Hope you guess my name ( new member, sort of )

So as it turns out I did tear up my thumbs a bit working on the bike without wearing gloves so the wiring of the module has been put on pause. trying to work with those tiny wires with my thumbs taped up is frustrating to say the least. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but I don't have a proper shop or garage to work in instead my projects are spread out between a carport, an army tent and a toy hauler that my sister acquired in a divorce. The bike along with the lift are in the carport and with the weather changing (cold and rainy) I decided that I should weather proof it better. Now a day before I started this thread my dogs (the two demons that you see in my profile pic) got out and caused all kinds of mayhem. I had to build them a new run with electric wire and all because people around here will shoot them if they go after livestock. So I figured I could use their old kennel panels as temporary/ field expedient walls to attach plastic or tarps to keep the rain out. After It's set up I'm standing back admiring my innovation and my renter (the guy responsible for the track and circus tents) walks up to the house. He gives me a confused look and says "What now? Did one of the bikes try to get away?"
IMG_1391[1].jpegIt's looks ghetto but if it works then who cares, and I found a use for the crate that my Harbor Freight Lift came in. With that done Ive been reading old build threads and liking the parts that I am learning from or that are just impressive to me. I'm part way through the BSA one and really digging it for all the fab work just restoring tabs and mounts. I really need to get some proper shop tools ( drill press, band saw, air tools,,,,actual shop) if I'm going to try to do anything close to that. As of right now my fab tools are a sawzall, hand drill, grinder and a dremel, none of which are precision in any way. I've been making mounts out of aluminum angle and bolting them into place. I did manage to get my handlebars drilled and wired but it was quite a shit show filled with blunders, frustration, all manner of dumbassery. In the end I had to laugh, a simple task that should have taken an hour to complete took all day. It came out looking OK, maybe I'll write about it, for educational purposes.
 
Well I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks....Or I sprung a few leaks, then I rallied and now am ready to pass out. The A-hole who built this roof tried to stretch his material by only overlapping it by one ridge, and then I didn't install flashing either. That guy is always getting me into predicaments like this. I did manage to get some wiring done before the deluge and I have a couple of wiring questions for y'all, yous guys? you'uns (my grandpa used to say that) anyway, how do you deal with these tiny ass wires on Led lights and accessories? Even my ignition has them going to a blade type connection that looks like it would take an 18 or 20 gauge wire. I read somewhere to strip more off the wire and fold it back on itself to give it more girth but what I have been doing is shoving another wire in the connector with it, making the crimp and then cutting that wire away. Is that legit? The smallest connectors I have are 18-20 gauge which brings me to my second question. What type/brand/style of connectors do you like to use? I wanted to graduate from the Walmart/ Harbor Freight primary colored junk to some big boy/professional looking connectors but when I went online was quickly overwhelmed by how many different kinds there are. I tried to find threads about this topic specifically.. I found some on where to buy them, where to find vintage ones, a couple of opinions (molex, weather pack?, Deutsch?) What I want to do is refit my electrical kit with all the same style, instead of a mish-mash of different types, which use the same crimpers ( which is another gripe that I have but I might save that for the rant thread). Any thoughts?
IMG_1421[1].jpeg
 
Yes, folding a (bare) wire back on itself is legit when it comes to the Molex pins. Speaking of....
Molex connectors get a bad rep jus' because they "look" cheesy. They aren't. Even Cessna and Boeing use 'em.
Consider... the connectors on our XS' are pushing 50yrs of service... and yes, they're corroding and getting brittle... but 50yrs and still working is a pretty enviable record if you ask me.
As @Downeaster said above, Vintage Connections has Molex. That's all you need to know. Well... that and they're well priced and they always ship fast. There, that's all you need to know. 🤪
 
