My Turn

[Hypoid]

OK, you replaced the Breaker-Points ignition with an aftermarket electronic ignition.

After reviewing period correct schematics, I see the breaker-points are downstream of the ignition coil primary windings. The coil itself would drop the voltage going to the breaker points, very clever!

If your added circuit fails, I would look at the input/output voltages at the kill switch.

 

[RedHeep]

Glad to help a little. It looks awesome.

Riding is so much better than wrenching.

 

[riverfever]

I did some idle plug chops today. The hardest part about owning this bike is living and trying to get it to run respectably up here at 8500'. I'm running 38 idles, 105 mains, (can't recall needle clip position right now but it's written down). I just took it around town. There is a horrible flat spot at 1/8 throttle. Bike just dies unless you can get through it. Now once you get to 1/4 throttle the thing just takes off. I truly want to believe that I can find a happy middle ground in terms of tuning where the thing will be tolerable but I'm not an expert with these things.

 

[riverfever]

Bit of an update. Towards the end of last summer I changed the clips on the needles to make things more lean. Now with the larger intake valves and the porting/polishing, I think the motor wants more fuel so I wanted to take the clips back to the stock setting and see if that helped the touchy throttle down near 1/8 and 1/4. It definitely did. However, I also have an issue with the charging system. She is not giving up easily. I ran through a bunch of tests and eventually the regulator/rectifier tested faulty. Then I got fed up and Heather and I went to Maui for 8 days. I got back two days ago and have a solid state reg/rec on the way. More to come.

 

[riverfever]

Ok this thing's been in time out for months now. After getting back from Maui I installed the new regulator/rectifier but the stator was still not talking with the reg/rec and charging the battery. Turns out the new reg/rec was bad and I had to send it back for a replacement. Installed the new one and...charging system still wasn't working. After days and days of testing it appeared that there was a short in the wiring harness on the switched 12 volt side. Battery would eventually wear down and not allow the Dyna ignition to delver a hot enough spark to the plugs which resulted in...issues. So...here we are today.

After having flipped the GL1000 for a very nice profit. Ah what the hell...I'll let the cat out of the bag now...I paid $200 for that thing. Hardly had to do any work to it at all and listed it at $2000 which was about 80% of book value. It sold for just a bit less. Things are about to get very real with the 550. The entire stock electrical system is getting ripped out and a fully custom system is going in. This sh!t's gonna blow your Jeep minds. I'm also going to do some stuff to address the ergonomics on the bike because my feet tend to fall asleep right at the hundred mile mark. I need to talk with a parts supplier but I hope to order parts in the next few weeks. arty:

 

[riverfever]

All of the custom stuff for the electrical system is on the way.

 

[riverfever]

Other than the wiring (which will all be 24 gauge) and the starter solenoid and regulator/rectifier, this is the electrical system. It's from Motogadget. There's a 3 and 2 button switch that will control start/kill, left turn, right turn, horn, and hi/low. The turn signals are stupid small but very bright. The large piece is the digital control unit and on the far right is the piece I splurged on. It's an M-Lock that gets rid of the ignition and key. An included fob is programmed and it just gets waved in front of that sensor and the electrical system is activated. Not pictured is a crystal that's about the size of a grain of rice. It can be sewed into the fingertip of a glove or inserted into a helmet and waved near the sensor and, again, the system is activated.

 

[SteveT]

Drool.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[RedHeep]

That's pretty cool.

Is there a way to start it if your battery is dead?

 

[riverfever]

I'm still learning about this system Red. The m-unit itself has a lot of features that you can program. It has an alarm that can be turned on. Brake lights can work like normal or pulse. Turn signals can work like normal or be set to 5, 10, 15 second intervals and then automatically turn off. If there is a short in the system somewhere, the unit will shut that portion of the system off (like the front left turn signal) but power everything else. There's also a low voltage warning that will signal for batter problems. I'll have to look into your question about starting it with a dead battery.

 

[riverfever]

I have new clip on bars coming on Monday and they are so much nicer than the current ones. I also decided to start sanding and polishing the top clamp to match the other polished aluminum bits. I filed all the casting marks off as best as possible (there's a few that are gonna have to stay just because they are in such a bad spot). It's sanded to 120 now. I always find areas that need more attention when I step up to the next grit but I'll start 220 tomorrow.

 

[riverfever]

These are the new turn signals.



Got the new bars installed today along with the m-switches. I need to order a new upper brake line. 15 rolls of 25' wire are on the way.

