Rewire, hopelessly lost

gooch

XS650 Enthusiast
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So I bought this 79 Special and there are some fried wires, melted connectors and a lot of stuff that is wired that I don't plan on using.

I want to run the bare min in Michgian, tail, break, head lamp.

I've pulled out the entire harness, right or wrong, I started trying to just isolate what I wanted to keep and replace what was bad but there was too much bad and now it's all out.

I've looked at the wiring diagrams and some look more simple than others, and I think I can follow them for the most part but I'd like some tips and pointers for this job. Should I just buy a bunch of wire and connectors and start from scratch, or would it be wise to just pull apart the sleeves that hold the wire together and protect it and reuse the OEM stuff and connectors.

This is my first build, and my first go at anything elec aside from some small stuff on a honda dirtbike that I had for a few years.
 
You can do one of two things. Three things. You can get a harness from Mike's for around $80 and use it, or you can strip stuff out of it that you won't use. The problem is your burned connectors and that will get you the connectors. The other thing is wire it from scratch with maybe some 16 ga wire. The more strands the more flexible. Buy a spool all the same color, and some different colors of tape. Then on the ends of the wires wrap the colored tape, which keeps you from having to have wires the right color; a trick I've learned in my short time as an electrician here on Jupiter. In fact you can just use white tape and write the same number on both ends of the wire.
 
for the ease I want to buy a harness from mikesxs, but at the same time I don't want to waste money on a bunch of connectors and wire that I'm not going to be using, ie. turns and elec start.

thoughts on starting from scratch and buying some bullet connectors to make my own plugs and wiring only what I want. I should be able to do this from a simplified diagram right?
 
^Yes. It all just depends on what you feel confident with.
 
Ha, I feel confident that I shouldn't have taken it out at all, but I can't afford to hire someone, and would much rather wrench on it myself.
 
^Well, you did need to get rid of the burnt connectors. You sound pretty sharp, so you can do it. Some of the schematics here on this site are super simple, with actual little drawings of the parts. If you want to crimp on connectors, invest in some decent crimpers, not that very common weird sheet metal tool very often sold as a crimper, which I can't see any crimper on. I bought the crimper I'm currently using for about $10 at a nearby gas station/general store type place. My boss just uses big pliers that just flattens everything, but it holds.
 
for wires, consider the wires that are sold as power tool wires. Or extension cord.
Ive used it, lots of strands, and flexible.
Some are two wires used for powertools without ground wire, and some are three wires for ground. I used both. For exaple, I used the two wire for the coil, and three wire for the turn/headlight box.
Easy to work with, cheap, and minimizes the look of ratnests by having multiple wires in one sheath.
Some dont like bullet connectors. They come loose. But Ive had no problems yet. Just get good ones and make sure they are tite.
 
Thanks for your help.

Another question, what are the main components for just a running bike, no lights or accessories.

Seems like that's the place to start and I know it needs power to the coils to fire but i'm not sure where regulator/rectifier falls into place or anything else like that. One of the fried connectors was for my...regulator?...it's mounted to the bottom of the battery box. Saw a Reg/Rec on mikesxs, that a good swap?
 
Easiest way to sort it all out is run it with a blade type fuse panel. Inline fuses are shit and impossible to organize.

A regulator/rec combo is a great idea. Are you running points or tci by the way?

There is a ton of threads with wire diagrams, just do a bit of searching. The simplified ones really are just that, simple.
 
I found a simple one that I like, I'm running points. The PO had just replaced them so they're fresh and very close to time ( I did it). Thought about the Pamco Pete stuff but I figured if it'll run on the points I'll save that money for something else in the project.
 
Hey gooch, I'm in Lowell MI (Sort of SWMichigan). Anyway, I've done a couple of wire harnesses. It's not to bad, just do a lot of reading.

This is a great thread http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18925 on doing wiring.

BTW the Regulator and Recitifier are parts of the charging system.
Don't bother buying these parts from Mike's XS.

You can make a Rectifier from Radio Shack for like $7. See
http://xs650temp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Charging&action=display&thread=3473

As for the Regulator See
http://xs650temp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Charging&action=display&thread=3246

I've done this to two bikes. One I have over 4000 miles on since the mod and it's been working great! The other about 1000 miles since the mod.
 
Thanks grepper,

I'm in the Kalamazoo area, do you travel/work for beer in the event on need some hands on guidance? :D
 
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