Go to Vintage Connections. If they don't have it, you don't need it. If you don't have a good pair of crimpers designed for the OEM style connectors, get one.
I'll check it out. I haven't been using the OEM bullet type on this build since I ran out of the ones I bought from mikes on my chopper. I could never seem to make a good crimp on them with the crimpers that I had so I bought what I thought was a quality set of ratcheting ones from Klein. Even then I could never get t hem to close to what the factory ones did so I just started cutting ones off the bits of harness I had removed and butt joining them. It worked for the most part. I'm sure that the connections are shitty and I need to redo it with new wire and terminals. When I started this build I figured that I had better watch a few videos on wire crimpnig because I really suck at it. Come to find out not all crimpers are the same and I needed different dies. I had the ones for insulated closed barrel type so I went to an electrical supply shop and asked the guy there and he sold me a set from another manufacturer, said that they were universal, they're not. So I went on Amazon and bought a set from Klein, surely those will work, nope. Those dies work for another model that looks just like mine but is yellow instead of orange and apparently no one carries dies for the model that I have. I ended up getting a pair of these at the local hardware store
hq720.jpgthey have been working pretty good for what I have been doing with the cheap blade type terminals I have, I'm not sure that they would work with OEM though. Well that's my rant, had to tell someone, lucky you. I'll check it out tonight Thanks for the info.
 
Yes, folding a (bare) wire back on itself is legit when it comes to the Molex pins. Speaking of....
Molex connectors get a bad rep jus' because they "look" cheesy. They aren't. Even Cessna and Boeing use 'em.
Consider... the connectors on our XS' are pushing 50yrs of service... and yes, they're corroding and getting brittle... but 50yrs and still working is a pretty enviable record if you ask me.
As @Downeaster said above, Vintage Connections has Molex. That's all you need to know. Well... that and they're well priced and they always ship fast. There, that's all you need to know. 🤪
Thanks, and ditto above
 
When I rewired Taffy my XS650 I went full on with Motogadget M-Unit and bought a complete wiring kit and IWISS tools from Revival Motorcycles in the USA. The kit was on sale at the time and cheaper than getting the stuff locally, even including shipping. The Molex connectors work really well once you get used to them.
The IWISS tools are excellent quality, and in use.
Web: https://revivalcycles.com/collections/motorcycle-electrical-tools

Below is a selection of similar kit that I bought:
MG KIT 4.JPG
MG KIT 1.JPG

MG KIT 6.JPG

MG KIT 7.JPG

MG KIT 5.JPG

MG KIT 3.JPG
 
When I rewired Taffy my XS650 I went full on with Motogadget M-Unit and bought a complete wiring kit and IWISS tools from Revival Motorcycles in the USA. The kit was on sale at the time and cheaper than getting the stuff locally, even including shipping. The Molex connectors work really well once you get used to them.
The IWISS tools are excellent quality, and in use.
Web: https://revivalcycles.com/collections/motorcycle-electrical-tools

Below is a selection of similar kit that I bought:
View attachment 338279 View attachment 338280
View attachment 338281
View attachment 338282
View attachment 338283
View attachment 338284
Yeah I got something similar to the M-unit except it was mixed in a bunch of boxes with a bunch of other stuff with no instructions but I figured it out and their (NWT Cycletronic) customer service has been pretty good considering I'm not the one who purchased the unit from them. They made me a wiring diagram to go with all the accessories from the box of parts and what i had purchased. But I'll tell you what, those mthrfckn internal controls and r4t bstrd handle bar end signals have been the bane of my existence. I ran into another SNAFU today, one more thing I forgot and wasn't included in any instructions. I'm going to write the whole fiasco up but it's going to be like a page and I want to finish this last thing and see how that goes. It's going to involve some ghetto fab and hill billy engineering but I got it.
 
Yeah I got something similar to the M-unit except it was mixed in a bunch of boxes with a bunch of other stuff with no instructions but I figured it out and their (NWT Cycletronic) customer service has been pretty good considering I'm not the one who purchased the unit from them. They made me a wiring diagram to go with all the accessories from the box of parts and what i had purchased. But I'll tell you what, those mthrfckn internal controls and r4t bstrd handle bar end signals have been the bane of my existence. I ran into another SNAFU today, one more thing I forgot and wasn't included in any instructions. I'm going to write the whole fiasco up but it's going to be like a page and I want to finish this last thing and see how that goes. It's going to involve some ghetto fab and hill billy engineering but I got it.
I’ve been through your pain and then some (still chasing an elusive misfire two years later!). Have to say the M_Unit was second hand off Fleabay, but with all the help from Motogadget and Revival via videos and emails it was ok. I wish I found the Alarm security Cables earlier as life would have been a lot easier. The M-gadget internals and indicators were actually a faff to fit but worked first time for me. See more on my build thread for the full story.
Cheers Ads.
 
