The starter works

     Just a quick update today.  I didn't take any new pictures.  I got the starter relay wired in and enough of the bike is wired I was able to test the starting circuit.  It worked!  On the first try.  I used some information from this website to make sure I hooked the relay up correctly and it was VERY helpful.     http://www.ripper1.com/tech/wiring.php     Ripper is a guy on The Horse forums.  He's always willing to help people out with tech questions.  His diagrams made hooking up and explaining the theory of how to use a relay easy to understand.  More pictures tomorrow.

Making some progress

     Tony's chopper is starting to come together.  I can see light at the end of the tunnel.  It's taken me longer to finish than I would like it to but I'm getting close.  The handlebars are wired on both sides, the fuse block is mounted, and everything is looking pretty good.

     The weather is finally getting nice enough to be riding everyday.  I've been working on the bike one or two days a week for about 6 weeks.  I need to hurry up and get his bike done because I have two more in line waiting for some work.

     Here is a picture from dis-assembly.  I tried not to cut any wires out until I knew what they we for and if they had a purpose.  But eventually you just have to go all in and get out the side cutters.

     The stock harness was a butchered mess.  Everything I looked at was electrical taped together with bare hot wires just waiting to cause a short.  Wires changed color for no reason, sometimes to three different colors in the same run of a single wire.  Not to mention the miles and miles of extra useless wire that mostly did nothing.  Did I mention everything was covered in electrical tape?

     There were no useful connectors anywhere on the bike.  Everything to the handlebars was hard wired, with the wrong colors.  I have restored the bike to proper color coding on the harness so that if anything should ever go wrong a sane person should be able to figure it out.  There will be a connector for right handle bar, left handlebar and headlight.

     The bike doesn't have a horn and Tony doesn't care if it has one.  I removed the switch from the back side, made a little aluminum bracket and drilled some holes.  It took me a few tries to get it the way I wanted it and the lights to both fit.  At first I made a plate to replace the horn switch and have the lights recessed into the housing like I did for my chopper.  The problem with that is the lights were to long and hit the handlebar before they were installed all the way.  I trimmed the horn button cap down and used it as a spacer to get the required clearance and epoxied it all together.

     These are the switches for my chopper. I showed them to Tony and inspired using the same lights on his bike.  I like them.  A neutral light is a lot more handy than a horn in my opinion.

     The indicator lights are originally meant for an FXLR Low Rider.  Here is what they look like inside the switch housing.  I did not have this much room on Tony's bike because they are replacing the horn instead of the turn signal.

     The new fuse block is going to be very easy to remember what they are for.  SHIT I blew a fuse.  It is a 4 fuse panel and they are wired in the order of:

Starter

Headlight

Ignition

Tail light and turn signals

SHIT that's easy to remember

     The last fuse is wired to the accessory position of the key switch so the tail light can be turned on without powering the rest of the bike.  The starter relay is going to mount right above the main circuit breaker and the turn signal flasher right below it.

What a mess.

     This is my friend Tony's chopper.  The bike ran with this wad of wires stuffed behind the battery tray.  It was all pretty sketchy and lots of unused extra wires present.  It seems to be the complete Buell wiring harness rolled into a ball and electrical taped together.

     Even had an extra harness zip tied to the left front down tube.  the only thing that came out the bottom was the turn signal wires for the front.  There were also some connections tied together that led back to the ignition module.

     I have a service manual on the way to sort out the ignition system and get the bike to a bare minimum of wiring.  I'm also going to add in some connectors for the handlebars and headlight.

First ride of the year 2015

     This years first ride was a lot less dramatic than last years.  It went from really cold to 50 degrees over the weekend and highs in the 50's all week long.  Spring is here and the snow is almost gone.

     Same as last year my first ride I was chasing a tag for the GLMC photo game.  My objective was to take a picture in front of a tax office this time I got it and picked the new tag.
http://www.glmc.org/GLMC_Garage/showthread.php?tid=43&page=47

I also replaced the bad stator in my Electraglide and that bike is up and running again.  No pictures though because I already posted some of the big bike with the primary off.

Tool review Motion Pro fork seal drivers

     I have tried several types of two piece fork seal drivers.  These Motion Pro units are the best I have ever used.  They lock together with a dovetail ring.  When installed onto the tube they are nice and heavy.  No worries about the seal driver coming apart and smacking the lower leg.

Back on two wheels

    I picked up my new slider bushings for the bottom of the fork tubes, but I forgot to get another bottle of fork oil so I haven't filled them up yet.  I compared type E to some Dexron 3 ATF I had in the garage.  In the cold weather the type E fork oil is thicker than the ATF.  I have heard of people using ATF in their forks but I've never tried it myself.  The new bushings are nice and gray.

     I got some stainless hardware to mount the handlebars and headlight.  They look nice on there.

     The next step is to mount the gas tank.  I like the way the bars look jacked forward like that.  I don't have the seat mounted yet so I don't know if that will be the final position.

S&S super E

     I must admit that I bought an S&S for this bike because they are a traditional carburetor, and they look good.  I think the biggest problem people have with a super E is adjusting them when they don't know what they are doing.  Returning them to a factory baseline will usually make a bike run so you can fine tune it.

     I didn't want to unfuck a used carb so I bought mine brand new.  I've had several kick start bikes in the past and I've always been able to tune them to the point they were easy to start reliably. Even my 1967 Kawasaki 350 Avenger two stroke twin with 2 carbs was a 1 kick hot 2 kick cold motorcycle.

     I modified my idle speed adjustment screw to be easily adjusted without tools.  I cut the head off a machine screw, green Loctited a lamp shade knob to it, and used an appropriate length spring for tension so I could turn up the idle speed when cold.  My experience with S&S super E carbs is they start pretty easy but if you leave them on the enrichener for very long they foul out the plugs.  I will now be able to figure out if the bike likes an extra 3/4 turn of idle screw when kick starting and warm it up with a high idle instead of using the enrichener to keep it running when cold.

I scratched a line into the knob with my hacksaw to keep track of how far I have turned it.