and can offer any suggestions or tips...
Thanks!
David