The following is a work of fiction, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this thread are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

OK here's a status update on my wiring woes , turn signal torment and general handlebar havoc. As some of you know my bike was someone else's project that actually did a pretty damn good job so I decided to go with it and use the components that he chose one being the Cycletronic control module, similar to a Moto Gadget. Cycletronic made a wiring diagram specifically for my project and the components I will use. Pretty cool if you ask me because I didn't actually purchase the unit from them.
IMG_1409[1].jpeg
Pretty simple but the the version I got is controlled by two micro switches that are run internally in the handle bars. I'm not really a fan of running wire in the bars only because I change my mind a lot and like to switch things out without undoing and redoing wiring and such. But I had done it before on a sportster I had with 12" high bars so I thought this would be easier. I went with bar end signals since i was running wire inside anyway. So I start with the holes between the risers where the wires will exit the bars since I don't need to be too precise there. Nothing that I am using to do this is a precision instrument. I have no drill press or decent vise so I use those rubber insulated pipe hangers that I see some of you guys use to attach stuff to your frames (and I thought that I was the only one who did that) and wood screws to secure the bars to my little work bench. I layout the holes and mark them with a sharpened nail and free hand them with a cordless drill. It's going pretty good but taking a really long time to punch through and I realize that these bars are really thick walled like 3/16" and they are aluminum. I am concerned because the wires will have to make a sharp turn over that edge so I'll have to taper where the wire exits so it doesn't get cut. I attempted to use a dremmel tool to deburr and taper the openings. Unbeknownst to me the dremmel that I have is two speeds, fast and REALLY FUCKING FAST and a scale by the switch that gradually increases implying that the RPMs will do the same. Not so, when you go from fast to ludicrous speed in an 21/64" hole this dremmel will unleashes bloody havoc and pandemonium! I got away unscathed but decided to use a slow 12V drill and sandpaper to finish the job which took a lot longer. I tap the holes for the connectors and move on.
Next I decide to fish the control buttons harness through being that they are the bulkiest however I have to unpin the 4 wire micro connector box because although it is micro, it won't fit through the hole. That takes a bit because the wires are tiny and pins are difficult to see how they are locked in. I end up using a cable from a DIY control cable kit included in the bunch o boxes of parts that i got with bike to fish the wires through. Works like a charm, probably the only thing that did. I left the buttons loose until i fish the bar end signals wires so they don't get hung up trying to pass. I pull both side through relatively easy and then I notice it! The nuts on the ends of the plugs will not fit in the bars. With the gauge of the metal being so thick the inside diameter is much smallerIMG_1368[1].jpeg well, OK maybe I can find a smaller bolt that will fit the blinker either way I have to pull the wires back out to get the nut off. I search to no avail, there are no nuts that will fit that threaded end and I can't leave it off or the whole mess will fall apart. Maybe if I file the corners off the nut I can make it fit, sure why not? this takes some time but eventually the nut is round and fits snugly in the end of the bar
IMG_1367[1].jpegNow! Surely I can shove this flexible rubber bushing into the bars. Not even close! The wires come back out, I take the nut off and remove the bushing. Maybe I have something smaller lying around like from a shock kit? Short answer is no. Scratchin my head? I can wait until morning and go to the hardware store and maybe find something that will work or improvise....adapt.....overcome. Tried cutting it with a razor knife but his stuff is pretty resilient and if I keep at it I will definitely end up cutting myself. Maybe if I heat it up like with a soldering torch? Big mistake now the whole room smells like Baghdad during the elections. What next, how do you resize a rubber bushing? Untitled video - Made with Clipchamp.png
Once again it takes a while but it works. So I resize the other bushing and nut, install them on the signals, and run the wires through the bars again. I tighten the nuts just tight enough to make the bushings bulge so I have to give it some force to get them into the bars then give the signals a little twist to tighten everything up right proper. I'm standing back admiring my ungenuity and think "OK, now all I have to do is install the hand gri...... AW! FUUUUUU!!!"
So I loosen the signals, pry the bushings back out, pull out the wires, Install the hand grips, step back and think "is there anything else that I have forgotten? All my levers bolt on and don't have to slide on from the ends, I think you're good. Don't tell anyone about this!" I reinstall the wires and signals, re-pin the micro connectors on the control switches, take the whole mess outside and install it on the bike, and finally route the control wires back to the module and plug them into their respective terminals. I go pass out right before the sun comes up feeling something similar to accomplishment.

