New to XS650’s (and Yamaha) Build

I’ve made my first XS blunder :unsure: I ordered a new wiring harness but I screwed up and got the wrong one. I ordered for a 1980 XS650G when what I actually have is a 1981 XS650SH. And wouldn’t it be my luck that the supplier does not accept returns of electronic parts. As far as I can tell, these are the differences:

1) 650G has a light checker, the 650SH does not
2) 650SH has a clutch switch and starter relay, the 650G does not

I know I can bypass the light checker, and it doesn’t look too difficult to wire the clutch switch and starter relay in. If I go that route I’d like to unwrap and eliminate all the unnecessary wires from the harness...am I kidding myself or is that doable? It’s either pull this thing apart and take out the wires I don’t need / splice in the ones I do, or order the right one and try and sell this one off.
 
Last edited:
Those harnesses are made with no slack, for the particular year/model, and cutting up one leads to a sloppy-looking job. It's a rabbit-hole you don't want to go down. :twocents: That said, I'd be inclined to get the right one for your bike... Good luck, and let us know (we're nosy! :wink2: ).
 
I’ve emailed the supplier to see if they are willing to exchange. I was always going to have to rework the harness as most of the electronics are no longer in their stock location and the gauges are being changed...but the least amount of work the better.
 
I’ve emailed the supplier to see if they are willing to exchange. I was always going to have to rework the harness as most of the electronics are no longer in their stock location and the gauges are being changed...but the least amount of work the better.

Its just a thought Hoser - but why don't you just use the extra circuits to run power for something like a USB charger on your handlebar?
 
Modding an '81 harness for your '80 would be no big deal. At the most, you would need to add a jumper wire to one of the harness plugs. First up, lets talk about the light checker. No issue here, just leave it off. The harness is set up and wired to work without it. Now, the clutch safety switch and it's associated relay. The relay interrupts the power flow on the R/W wire running from the large starter/headlight safety relay (which you have) to the solenoid. The power passes through this relay so without it, the starter won't work .....

qO7iCqh.jpg


This is where you'll need to add a jumper wire. You'll need to connect the two R/W wires together that run into the clutch relay plug .....

bJwJB3o.jpg


7kVPN4p.jpg


This should be the only change you need to make other than possibly having to change a few connectors to match up with components you have. I would also verify wire locations (colors) in the various plugs match up.
 
That’s some great information, thank you! I’m fairly (I think anyway) competent with wiring so I should be ok. I am going to have to move some of the connector blocks around anyway to keep them hidden and reroute...some of the electrical that I assume was originally under the side covers / bolted to the battery box have been moved to under the tank by the coils. The harness I pulled off was a rats nest of splices and cheap automotive connectors. I checked all the wire colors between the two separate diagrams and there are only very minor differences. The one connector I noticed that isn’t the same is my coils have bullet connectors and the 1980 harness has a two prong block, but that is very minor. I plan on using some new mini connector blocks for the gauges, signals and tail lights as well as Nylon abrasion sleeves, fabric tape and shrink wrap to keep everything neat and protected. I did similar work on my GW
797DBDB4-BEC4-494F-82AB-1C5A39CE8AA4.jpeg
 
Yes, coil connectors changed from '80 to '81 and newer .....

ky2ATFi.jpg


Like you said, no big deal changing that. You might also consider a coil upgrade or swap. The Honda MP08 coil is cheap and works well, and has the added benefit of being able to change the plug wires .....

RtxgRmD.jpg


hmzRBk1.jpg


Personally, I like having fresh plug wires. The originals are getting a bit long in the tooth (30+ years old), lol. I also like using colored ones .....

lOp2hHu.jpg
 
I’ll look into the coil upgrade, I also like the new colored plug wires.
Today I reworked the seat foam to remove the hump, it just didn’t look right on the style bike I’m aiming for. I’ll most likely recover it in black, but the shape is fitting the frame much nicer now.
040EF55A-A4E0-4DBB-B6AB-4426B424CC1A.jpeg
I am making a bracket to go under the tank mount to secure the front and I’m going to try and use a cable latch and pin at the rear.
 
