'83 XS650 Bobber: Rat's nest

[retroLS1]

Ok so I ended up spending way too much time in Photoshop editing the wiring diagram I was going by to make it fit my needs. If anybody/everybody could please take a look and let me know if I am missing something, wires in the wrong place, etc. please let me know. I haven't changed the kill switch in the drawing yet to a toggle as I have to see if it's wired the same way as the ignition toggle or if it matters which terminal goes to which side (power terminal on switch to the Pamco side or fuse/ignition switch side? or Acc terminal? Does it matter?)



I also need to add in front and rear turn signals but I haven't figured out the wiring on those yet, though I'm sure they are fairly simple.

 

[retroLS1]

Ok so my 9 month old son decided 4:30AM was a great time to get up today, so I had some time to do some searching and Photoshopping. Found a couple great posts by XSLeo describing the wiring of turn signals on a bike that doesn't have them and I was able to get them drawn out on my diagram. I also changed the kill switch by the ignition to the same toggle type as my main ignition (someone please confirm that the P (power) and A (acc) are set up correctly, or of it matters in this case.

The only thing I am not 100% sure on yet is the type of switch I will be using as a turn signal switch. I am thinking another toggle type switch mounted in the underside of the handlebars but not sure if I really want to try and cram a switch and wiring in there. Might end up going with a low-profile/clamp-on type by the left grip. I copied the headlight/dimmer switch for that spot for the time being but I think to be correct it should be a 3-position - on/off/on. Sorry, I'll stop talking to myself now.

 

[retroLS1]

So since yesterday was father's day I had freedom to do whatever I pleased so I worked on the bike for a few hours in the afternoon after the family cookout etc. Finally started tearing into the wiring and figuring out what I am doing for high/low beam switch on headlight, and a kill switch.

I decided I am going to use the same style switch for my ignition and high/low beam. Not 100% sure on the kill switch yet as I am not positive where I want to mount it - I may want something more low profile. I am mounting my headlight switch on top of the headlight housing. Drilled the hole yesterday and got it ready to go. I popped the headlight off as well and shot it with some paint. Originally it was chrome/polished, but I painted the main body gloss black and the outer trim ring copper.

I am going to hit Radio Shack today to pick up a couple more switches. Last night I got the main ignition switch installed and started running all the wires. In the diagram above I got the red wire from the rec/reg run and spliced to the switch, with the 20A fuse and wire running to battery. Ran the ground from the switch to battery. Tapped into the brown wire on the rec/reg to run to the switch and I will be tapping into that line for most of the "extras" - ignition, head/tail light, etc.

I have (1) 20A and (4) 10A individual inline blade fuse holders, but after starting this wiring I am starting to think I should have just gone with a fuse block/box for the 10A fuses. It's going to get pretty messy/crammed in my fake oil can with all those stuffed in there.

Here's the main ignition switch mounted:



I am going with the same switch for my headlight like I said, mainly because I like the switch itself and it has a red LED that comes on when flipped to "ON" so it will be my high beam indicator if the LED is on (at least in theory - I probably won't even really see it but oh well)

 

[retroLS1]

Made some more progress on the bike. Got my Pamco ignition installed. Also installed new slimline front brake/master cylinder (much nicer looking than the factory piece) and clutch perch/lever. I have been working a lot on the wiring and it is less nerve-wracking now that I've been playing with it more.

Had to fab up a bracket to mount the 6803 coil to the old bracket that was on the frame (looks like the shop that worked on the bike made a 3.25"x3.25" plate to mount the two individual coils to). Got that installed, all wired up with the Pamco. Put my gas tank back on and actually attemped to kick it to life (ran the battery on a charger so it was full). For some reason, I blew the 10A fuse twice between my ignition switch and kill switch. Not sure why? I put a 15A in there just to see if I could get it started, but to no avail. Didn't seem like it was getting any spark but I'm not quite sure.

