Miss November XS2 tribute

[650Skull]

Dip.......haven't heard that term for a long time. Common NZ language. When night driving.....Dip ya lights ya arsehole

Simple loom, looks good. Love the personal touch and coloured wiring. No internet program

 

[Wagner73]

Understand completely, even better, more simplicity.

It's just that, for me, one of the least inspiring tasks is removing & reinstalling the headlight with associated wiring (even with a slightly larger shell), and potentially doing that on the side of the road makes it even less enticing.

 

[Its been a long time]

Apologies for being a bit picky. I don't believe the red/white connection between Boyer Bransden box and ignition coil exists. As marked below in green. HTH.

 

[Raymond]

Apology definitely not required, thank you for taking an interest and paying so much attention! TBH I'm not too sure about that exact area but I believe what I drew reflects what was in there. I'll have another look at my notes and the Boyer box itself. The other area I'm not too sure about is the brown wire from the regulator to switched side of the ignition - this is an echo of what was there in the previous diagram. The rectifier feeds in power via the red wire but I'm not sure what reg should be doing.

That wire you mention from the Boyer to the coil - I'll look at the box and its wires tomorrow and that plus the destructions should tell me enough.

As for the 'old' wiring, there's not much left to go on






Ah well, re-wire it is then.

 

[Its been a long time]

@Raymond you have the blue BB box? Here's what you should have from the BB instruction sheet -

PS - I just noticed, your white wire between BB box and coil is incorrect. White wire from BB box goes to bike ground. HTH.

 

[Raymond]

. . .. I don't believe the red/white connection between Boyer Bransden box and ignition coil exists . . .

You are correct! But no prize today, sorry.

Just been in garage and pulled the Boyer box from its nest.





Red Micro Digital unit with five wires:

Black/yellow - sender unit at cam shaft
Black/white - ditto
Red - power from Kill switch
Black - to coil negative
White - to coil mount, so it's an earth.

So my wiring diagram is incorrect - the wire you highlighted don't exist and the white wire I thought went to coil goes to earth. The Boyer box is wired correctly by these Boyer destructions.



Nothing to fix except the diagram - spot of typex needed . . .

 

[Its been a long time]

You are correct! But no prize today, sorry.

Just been in garage and pulled the Boyer box from its nest.


View attachment 360780


Red Micro Digital unit with five wires:

Black/yellow - sender unit at cam shaft
Black/white - ditto
Red - power from Kill switch
Black - to coil negative
White - to coil mount, so it's an earth.

So my wiring diagram is incorrect - the wire you highlighted don't exist and the white wire I thought went to coil goes to earth. The Boyer box is wired correctly by these Boyer destructions.

View attachment 360782

Nothing to fix except the diagram - spot of typex needed . . .

Glad to be of help. You have the red box version, but it seems the wiring is the same as the blue box I have.

 

[Raymond]

At last, first sign of a tidier future. For some reason, started at the back with the rear/brake light and turn signals.





Previously, seven higgledy-piggledy wires, all different lengths, all with bullet connectors. Now, an old bicycle inner tube with a 6-way mini-connector block.





Only posted this to encourage meself.

 

[Its been a long time]

At last, first sign of a tidier future. For some reason, started at the back with the rear/brake light and turn signals.


View attachment 360961


Previously, seven higgledy-piggledy wires, all different lengths, all with bullet connectors. Now, an old bicycle inner tube with a 6-way mini-connector block.


View attachment 360963


Only posted this to encourage meself.

Great start to a tidier future

 

[Raymond]

Great start to a tidier future

Yup, that was Monday, big step forward. Today, couple steps backwards.

Started thinking about the 6-way pair to that. To make sure the connections are in the correct locations, began mapping the pins with test wires. I keep lengths of scrap tracer with mini male, female, ring terminal, bullet whatever, so for example I can connect one pin to set up a test circuit. Could I get the left rear turn signal to light?

Stripped back the rubber inner tube so I might see the problem.





I have earth wires for the turn signals, with ring terminal around the mounting bolt. These have suffered in the harsh environment under the mudguard (fender) and the one left has completely given up. Even the power supplies, which have added sheathing over the insulation, are cracking. The turn signals were definitely working when recently checked, but not now.

Had hoped not to touch that area but . . . need to think of a way of wiring the turn signals that can survive. I suppose they're expected to earth to the frame? Do people rely on the little electrons finding their way through the frame to ground the rear turn signals? Any suggestions for a more robust way to protect these wires?

 

[Raymond]

. . . I suppose they're expected to earth to the frame? Do people rely on the little electrons finding their way through the frame to ground the rear turn signals? . . .

But that's not going to work, because the t/s are rubber mounted.

Further thought . . .

 

[Its been a long time]

But that's not going to work, because the t/s are rubber mounted.

Further thought . . .

They don't ground through the frame though. The indicators and the tail light black wires ground to black in the loom.