That was a few days ago. Last night I decided that I would get back at it and try to get this wiring completed when I noticed something that I had put in the back of my mind and neglected to to put back in the front of it. But there it was staring at me, two green wires hanging out the right hand side of the bars with the control switch, the wires for the front brake switch. I was pretty sure that I couldn't just run it over to the brake and then bolt the control button housing over the top of it. Nothing in the instructions for the bars had mentioned it but it made sense that another hole should have been drilled on the other side of the control button for those wires. How do I do that with the bar full of wires and not f#ck any of them up?
IMG_1422[1].jpeg I really didn't want to pull the end plugs and wires out again and there wasn't enough room in the existing hole to drill it from the inside out without damaging those wires. I figured if I could just punch through the metal and go no deeper then I had a good chance of missing the wires that were already in there. I came up with a way that I thought could prevent the drill bit from over penetrating
IMG_1425[1].jpegI picked up a spring loaded punch the other day so I could get a better start than using a nail and then I took a piece of this fuel line we had in the shop with a ridiculously small hole in the center of it and it fit perfectly over the bit with just about 1/8" sticking out, just the tip. The line was hardy enough to stop the bit since I wasn't going to be putting a lot of pressure on it, I hoped. The punch works pretty good and got the bit started, slowly
IMG_1427[1].jpegIMG_1428[1].jpeg slowly. Drill then check, drill then check. drill,,,,,check,,,,,drill,,check,,drill,check,drill,check,drillcheckdriillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillFUCK!!!! It punched through a little bit more than I wanted it to but I think everything might be OK, I mean what are the odds? Did Ghetto fab technique and hillbilly ungineering come through?
IMG_1429[1].jpeg IT WORKED!
IMG_1430[1].jpeg I think it worked.
IMG_1430[11].jpeg....it almost worked. Hang my head, drown my fears, until you all just......................
Zoom in you'll see it. It's just a little nick in the insulation but what I remember from community college electrical theory class is that electrons are really fucking small. Any way I got most of the rest of the wires run and connected save for a few grounds and the speedo, neutral switch. I thought about a few different ways to fix that little nick but I think I'm just going to pull the plug and wires again as a form of penance. I guess that if there are lessons to be learned from this debacle it's measure twice, have a better plan, be patient,,,,buy some damn tools.
 
The following is a work of fiction, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this thread are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

OK here's a status update on my wiring woes , turn signal torment and general handlebar havoc. As some of you know my bike was someone else's project that actually did a pretty damn good job so I decided to go with it and use the components that he chose one being the Cycletronic control module, similar to a Moto Gadget. Cycletronic made a wiring diagram specifically for my project and the components I will use. Pretty cool if you ask me because I didn't actually purchase the unit from them.
View attachment 338459
Pretty simple but the the version I got is controlled by two micro switches that are run internally in the handle bars. I'm not really a fan of running wire in the bars only because I change my mind a lot and like to switch things out without undoing and redoing wiring and such. But I had done it before on a sportster I had with 12" high bars so I thought this would be easier. I went with bar end signals since i was running wire inside anyway. So I start with the holes between the risers where the wires will exit the bars since I don't need to be too precise there. Nothing that I am using to do this is a precision instrument. I have no drill press or decent vise so I use those rubber insulated pipe hangers that I see some of you guys use to attach stuff to your frames (and I thought that I was the only one who did that) and wood screws to secure the bars to my little work bench. I layout the holes and mark them with a sharpened nail and free hand them with a cordless drill. It's going pretty good but taking a really long time to punch through and I realize that these bars are really thick walled like 3/16" and they are aluminum. I am concerned because the wires will have to make a sharp turn over that edge so I'll have to taper where the wire exits so it doesn't get cut. I attempted to use a dremmel tool to deburr and taper the openings. Unbeknownst to me the dremmel that I have is two speeds, fast and REALLY FUCKING FAST and a scale by the switch that gradually increases implying that the RPMs will do the same. Not so, when you go from fast to ludicrous speed in an 21/64" hole this dremmel will unleashes bloody havoc and pandemonium! I got away unscathed but decided to use a slow 12V drill and sandpaper to finish the job which took a lot longer. I tap the holes for the connectors and move on.
Next I decide to fish the control buttons harness through being that they are the bulkiest however I have to unpin the 4 wire micro connector box because although it is micro, it won't fit through the hole. That takes a bit because the wires are tiny and pins are difficult to see how they are locked in. I end up using a cable from a DIY control cable kit included in the bunch o boxes of parts that i got with bike to fish the wires through. Works like a charm, probably the only thing that did. I left the buttons loose until i fish the bar end signals wires so they don't get hung up trying to pass. I pull both side through relatively easy and then I notice it! The nuts on the ends of the plugs will not fit in the bars. With the gauge of the metal being so thick the inside diameter is much smallerView attachment 338467 well, OK maybe I can find a smaller bolt that will fit the blinker either way I have to pull the wires back out to get the nut off. I search to no avail, there are no nuts that will fit that threaded end and I can't leave it off or the whole mess will fall apart. Maybe if I file the corners off the nut I can make it fit, sure why not? this takes some time but eventually the nut is round and fits snugly in the end of the bar
View attachment 338468Now! Surely I can shove this flexible rubber bushing into the bars. Not even close! The wires come back out, I take the nut off and remove the bushing. Maybe I have something smaller lying around like from a shock kit? Short answer is no. Scratchin my head? I can wait until morning and go to the hardware store and maybe find something that will work or improvise....adapt.....overcome. Tried cutting it with a razor knife but his stuff is pretty resilient and if I keep at it I will definitely end up cutting myself. Maybe if I heat it up like with a soldering torch? Big mistake now the whole room smells like Baghdad during the elections. What next, how do you resize a rubber bushing? View attachment 338471
Once again it takes a while but it works. So I resize the other bushing and nut, install them on the signals, and run the wires through the bars again. I tighten the nuts just tight enough to make the bushings bulge so I have to give it some force to get them into the bars then give the signals a little twist to tighten everything up right proper. I'm standing back admiring my ungenuity and think "OK, now all I have to do is install the hand gri...... AW! FUUUUUU!!!"
So I loosen the signals, pry the bushings back out, pull out the wires, Install the hand grips, step back and think "is there anything else that I have forgotten? All my levers bolt on and don't have to slide on from the ends, I think you're good. Don't tell anyone about this!" I reinstall the wires and signals, re-pin the micro connectors on the control switches, take the whole mess outside and install it on the bike, and finally route the control wires back to the module and plug them into their respective terminals. I go pass out right before the sun comes up feeling something similar to accomplishment.