My next problem is that I wanted to take the connectors off the coil to check with my multimeter to see if they were getting juice, and of course both damn terminals broke off the crappy coil. I was very careful working with the coil as I had read about them so I was taking extra care. Just simply pulling slowly/softly out or away from the terminal, and they came out. Looks like the only thing holding them on is one tiny little solder spot on the inside of the coil. Stupid.





So unfortunately "you get what you pay for" was definitely the case here. I didn't know it was such a poorly designed coil until after I had already ordered it and then read about it on here. Looks like I will end up ordering the 6903 "ultimate" high output coil to replace it. The orientation of it (perpendicular to the original coil) will actually work out better for me for mounting.

I got some stuff in from Super Bright LED's also. I got (2) yellow LED's w/ holders, (1) blue LED w/ holder, and (1) LF1-S-FLAT flasher. Going to mount the two yellow LED's to the side of my high beam/low beam switch as turn signal indicators, and mount the blue one above it to indicate the high beam is on.

So basically to sum it up - any ideas on the fuse blowing, and the 6803 coil sucks. How's the 6903?

 

[retroLS1]

Small update. Got my new Ultimate coil from Mike's XS yesterday and got it installed. Looks similar to the old crappy one I had, except build quality seems quite a bit sturdier. Plus the obvious having the plug wires coming out the side instead of on the end. I got a couple standoffs with it so mounting it up was easy with the bracket I had made for the old 6803 coil.

I also decided to run a fuse block instead of individual inline fuses for my setup. The inline fuse holders I have from my work are pretty bulky and would have been a mess in my fake oil can and take up way too much room. The block I got was the one suggested further up in this thread, Buss 6-position. Pretty dumb though - I bought one on Amazon and had it on the way, just to find out I had them available at my work that I could get for nothing. Oh well.

Going to do some more wiring tonight - been working on the headlight and tail light wiring along with the switches. Taking my time and just trying to get it all right. The red LED on my main ignition switch seems to be a little flaky. Has been working fine but last night it wasn't coming on, but pressing or jiggling one of the connections (ground I think) on the switch made it come on a little. I'm not that concerned with it as long as the switch itself works.

Some pics of the coil and switch:







I apologize for the crappy iPhone pics. The switch LED really isn't as bright as it seems in the pic, it's just the way it came out.

I made a little more progress tonight with wiring. Got the brake light switches wired up and got power run to them. Also got the tail light wired so it comes on when I turn on the ignition switch. Nice to actually see some real results for once (ie, a light coming on when I turn on a switch haha). It just occured to me now that I didn't test to see if the light brightened when I hit the brakes but I can check that tomorrow. One step backwards is my rear brake light switch broke in half. I was tightening it down onto the bracket it's mounted on and I must have cranked it down one time too many and the plastic thread housing just broke in two. I think they are pretty cheap so I'll grab another one anyways.

 

[retroLS1]

Swung by Radio Shack again today after work (I think this might be the 4th Friday in a row now I've gone after work on Friday haha) to pick up a couple more things. I picked up:

- This SPDT On-Off-On switch to run for my headlight. The lever is a bit longer than I would like but I guess I don't really care for right now. I just want to get it going!
-This momentary on switch (normally open) to use for my horn. I found an awesome mounting location that is incredible discreet and very easily accessible. Can't wait to mount it up.
- This green LED to use for high beam indicator. I had bought a blue LED from Super Bright LED's and unfortunately while messing around I completely broke off the black lead and instead of trying to solder one back on I just picked up another one. Green is good enough for me and it's actually not as bright as the blue which I like.

I am running a '28-style Duolamp like this for my tail/brake light and the only thing I wasn't a big fan of was the brake light lit up amber because it's in the top portion of the light. Instead of swapping out the glass lens for a full red one, I picked up a red 12-LED 1156 bulb at Autozone (well a pair actually) and popped it in. Works great! Shows amber when it's not lit up but when I hit the brake the red shines nice and bright. Prefer LED too because they are brighter and we can't be visible enough on motorcycles.

