Installing Mikes xs wiring harness

[BCoop]

Hello everyone, its been a while since I've posted but I have finally gotten around to wiring the bike.
The trouble I'm having is connecting the coils. The wiring diagram shows one of each coil wires connecting to the red/white wire on the harness. The other wire on each coil is then connected to the condenser. The problem I am having is that is shows the contact breaker linking into the same connection as the condenser. I don't have enough bullet connections to do this. I can connect to the red/white from coils and the condenser to coils fine but I'm wondering if there is another set of wires from the harness that the contact breaker connects to that links into that circuit or am I supposed to splice it in.

 

[5twins]

Sounds like you're missing a couple short pigtails. Originally, these ran from the coils to the points and condenser wires. They had a single bullet connector on the coil end for the coil wire, and a double bullet connector on the points/condenser end for those two items to connect into. One of the wires was orange and the other was gray. They did run through the harness a short distance though. Take a good look at your new one, maybe they're there. It's a pretty important item to leave out. Here's how my original '78 set-up looked .....

The orange points wire and one condenser lead connected to the double bullet connector on the orange pigtail wire. The coil end connected to the left coil wire. The gray points wire and the other condenser lead connected to the double bullet connector on the gray pigtail wire. The other end of this ran over to the right coil wire .....

 

[BCoop]

I didn't think that the orange and gray double connection looped back out of the harness with a single connection! Thank you this is exactly what I needed to know! The rest of the harness seems simple enough. The problem I'm having with it is that I am not running most of components on the diagram. I'm only looking to run the charging system, ignition system, head light, and brake light. This leaves a lot of extra for me to wade through.

 

[5twins]

Yes, it's hard to tell because those orange and gray wires run into the harness then out of it a short time later. Test through them from both ends for continuity and you'll see they are the two ends of a single short wire.

 

[BCoop]

Great advice thank you! One last thing. When I rebuilt the engine I lined the cam mark up in the center at top dead center. Is that sufficient to keep it from having timing issues? Also, do I just attach a battery terminal to any red wire that reaches or is open?

 

[David Toll]

Was browsing through the threads when I cam across this. I would like to know the answer to that question about timing. It is something that has concerned me since I completed that job six months ago. I haven't kicked the motor over yet so it remains an unanswered issue. When I rebuilt my top end, I lined the cam mark up with the head bolts coming out of the bottom end, not perpendicular to the horizontal but parallel to the bolt shafts. The circular depression on the right side of the cam sprocket was aligned with the top surface of case on that side. If these alignments are made with the pistons at TDC, should the timing be correct?

 

[Jim]

Was browsing through the threads when I cam across this. I would like to know the answer to that question about timing. It is something that has concerned me since I completed that job six months ago. I haven't kicked the motor over yet so it remains an unanswered issue. When I rebuilt my top end, I lined the cam mark up with the head bolts coming out of the bottom end, not perpendicular to the horizontal but parallel to the bolt shafts. The circular depression on the right side of the cam sprocket was aligned with the top surface of case on that side. If these alignments are made with the pistons at TDC, should the timing be correct?

Yes. Here's a shot of the left side of the cam. Timing mark is straight up and parallel with the studs.

On the right side, the round punch mark is aft and flush with the heads mating surface.

 

[David Toll]

I love a straight answer. Cheers Jim.