That was a few days ago. Last night I decided that I would get back at it and try to get this wiring completed when I noticed something that I had put in the back of my mind and neglected to to put back in the front of it. But there it was staring at me, two green wires hanging out the right hand side of the bars with the control switch, the wires for the front brake switch. I was pretty sure that I couldn't just run it over to the brake and then bolt the control button housing over the top of it. Nothing in the instructions for the bars had mentioned it but it made sense that another hole should have been drilled on the other side of the control button for those wires. How do I do that with the bar full of wires and not f#ck any of them up?
View attachment 338473 I really didn't want to pull the end plugs and wires out again and there wasn't enough room in the existing hole to drill it from the inside out without damaging those wires. I figured if I could just punch through the metal and go no deeper then I had a good chance of missing the wires that were already in there. I came up with a way that I thought could prevent the drill bit from over penetrating
View attachment 338474I picked up a spring loaded punch the other day so I could get a better start than using a nail and then I took a piece of this fuel line we had in the shop with a ridiculously small hole in the center of it and it fit perfectly over the bit with just about 1/8" sticking out, just the tip. The line was hardy enough to stop the bit since I wasn't going to be putting a lot of pressure on it, I hoped. The punch works pretty good and got the bit started, slowly
View attachment 338475View attachment 338476 slowly. Drill then check, drill then check. drill,,,,,check,,,,,drill,,check,,drill,check,drill,check,drillcheckdriillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillFUCK!!!! It punched through a little bit more than I wanted it to but I think everything might be OK, I mean what are the odds? Did Ghetto fab technique and hillbilly ungineering come through?
View attachment 338477 IT WORKED!
View attachment 338478 I think it worked.
View attachment 338479....it almost worked. Hang my head, drown my fears, until you all just......................
Zoom in you'll see it. It's just a little nick in the insulation but what I remember from community college electrical theory class is that electrons are really fucking small. Any way I got most of the rest of the wires run and connected save for a few grounds and the speedo, neutral switch. I thought about a few different ways to fix that little nick but I think I'm just going to pull the plug and wires again as a form of penance. I guess that if there are lessons to be learned from this debacle it's measure twice, have a better plan, be patient,,,,buy some damn tools.
Well done on the install and working through the errors.... Yeehaaaa!
You should have checked out my Taffy build thread which details the bar bits install with piccies. :doh:Oh well 20/20 vision and all that.
Good job done now :thumbsup:
 
