CB650: The Jersey Devil Project

Woohoo!
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Got the exhaust bolted up with the new stainless silencer. Still need to fab a hanger bracket from the manifold near the pegs and get a clamp for the silencer, but so far, looking so good! Replaced the rusted manifold studs with stainless socket head cap screws while I was at it.

If you look closely on the tail, you can see the battery and M-Unit will fit VERY easily.
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New brake pads and shoes on are their way along with a large assortment of OEM harness wire, a new horn, and stainless exhaust clamp for the silencer.

I haven't decided on a layout yet, but I need to locate the starter solenoid (probably on the back step over the wheel) as well as the rectifier/regulator and spark units (which will most likely end up under the seat on the lower step along with the M-Unit).

The starter solenoid and batter will need mounting brackets but the M-Unit, rec/reg, and spark units will bolt directly to the tray for grounding. I may put the rec/reg and spark units through the tray so they get better exposure to air flow. Another issue I noted is that the headlight mounting points are narrower than the center-to-center distance on the front forks and therefor the mounting tabs as well. I'm leaning towads making or having someone make a simple aluminum spacer to fill that void. I think the headlight and fender (which will get trimmed back size-wise) are going to get painted either red to match the tank or black to match the frame. Thoughts?

I still can get over how much smaller and lighter the Shorai battery is than the True-Gel one I ordered first.

 

I got the oil pan and the clutch cover off tonight and ready to clean and paint. The spark units, rec/reg, and starter solenoid are ready to place. Also got one end of the new starter motor cable made up and attached to the motor. Unfortunately I spilled a bunch of oil onto the exhaust when I pulled the clutch cover off but that'll need to come off to have a mounting tab welded on anyways.

 

You know, I have no idea how I would paint that sort of pattern, but that would be REALLY neat! At some point I'm going to come up with a more creative paint scheme but it will probably still be something I can do with a standard HVLP gun and some tape.

 

Well, crap. I was finishing cleaning the clutch cover this afternoon and when I went assemble the clutch lever mechanism I snapped the spring (over exuberant testing). Now to replace that part ($2.85 MSRP) which is no longer produced or sold, I had the buy a complete used mechanism on eBay for about 12 times that cost! I know that's not a lot of money but it is aggravating just in principle . Guess I've just learned yet another lesson I from this adventure.

I'm hoping to have this parts painted by the weekend so I can at least get the oil pan back on when I have some time to work again. Now I need to find some good wire connectors that won't break the bank.

 

I removed all of the old 7 crusty electrical tape from the OEM harness last night as a first step to salvage the bits which I may reuse or at the very least will have to duplicate. The section that connects the reg/rec, spark units, coils, pulse generator, main fuse, and alternator is what I need to isolate. I've attached a copy of the wiring schematic I made with the area I want to keep highlighted (enclosed in a purple outline) in case anyone is interested. Also there's a picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's carcass laying on my garage floor.

It would be awesome if I could get the same connectors as stock because that would make it so much easier to interface with the portions I don't need to redo. Guess I need to get to shopping!
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Today I made up all of the high amperage cables and hard mounted the M-unit, spark units, and rec/reg (mounted under the spark units in the flow of air for cooling). I have things laid out as to where the battery, 60A breaker (to protect the M-unit), and starter relay will go. I need get a 90 degree lug for the black starter motor cable, make a mount for the relay and a tie down for the battery.

Unfortunately I need to modify the electronics try a bit but that shouldn't be too tough. One for the step and one to allow the rec/reg wires to pass up through the tray.

I found a source for the OEM style connectors which I'll get on order soon so I can work on the rest of the harness once my wires show up.
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I've received email notification that the connectors have shipped. The right angle lug for the starter motor wire is on its way also. The biggest thing that I'm waiting on is all the new wires! I suppose I could reuse wires from the stock harness if it comes to that but I was really hoping to put all new stuff in or at least as much as possible.