I've got the back part of my 650 apart at the moment. Fortunately the wiring is in remarkably good shape. I'm just going to clean up the bullets and assemble with a smear of silicone grease. The amount of rubber mounting back there that the Yamaha engineers designed is impressive. So the black wire grounding needs to be in good shape.

 

[Wagner73]

@Raymond - I have been reading with much interest your past few months postings within the Miss November thread (and have posted a few little squibs myself therein). All very interesting!

Such that I decided to take in the entire thread and finally did so over the last ~week. And wow, I learned a lot more about your journey, including an engine swap that I was unaware of, etc. So now I know most of the backstory that got you to present day. Again, I found it very interesting or entertaining, depending on how you look at it.

I do have two questions however. Miss November started life - I guess - as a 650SE...first year Special. That being the case, how did you reconfigure your taillight? Did you remove the rectangular light just abaft the seat and then adapt the rego plate light fixture/mounting to incorporate the Standard's (or XS-2's) round taillight? Or ??

And secondly, has the Smedspeed spin-on filter worked out ok i.e. no problems?

Many thanks!

 

[Raymond]

Well, @Wagner73, what can I say about you reading the whole thread, I'll bet there's a load of stuff in there I've forgotten about. Impressed that you've ploughed through it all!

On the Smedspeed filter, it's all been good, no probs whatsoever, the reassurance that a fine filter is picking up lots of fine particles and the pump is sending clean oil around the engine. Slightly messier at oil change time perhaps - as soon as you loosen the filter, oil comes out all around the lip, you need a wide drip tray and maybe consider disposable gloves.

The round rear light, just wanted to reinforce the XS2 look a bit, bought the round taillight lens and backplate, might have come from Yambits, minor adaptation of the existing mount to bolt the round one on. IIRC a drill, some JB Weld and 2 or 3 captive nuts was about all that was needed. I also swapped the hardware securing the backing plate, slightly longer bolts, rubber sheet (old inner tube) between backing plate and the mount to hopefully isolate from vibes. The screws holding the plastic lens were barely long enough so I bought some sleeve nuts - used to hold the points on British bikes - screwed them into the backing plate and attached the lens with shorter screws located to the sleeve nuts.

Hope this helps!

 

[Wagner73]

Awesome, thank you very much! The taillight went as I mostly supposed. I think it looks great. In fact, the rear angle, including your nice seat is fantastic.

As for the Smedspeed conversion, thank you as well. And about the oil change mess, I had seen someone mention punching a drain hole in the filter to void the oil before spinning off. I had a few Mazda rotary engines some years ago and the spin-on filter on those engines mounted from the top, upside down as it were. To avoid the mess upon oil change, I would just punch a hole in the upturned bottom of the filter, let it drain into the engine and out the oil pan drain plug for ~30 minutes, and then spin it off with no mess.

In your case, I might be a little wary of whacking on the side of the filter due to side forces into the adapter... maybe it's not an issue, I don't know. But you could make a tiny punch mark in the side near the bottom and then drill a 6-8 mm hole to drain? This would allow a less messy draining I would think? Or if your lift allows you to have enough access to the bottom to punch "up", that would work too.

 

[Raymond]

I've thought about puncturing the filter and letting it drain that way but it would probably take ages so for me sooner just go the messy way,

 

[Wagner73]

Yeah, I guess it might since you're not just draining the little bit in the filter, but the entire 2 L!

And I seem to remember you use the 20w-50 "Harley" oil?

 

[Raymond]

Yeah, I guess it might since you're not just draining the little bit in the filter, but the entire 2 L!

Zactly.

And I seem to remember you use the 20w-50 "Harley" oil?

Steady on! I can't afford to use Harley oil nor want to. Though I do happen to have a couple bottles of H-D gearbox oil, been using up brushing on to rear chains.

Tend to use Putoline for engine oil and when Miss November came to us there was a fair bit of their Formula V-Twin 20W-50so I kept on using that as I feel the oil is aimed at engines with roller and ball-bearing big ends and mains. Their Sport formula is no doubt optimised for most modern bikes with plain bearings. Their blurb talks about bigger impact loadings and shear factors and a bunch of tech stuff but whatever Putoline is available from the m/c engineer in the village so I can actually walk along the road to buy some.

 

[Wagner73]

Yeah, that's what I meant, not Harley-branded oil, but oil intended for the genre. Thanks again.

 

[Raymond]

Some might accuse me of mission creep, but not really.

I need to replace the rear turn signals wiring and would like to tidy up the rear harness. At my age, it's not a good idea to spend time with me 'ed upside down trying to see where things go under the mudguard - seems to muss up me inner ear and I feel nauseous and dizzy for hours after - so I took it off. And years of road muck has just got to be removed.

Progress continues, slowly. Nearly ready to order supplies - thin tracer wire for t.s. plus new connectors etcetera, then put it back together.