@John Regular Nice write up, don't feel too bad. We all have things we tried and would rather forget. In a few weeks time when everything works out, the pain will be forg

Well done on the install and working through the errors.... Yeehaaaa!
You should have checked out my Taffy build thread which details the bar bits install with piccies. :doh:Oh well 20/20 vision and all that.
Good job done now :thumbsup:
Is that the welsh tracker one? That was the first thread I read in it's entirety because it's a tracker and that's what I wanted to build because they're cool looking
 
Is that the welsh tracker one? That was the first thread I read in it's entirety because it's a tracker and that's what I wanted to build because they're cool looking
Sure is, I made plenty of mistakes along the way. But I had learnt a lot by the time I wired the bars with the indicators and control wires etc.
Still it's all good fun and very satisfying when you get things to work. Watching your progress with interest.
Ads.
 
@John Regular Nice write up, don't feel too bad. We all have things we tried and would rather forget. In a few weeks time when everything works out, the pain will be forgotten.
I don't really feel bad, that morose stuff is a line from a Soundgarden song. I like to be a little over the top when I tell a story, hopefully in an obvious way that people know I am joking. In a forum full of engineers and jet mechanics I got to add something more than "Yeah those are killer pipes man!" which is something i might do when they are going deep in the weeds on exhaust theory, if I thought it would be funny. And I knew them better, I'm still a new guy
 
The following is a work of fiction, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this thread are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

OK here's a status update on my wiring woes , turn signal torment and general handlebar havoc. As some of you know my bike was someone else's project that actually did a pretty damn good job so I decided to go with it and use the components that he chose one being the Cycletronic control module, similar to a Moto Gadget. Cycletronic made a wiring diagram specifically for my project and the components I will use. Pretty cool if you ask me because I didn't actually purchase the unit from them.
View attachment 338459
Pretty simple but the the version I got is controlled by two micro switches that are run internally in the handle bars. I'm not really a fan of running wire in the bars only because I change my mind a lot and like to switch things out without undoing and redoing wiring and such. But I had done it before on a sportster I had with 12" high bars so I thought this would be easier. I went with bar end signals since i was running wire inside anyway. So I start with the holes between the risers where the wires will exit the bars since I don't need to be too precise there. Nothing that I am using to do this is a precision instrument. I have no drill press or decent vise so I use those rubber insulated pipe hangers that I see some of you guys use to attach stuff to your frames (and I thought that I was the only one who did that) and wood screws to secure the bars to my little work bench. I layout the holes and mark them with a sharpened nail and free hand them with a cordless drill. It's going pretty good but taking a really long time to punch through and I realize that these bars are really thick walled like 3/16" and they are aluminum. I am concerned because the wires will have to make a sharp turn over that edge so I'll have to taper where the wire exits so it doesn't get cut. I attempted to use a dremmel tool to deburr and taper the openings. Unbeknownst to me the dremmel that I have is two speeds, fast and REALLY FUCKING FAST and a scale by the switch that gradually increases implying that the RPMs will do the same. Not so, when you go from fast to ludicrous speed in an 21/64" hole this dremmel will unleashes bloody havoc and pandemonium! I got away unscathed but decided to use a slow 12V drill and sandpaper to finish the job which took a lot longer. I tap the holes for the connectors and move on.
Next I decide to fish the control buttons harness through being that they are the bulkiest however I have to unpin the 4 wire micro connector box because although it is micro, it won't fit through the hole. That takes a bit because the wires are tiny and pins are difficult to see how they are locked in. I end up using a cable from a DIY control cable kit included in the bunch o boxes of parts that i got with bike to fish the wires through. Works like a charm, probably the only thing that did. I left the buttons loose until i fish the bar end signals wires so they don't get hung up trying to pass. I pull both side through relatively easy and then I notice it! The nuts on the ends of the plugs will not fit in the bars. With the gauge of the metal being so thick the inside diameter is much smallerView attachment 338467 well, OK maybe I can find a smaller bolt that will fit the blinker either way I have to pull the wires back out to get the nut off. I search to no avail, there are no nuts that will fit that threaded end and I can't leave it off or the whole mess will fall apart. Maybe if I file the corners off the nut I can make it fit, sure why not? this takes some time but eventually the nut is round and fits snugly in the end of the bar
View attachment 338468Now! Surely I can shove this flexible rubber bushing into the bars. Not even close! The wires come back out, I take the nut off and remove the bushing. Maybe I have something smaller lying around like from a shock kit? Short answer is no. Scratchin my head? I can wait until morning and go to the hardware store and maybe find something that will work or improvise....adapt.....overcome. Tried cutting it with a razor knife but his stuff is pretty resilient and if I keep at it I will definitely end up cutting myself. Maybe if I heat it up like with a soldering torch? Big mistake now the whole room smells like Baghdad during the elections. What next, how do you resize a rubber bushing? View attachment 338471
Once again it takes a while but it works. So I resize the other bushing and nut, install them on the signals, and run the wires through the bars again. I tighten the nuts just tight enough to make the bushings bulge so I have to give it some force to get them into the bars then give the signals a little twist to tighten everything up right proper. I'm standing back admiring my ungenuity and think "OK, now all I have to do is install the hand gri...... AW! FUUUUUU!!!"
So I loosen the signals, pry the bushings back out, pull out the wires, Install the hand grips, step back and think "is there anything else that I have forgotten? All my levers bolt on and don't have to slide on from the ends, I think you're good. Don't tell anyone about this!" I reinstall the wires and signals, re-pin the micro connectors on the control switches, take the whole mess outside and install it on the bike, and finally route the control wires back to the module and plug them into their respective terminals. I go pass out right before the sun comes up feeling something similar to accomplishment.