Oh yeah, the clutch spring showed up too! I still need to pain the case/cover then the engine can be all sealed up. The only thing I am still missing there is a breather filter for the cam covers and to replace the washers on the cover bolts with aluminum/sealing washers which will take all of about 10 minutes.

*Update: After a pestering email to the vendor, I've just received confirmation that my wires are on their way. I'm guessing it just got overlooked, no big deal.

 

Another minor update: I ordered some solder/seal splices, a terminal crimper, and some other stuff that I honestly can't remember last night. I should be able to start putting together connectors and cabling this weekend.

 

...and so it begins! I rewired the right controls to match my schematic. Clutch and front brake switch have their leads made now too as is the horn. I still need to put proper ground terminals on as for right now, I'm only worrying about getting stuff put in place. I'll cut to proper length (leaving some slack). For the left controls, I've removed as many of the unneeded wires as possible and will splice the existing ones together with butt splices to wires of the proper colors for my schematic as the interior solder joints are encapsulated.
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Oh, I forgot to mention that I was able to get the clutch cover remounted this weeend too. Unfortunately though, it will need to be repainted, again. As I masked off to paint the black ring on it (similar to the generator cover in the picture above) but when I removed the tape some of the silver peeled off of the base/primer. Since I plan on getting everything done nicer eventually, I figured "screw it, just get it back together". Its not horribly noticable especially from a distance since the primer is grey. I was dissappointed though.

 

Thank you, Wax.

One of my coworkers will be running a mounting bracket for the starter solenoid/main fuset on one of his 3D printers soon. I was able to bend the tab on the terminal I'd put on the starter motor cable to 90 degrees and mount it up to the solenoid/main fuse the way I wanted so I no longer have to cut the cable and replace with the new terminal. Thank goodness copper is so maleable, no? A new set of open barrel crimpers is on its way to my house so I should be able to start working on the ignition portion of the harness this weekend as well as my solder/shrink butt splices that I need to extend the wires from the left hand controls and the ignition switch. I grabbed some ring terminals at the auto parts store to use for grounding lugs so that too should be able to be fabbed. I'm going to get all of the switch gear wired and powered up (lights, etc) and ensure they are working as desired then concentrate on knocking out the ignition system and getting it to (1) turn over and (2) fire up! At that point, I'll start fitting sleaves over the wire bundles and getting everything cut or looped and mounted at the right lengths.

 

Sweet! My buddy brought in the printed parts I need to mount the starter solenoid/main fuse. I'll test fit tonight but I don't suspect they'll need any major adjustments. I just realized though that I need to cut the connector off of the OEM harness (as a pigtail) so I can document which color of wires went in which spot so I can ensure that the new connector that I'll make from my schematic matches the inputs/outputs.

 

Tonight I was able to put the new butt splices to work. After soldering the three ground wires from the right control together into one common out, I spliced the rest of the wires from it together with longer wires of the correct color for my schematic and ran them back to the M-Unit. I believe all that is left from the switch side of it is to run the ignition switch leads.

If you take a look at the picture you can also see the bright yellow RP bracket my buddy made for the starter solenoid / main fuse.
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Wax, it has indeed been more than a year as I bought the bike just before my son was born and we just had his birthday party this weekend

I just finished wiring the key tumbler into the m-unit and ran a spare wire which should let me utilize the second position of the key to power up the tail light, license plate lights, and turn signals to provide parking lights. I need to order some diodes though for this and for the dummy lights on the gauge.

 

Alright. I was able to find some heat shrink / crimp ring terminals which will replace the shielded crimp ones I have currently. That will help clean up and seal the crimp joints when I finalize everything. Also, I've found some nice PVC cable sleeve which appears to match what the OEM harness used. Once I have all of my wire bundles set, I'll order what I need. Lastly, after asking for help from some of my electrical engineer friends in figuring out what type of diodes I needed for the turn signal indicator light I realized that the manual for the m-unit actuall tells you exactly what you need to use. DUH. It looks like I'll have some soldering to do to incorporate diodes and resistors for the parking lights and such. Also, the crimping tool I need to finish the connector cables for the spark units, generator, rec/reg, ignition coils, and pulse generator should be here tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get all of those sections made up relatively easilly.

