I am pretty nervous about rewiring this bike. Should I just dive in?

pnedac

pnedac

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So I have an XS650 (1977) that I picked up in February that I have been making into a bobber. I paid an "expert" to wire it up for me. I live in Sacramento CA by the way. Well this expert, who has been working on bikes for 30 something years, yeah he f%^ked up my bike something fierce. The wiring looks like a drunk 5 year old girl did it. A much bigger problem then when I started. It blows fuses, it looks like a rats nest, and if I turn the handlebars to the right the freaking main power wire comes apart. So I first chewed him out and said no more help will be needed. Then I got the bike home and I have been trying to kind of quick fix things, but the more I look at this mess the more I want to just take the plunge and try to start over.

I see the wiring diagram that is pretty simple looking, but I am in over my head if I try to do this myself? I am familiar with the way these things work and I have done a majority of the work on this bike. I just have a feeling I could do a much cleaner, more usable job on this thing.

Has everyone had to go through this first time thing or is it just me???

Any advice on the matter is appreciated.

Pat:doh:
 
I'm going thru it now on my 79/77. I'm sure you can do it. I'm using the 1979 simplified schematic with Pamco ignition and Chrysler reg/radio shack rectifier. It feels great to cut away the safety relay, light checker, and reserve lighting device. Good luck and i'm sure we can help each other get through it. Won't be long and you'll be on the road with a much more easily maintainable bike. I've already found some burnt/cut wires.
 
P,

Dive right in!

I was in basically the same boat, zero experience in wiring but I took it slow, used a simplified wiring diagram at first, and took it circuit by circuit. I'm almost finished, once you start, you realize how simple it is, and if you break it apart into a bunch of small wiring circuits before you know it you're all done! Plenty of help by everyone here if you get stuck.

-aaron
 
hey pnedac, im in sacramento too!

hit me up sometime, id be happy to help you out with any wiring you need...
 
The first time I rewired mine, I used half of the tc bros kit. It took at least 6-7 hours, mostly tracing and labeling wires. The second time I just ran my own wires. I wired it a third time just chasing a gremlin. I am about to completely wire it again since I just did the pma swap and installed a pamco. I have the process down to about an hour now, with soldered and shrink tubing on the splices.
 
Hi

2 month ago i was in the same situation, PO had messed up the harness pretty bad so i started from zero. I took a simplified diagram from tech-section and started with mounting lights, brake switches, handelbar switches, rectifyer etc. etc. Then i wired one wire at a time acording to digram and it was a succes. Im happy i did this for more reasons, first i never made a harness before, so i got valuable experience, second, if there ever schould be an electrical problem on my bike there is a good chance i can fix it myself.
Good luck :)
 
I think most of us were born with the experience of a drunken 6 year old girl, so no first time jitters, besides what's the worst that could happen
 
Yeah, pnedac, getting first time jitters over wiring is entirely normal. Be glad you have a D; the bird's nest really got tangled with the later machines. You'll to save yourself some time and frustration if you use a multimeter and your wiring diagram to track wires and identify switch leads instead of stripping the harness and tracing things manually.
 
its really not that hard....take your time........ do one wire at a time and in a few hours you will be done i did mine 2 hours each day for about 4 days...i am not an expert and i did mine....good luck.
 
Well than I guess it is time to just man up and get to it! Thanks for all the good advice!

@Bened- I may be hittting you up about that just to let you know.

I have read that the radio shack rectifier/regulator is a good mod for reliability-Does anyone know the part number? I am sure I could just as well go in and ask and they'll probably know something.

Anyway I suppose later today is when it all goes down. One wire at a time. Label, trace it back, make it right, good grounds, bam!

I'll keep you posted on the rewire. Here we go!

Pat
 
What I did was keep everything separate. The lighting was on one fuse as the ignition, turn signals, and charging system. If you separate the circuits it makes wiring easier.
 
Thanks again for all the help. @Bened, I messaged you about maybe helping. Thanks everyone for all the help. I am gonna make a game plan and get it going!
 
On the main wiring diagram page, I am trying to use the top diagram.

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61

That is the link.

It does not look to me that it uses a key switch, rather a couple of toggle switches. Is that assumption correct? I ask because I do not see that it uses the stock ignition (key)switch at all. My stock key switch has 6 wires and this appears to have just two.

also, where wires appear to intersect (i.e. where the red comes from the battery to the rectifier/regulater and has an intersection with the main 20a fuse), should I be cutting and soldering straight into it? Or should I use connectors? I would like to avoid a mess of connectors everywhere, but I also see the value in having them.

Next, the main wiring diagram references a "kill switch". Is this another toggle switch similar to the "ignition switch" or is it something different?

Lastly, I had to get an after market turn signal relay. Does it matter what is positive or negative or does that even apply? There are no markings on it to speak of.

Any an all help is highly appreciated.

I went ot radio shack and have now wired the rectifier replacement. Hope it works when it is go time.

Thanks again.

Pat
 
Quick question. Now that I have changed the rectifier to the radio shack style, do I have to change the regulator or can I keep the stock one? Just curious. It wouldn't seem that keeping the stocker would be a problem, but what do I know?

Thanks for any and all help!

Pnedac
 
@pnedec - sorry, busy day... i just replied to your PM, shoot me a text and well work something out.
 
Swapping from the stock rectifier to the RS rect is a good thing. Keeping the stock regulator, not so much.
I would reccomend swapping out the stock reg for the Chrysler reg. Much better volage control.
On your turn signal relay, of more commonly known as a flasher, the two prongs are usually marked X and L or B and L. The B or X prong goes to the brown wire of the stock flasher plug. The L goes to the brown/white wire of the plug. Often it doesn't matter. Try it both ways. It will work one way or the other.
On your choise of diagrams I like the fourth one. It shows the basic diagram with the points and old style reg and rec. It also shows by just swapping boxes around how to use the TCI and the later reg/rec.
It is easy to mod for a different ignition, just replace everthing after the kill switch.
Leo
 
I looked in the tech section and seen nothing. Where can I find info on the RS/Chrysler rectifier/regulator swap? Bike is a 78 special with points and oem charging system
 
Retired, thanks. After I went to you link, those rec's looked familiar. I dug around in some of my snowmobile parts. I used to use those same rec's to turn the sled ac to dc to run windshield washer pumps for lubing the slide rails when I grass dragged. Thanks again.
 

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