That was a few days ago. Last night I decided that I would get back at it and try to get this wiring completed when I noticed something that I had put in the back of my mind and neglected to to put back in the front of it. But there it was staring at me, two green wires hanging out the right hand side of the bars with the control switch, the wires for the front brake switch. I was pretty sure that I couldn't just run it over to the brake and then bolt the control button housing over the top of it. Nothing in the instructions for the bars had mentioned it but it made sense that another hole should have been drilled on the other side of the control button for those wires. How do I do that with the bar full of wires and not f#ck any of them up?
View attachment 338473 I really didn't want to pull the end plugs and wires out again and there wasn't enough room in the existing hole to drill it from the inside out without damaging those wires. I figured if I could just punch through the metal and go no deeper then I had a good chance of missing the wires that were already in there. I came up with a way that I thought could prevent the drill bit from over penetrating
View attachment 338474I picked up a spring loaded punch the other day so I could get a better start than using a nail and then I took a piece of this fuel line we had in the shop with a ridiculously small hole in the center of it and it fit perfectly over the bit with just about 1/8" sticking out, just the tip. The line was hardy enough to stop the bit since I wasn't going to be putting a lot of pressure on it, I hoped. The punch works pretty good and got the bit started, slowly
View attachment 338475View attachment 338476 slowly. Drill then check, drill then check. drill,,,,,check,,,,,drill,,check,,drill,check,drill,check,drillcheckdriillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillcheckdrillFUCK!!!! It punched through a little bit more than I wanted it to but I think everything might be OK, I mean what are the odds? Did Ghetto fab technique and hillbilly ungineering come through?
View attachment 338477 IT WORKED!
View attachment 338478 I think it worked.
View attachment 338479....it almost worked. Hang my head, drown my fears, until you all just......................
Zoom in you'll see it. It's just a little nick in the insulation but what I remember from community college electrical theory class is that electrons are really fucking small. Any way I got most of the rest of the wires run and connected save for a few grounds and the speedo, neutral switch. I thought about a few different ways to fix that little nick but I think I'm just going to pull the plug and wires again as a form of penance. I guess that if there are lessons to be learned from this debacle it's measure twice, have a better plan, be patient,,,,buy some damn tools.
Aw man, I just realized that the video I posted came out as a still pic. I thought that was the funniest part. Does anyone know how to post video clips here because I tried every format that I could.
 
I feel your pain, John. BTDT more times than I care to admit.

On the video...is it on your computer or have you posted it to YouTube? If it's on 'Toob, easy-peasy. If it's on your computer you'll have to upload it to the innerwebz and link to it.
Yeah It's just on my computer I don't think that I will upload it to the web wide world. this is what it was
I made up that bolt w/ bushing stuck it in a hole in my bench and used a drill and file as a field expedient lathe of sorts.
IMG_1369[1].jpegIMG_1370[1].jpeg
 
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