*Edit: When reading the Motogadget manual I realized that they want the ground wire from the battery to be bolted directly to one of the ground bolts on the m-unit. I guess I need to re-read that manual again!

 

Last night I got the wiring harness that connects the kill switch, ignition coils, pulse generator, and spark units made up and connected on the bike (section with white plastic connectors near the metal boxes, upper left of the image). I'm definitely going to need to tidy up my wiring under the seat but that will be done after everything is in and running, the cable sleeving is in place, and I know it is safe to cut any excess wire off for better fitment. The loops of yellow and blue hanging off at the top of the image are there because I need to run them back up to the igintion coils yet. The red/yellow and yellow wires hanging off the bottom of the image have to go back to the starter solenoid / main fuse, I just haven't made that connector up yet.

I thought this was going to be MUCH more difficult than it ended up being as in reading the OEM wiring schematic, and in the one I draw up, I thought that two wires had to go from each of those connectors not only to all the items they do connect to but also to the rec/reg. It turned out that two of those (the green wires) which were drawn connecting to the rec/reg all shared a common ground so I just grounded each of them and will do the same with the green wire out of the rec/reg...et viola. The black wire is power from the aux power of the m-unit via the kill switch. For some reason I was thinking this needed to go to the rec/reg also but it turned out not to be the case. I can simply splice into the aux port and go direct to the rec/reg as it needs constant supply, not switched.

I have designs made up for the battery tie down which will be a non-skid neoprene pad between it and the tray along with a nylon strap with velcro on it with some aluminum angle d-ring-like parts bolted to the tray. Also modeled is an alumium block stand-off for the positive terminal on the battery (rear right of the picture still with the yellow cling-film on it) since it is stepped in a bit from the top of the battery and that is where I need to connect the two main power lines (4AWG red). The last items designed so far are standoffs for the sides of the headlight to fill the gap between them and the headlight brackets. Now I just have to find somewhere to get those couple of parts turned and I should be able to get the headlights on! When I order the aluminum angle for the tie-down brackets, I'll use that for a temp mount of the tail-light and rear turn signals too. I think the front turn signals will get mounted directly to the headlight brackets.

I have decdied that I want to remove the low portion of the gusset (far left center of picture) at the fron of the electronics tray. It gets in the way of the wiring and would free up another inch of tray on which to mount cable clamps. The raised portion will remain as the boss that is partially cut at the side of the image is the bolt down point for the rear of the gas tank.

*On a side note, this is now the 11th most viewed and 9th most replied to (ok, so most of that is me post whoring) thread in the history of this subforum.*
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Alright, the rec/reg and starter solenoid/main fuse are wired in and the ring terminals for the spark coils are on there too. I've got an extra power line off for the plate lights too. The headlights, brake & tail light, turn signals and gauge lights aren't wired in yet, but they aren't needed for the sake of turning the engine over or running it.

I'm hoping to get it turned over with the stater motor this weekend! I'm not counting on hearing it fire up but should everything go well, I certainly wouldn't avoid trying it. Lots of wires will need to be rebounded and rerouted but that's not a big deal thanks to how I've run everything.

 

Thank you. The "finished" product may not look too impressive though. Once I get it running, I'm going to run it until winter rolls around again. Then I'll disassemble and do all the prettying up (paint, etc.) but for now with a few exceptions (wheels) its going to look like a beater. Who knows, I may fall in love with the ratted out look and keep it that way.

I really wish I could make up my mind! No I don't. Wait, yes I do! I think.

For example, I'm not leaning towards doing the wheels with black hoops and hubs with stainless spokes instead of gold hoops I think this might give me more flexibility with any changes to color scheme in the future.