 

[riverfever]

Finally got the top clamp finished up. There's a few spots I'm not totally happy with but it's better than it was.





New mirrors and grips were installed today.



New master cylinder will be here in a few days and then I'll get new brake line made. I'm also looking at a snazzy new clutch lever but I'm still thinking about that.



All the wiring showed up tonight.

 

[riverfever]

Practiced crimping these open barrel terminals that I'll be using and I think I figured them out now.



I've also been working on restoring this old Falstaff sign and finally finished. This belonged to Heather's grandmother and it used to hang in a bar she owned in downtown St. Louis in the 1940's. Got it hung tonight.



Also got a new clutch lever from Pro Taper. This has a bearing in the pivot and really makes a huge difference. With a new cable, it's a pleasure to use now.

 

[SteveT]

Is that a self portrait to the left of the Falstaff sign?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[riverfever]

It is. A student made it for me for a project in art class years ago. Kinda cool but, every once in a while, I get the feeling I'm being watched while working on something in the garage. Sometimes it scares the shat out of me.

 

[riverfever]

Minor but important update. What's been holding up this party is that two pieces needed to be made. One is a panel that will hold all of the new electronics and live under the left side cover (where all the stock electrics are located). It's not done in this pic but is now. The starter solenoid will mount to the right of the M Unit and the regulator/rectifier will mount on the backside of the panel and to the rear of the bike. Side cover will fit on and nobody will know what's going on until it's removed.



Next was where to mount the M Lock. I wanted it under the side cover but was worried it wouldn't read the fob through the plastic. Thought about drilling some holes in the cover to help but didn't want holes. Thought about doing a mount in the end of the bar but I use bar end mirrors. So...in the end I decided to put it in the stock location which is down by the #1 header on a tab located on the frame. Next was to figure out exactly how to do it. A good friend helped me and this piece started off as a solid 1.5" by 3.25" alloy bar.











Wires for the M Lock will come out the back, travel up the frame to the neck and then down the backbone to the M Unit. We were going to weld an L bracket onto this cylinder and use that to mount it to the frame tab but then decided it was easier to simply drill the cylinder, tap it and use a 6mm bolt to secure it. This piece doesn't ever get touched so one bolt should be enough I hope. I was going to have it anodized black to hide it a bit but I decided to polish it. People that know these bikes will notice that it's unusual and the polish will show it off a bit.

 

[riverfever]

I finally dove into the wiring on this project. Today I got the bars drilled, both M-Buttons wired up and the wires run through the bars. Here's some pics.

Here's the left side.


Inside of the right side button.


Right side done.




I just brought each loom down the opposite side of the backbone and that's where I stopped for today. I have an idea to clean up the ground location from where they normally are stock and I'm looking to do it right about this location. I'll take all the green ground wires out of both looms, deal with them right here (on each side) and then run the rest of the wires on back to the electrical panel. I will say that I have a whole new appreciation for cars and motorcycles that have very clean custom wiring. It's tedious.

 

[riverfever]

Haven't updated this in a while. This is how I'm running the wire looms along the back bone and securing them.



Ended the looms just up from the second p clamp on each side and that's where I'm grounding everything. Then continuing the looms and organizing the wiring into input and output wires for the M Unit.



And then moving on back.



At this point I decided to rough wire everything up to the M Unit and make sure that it was working. It was then that I discovered a major problem. The M Lock (this is a sensor the size of a quarter that uses RF technology to read a fob to activate the system) wasn't working. When I got everything I tested it on the bench and it was fine. I assumed it was a problem with the wiring. The sensor uses a ground wire, a wire to battery positive, and a wire to the M Unit. All checked out. I was beginning to think the M Lock was bad. On a whim I decided to remove the knurled alloy cap on the mount and...it worked fine. The cap was covering the outer 1mm of the sensor face and this, apparently, was causing it to not be able to read the fob. So...back to the drawing board. I had to undo two looms of wire on the right side of the frame and figure out a new mount for the sensor.

While I chewed on what to do for a mount I decided to deal with mounting the rear turn signals. My original idea of mounting them to the grab bar wouldn't work so I made some tabs.







Yesterday I decided to make another bracket for the M Lock. I used some angle I had laying around.





At this point, I need to finish painting the new mount and then re-solder the wires for it and put the looms of wire back together. I need to buy a right angle drill tomorrow and install a rivet nut on the bottom of the tube for the seat rail to use as a ground for the rear turns and tail. Then I can continue to bring the wire closer to the M Unit and start tying it all together.

 

[RedHeep]

Zip ties are cheaper.