Going to work some more a little later on getting the headlight and LED wired up and maybe try and kick this thing to life (if my kid's not asleep yet - it is in my basement after all). New rear brake light switch is on the way as well as a new H6M bulb for the headlight as one of the filaments is broken.

 

[retroLS1]

Well a little update here in this thread. I have another thread going trying to figure out why this mother doesn't want to come to life.

In the meantime I have been working on other parts. I got the on/off/on switch installed for the headlight and it works great. My H6M bulb has a blown filament so only 1 "on" side works right now, but I have a new bulb due in a couple days.

I got my horn installed and wired up as well. I messed up the first push button switch that I was using with my soldering iron (small terminals) so I had to get another identical one. Grabbed it today while I was out. I mounted it in one of the rubber bushings on the front of the triple tree and I love it. Tried it out and it worked perfectly.

Now to just get it rideable.

Few pics. Don't mind the dirty/ratty paint. I dig it. I'm also going to be wrapping the wires for a cleaner look. Yes unfortunately I need to get more wire... Smallest wire I have right now is 16ga in red so they both are. No biggie.

 

[retroLS1]

Haven't posted anything in here in a little bit (had another thread about my starting troubles but got that straightened out) but have some new updates.

Bike is about 95% from being on the road. I got my turn signals in. Bought them on Amazon but the company is Canada-based KapscoMoto. Just kind of generic black bullet style turn signals, amber lens. I was looking for LEDs but everything out there was more money than I wanted to spend. I might convert them in the future. I am running an LF1-S-FLAT from SuperbrightLED's so I could switch over no problem if I wanted to.

I have the lights installed and the right side wired up so far. I mounted my flasher relay near my horn, using the old horn mounts I believe. Works great. Left side is about 90% wired, just have to tie in the front to the rear and run it up to my switch. My switch setup right now is about the most redneck/ghetto thing on any bike here, but it works and I need it to pass inspection so it'll stay for now until I pick up something good. I literally zip tied a DPDT on/off/on switch to the left side of the handlebars by the grip. It actually doesn't look as bad as you would think, but still very much so redneck engineered haha. At this point I just want the bike on the road and to ride.

Another big step was I got the bike insured and registered yesterday. I bought the bike in Maine without a title so I was concerned. I convinced the PO to register the bike and cancel the registration so I could have a copy of his reg. MA needs either a title, or previous reg + bill of sale to register a bike. Worked out great, she said I would get my title in a few weeks (nice to hear those words). If all goes well I should have her out of the basement and on the road in a handful of days!

Also waiting to hear back from Gordon Scott about getting a set of drag pipes for it. I will either go with those or Pandemonium Choppers 'Ya mama' pipes I think.

Will grab some pics soon to post up.

 

[Ghaniba]

Nice build thread. I'm about an hour or so from you if you're looking for a destination to ride that baby.

Dave

 

[retroLS1]

Nice Dave. It's getting more to the point now where I would feel comfortable doing that on this bike. I have been working on tuning my carbs and it is feeling better every time. Most of that documentation is in my other thread:

Want to kick my bike in the carbs

I put in my 142.5 main jets last night and took it for a spin and the top end felt nice. I would have liked to try one size smaller but unfortunately the next size down I have is stock - 132.5. The other demon I am battling now is missing/skipping at low RPM. 5twins has been a huge help pointing me in the right direction with the carbs (as well as the guide he helped write). I am going to adjust my mix screws again as well as try putting in the next size up pilot jets (45's right now, 47.5's coming today that I will put in) and see how it is.

I might try shimming my fixed BS34 needles with a washer too to see if I can help get rid of the slightly dead spot right off idle.

Pic of it in the current state:



I took the red "second" sleeve filter off the outside of my UNI's to give them a little more space. I want to do a back-to-back run with and without them to see if they make any difference in how the bike runs. I also have a Pandemonium 'Ya Mama' exhaust being built right now that should ship today or tomorrow - excited to get that on. Want to try and work some baffles into it but with the turn out tips it might be tough. I might try putting in some thumb screw baffles and see how it feels.