I’m very glad the previous owner kept so many of the stock parts (I got a giant bin full of random things). I was able to find all the stock seat pan rubber and reuse them on the cheap eBay seat. The new bracket for the front sits on top of the frame snug under the tank mount. The rubbers sit flush on the frame and the bracket at the rear will be for the latch pin.
3EFF3EC6-890D-4E5F-876C-D735261B5825.jpeg
The latch I ordered is for a new Royal Enfield. I’ll have to make a pin for it and weld a bracket to the back frame support, but I’m hoping it will do the trick
2784CF50-ACE2-446E-B459-8AB92853625B.png
 
I appreciate an all original motorcycle. Most times it does make sense to completely rewire a bike tho. These are 40yrs old. The insulation dry rots, cracks, mice, whatever. Especially the starter wire. Just not safe. It doesn't take an electrical engineer to wire one of these. My next one I'm after the M-Unit set up. This wiring set up looks slick as hell. Anywho, it'd be nice if I had one bike with all the trick gadgets....I don't. My budget starts getting out of control and I finish simple and cheap. Haha....Led technology has came a long way with turn signal relays and resistors. Just makes sense to upgrade. Not like we kill unicorns. They made millions of these.
 
If this bike was stock when I got it I would be inclined to keep it original, but it has already been chopped, modified and generally buggered. On the topic of wiring I was able to get the company to exchange the wiring harness to the correct one, which should give me a better starting point. I also have a non vacuum petcock on the way as the one on it leaks like a sieve.
 
I'm just going to mention that sometimes these replacement harnesses have a glitch or two in them. The one my buddy got from Mike's for his '80G Special II turns the headlight on with the key. It shouldn't do that. The headlight shouldn't come on until the motor starts and the headlight safety relay gets tripped. We've confirmed all the harness plugs have the wire colors in the right places so the "glitch" has to be somewhere in the harness under the wrapping. Switched power is getting fed directly to his hi/lo switch.
 
I’ll be removing the majority of the wrapping to move some of the connectors to suit where the electronics are ending going, so I’ll be sure and test for issues like that before I wrap it all back up. Thanks for the heads up!
 
Haven’t done too much in the last month or so, mainly waiting for parts and supplies to show up. All of the wiring bits and pieces I need arrived so I started test fitting and running the wires. So far I’ve just sorted the bars, need to add some connector blocks for the gauges and indicator LED’s and then I’ll move to the battery box. The dirt bike bars really start to give it that scrambler look
1100181D-58D1-4662-9D62-3024601352BA.jpeg
7D5FA83E-9E2C-45C8-B18F-028D33D30C21.jpeg
I going to be welding a little cover plate to the front of the gauge bracket to hide the LEDs and the wiring will be sheathed in black. I think that bracket, the headlight shell and the headlight mounting arms will be black and I’ll keep the gauges and headlight trim rim chrome.
 
Last edited:
Made a pin for the seat latch out of a bolt I had laying around. I don’t have a ton of tools in my little garage shop but it turned out pretty good. Cranked the speed up on my bench top drill press and put the threads in the chuck. Used a hand file to shape it down and then 400 & 2000 grit sand paper to polish it. Cut the notch with a dremel and then hand sanded it. Fits perfect in the latch.
9C367EE6-9976-42A7-9CBB-79B69690FB2E.jpeg

C06CD4CB-4B0E-4EA7-8372-C1BD74413496.jpeg

9E44ABB2-6181-418E-8AE3-6997177E6ADB.jpeg

Bolts to the bottom of the seat pan, still need to build the bracket for the latch which will get welded to the frame
22E43128-F64C-4DD0-8C4B-276EC0ADDDF0.jpeg
 
Congratulations, Hoser! I love it! It's an example of a perfectly good replacement part fabricated in the "Stone Age Garage"! :rock:
Hand tools qualify too. And we know nobody's ever fabricated replacement parts using hand tools! :hellno:
...now be a good boy, and go buy yourself a beer. You deserve it! Cheers! :cheers:
 
Back
Top