69 BSA bobber project...or...the cure for wintertime madness!

[B.Curvin]

RIP Angel.

[dogmantra]

Originally Posted by YZman

So has anybody pulled wires thru a frame before?... Am I going to be able to pull the wireing out of the frame and put it back in with the bullet connectors in place?... My vision is to 1st fish a somewhat ridged wire thru the frame. Then on the end of that tape the 3 wires I want to pull thru staggering the connectors one after the other so they will go thru the hole easier. then just pull them thru...Hey also.. should I say black tape wrap the wires together that are running thru the frame to protect it from abrasion? Kinda thinking I should.

I've only messed with this a little bit but what we did differently was to not pre-build the harness. We laid out all the wires needed (3 in your case) with a few extra feet of length per wire. We taped it all up, and then we fished it through the frame without any caps or ends soldered on. Once the harness was pulled through the frame and situated it was easy to pop the grommets on and then peel back the electrical tape, cut off the excess, and solder the ends on.

If you want to do a dry run you could pull the wire group through and then leave the extra length of wire when you solder your bullets. That would give you the option of cutting off the bullets to remove the harness before paint. You will know your wire is good and still have enough spare wire to work with so that, after paint, you can run it through again, readd grommets, peek back electrical tape (abrasion control), check your connections, trim wire to length, solder on bullets, and go drink a refreshing frosty.

I'll be building another new harness for my BSA in a few months (hopefully) and the above is how I plan to manage it.

[Cat Daddy]

I've always used this little trick for running wiring through confined spaces. I made the video for another board I go to a lot. I'm a hillbilly, you don't have to point that out. In the future I'll spit my snuff out before I make any more movies.

[mikesova]

Can't wait to see the finished product. Sorry about your dog. :(

[YZman]

Im hoping to get back to the bike soon. Sorry about the lack of progress. I really want to get back to work. Just life has been getting in the way as well as lots of small "new house" projects that need to be attended to.

I did manage to do a little work to that CT90 of mine. The gas tank was really rusty inside. Did a little reading online and decided electrolisys was the answer. Water, Soduim Carbonite, coat hanger and a battery charger, Hook it all up properly and let it cook for 3 days and its amazing how clean the tank comes out. Very happy with the results.

So hopefully soon Ill be back into the BSA. Going to try and hit the house project list hard and try and beat it back a little so I have some time to work on the bike.

Stay tuned.

[Dirt Road Cowboy]

Thanks for posting this YZman. It brings back memories of my old 69 BSA. (650 Lightning, bored and stroked to 750)

It was a nice bike, and very fast, but VERY expensive to keep it going (mid 80's and no interwebz).

Lately, I have had thoughts about going back out to AZ and getting it back, since I know the guy I traded it to still has it, but it has been sitting outside for 20 years now, and I could never justify the cost to get it going again.

I wish you the best with it. Enjoy it when you're finished, you deserve it!

Oh, BTW, watch that gas tank. Those old BSA tanks have a way of coming apart at the seam! Going down the road at 80+ with a split tank, getting soaked with gas, and having 50 miles to get home is no fun! I never could get it fixed right, and ended up putting a 3 gallon Kawi tank on it.

[Packer]

Good job you're doing there YZman. I found this thread yesterday and thought that with a start date of '09 it would be long finished by now Life has kind of got it the way, I hope that the future is looking brighter now.

You are probably aware that most of fthe issues with these old BSA 650's were down to axial movement in the crank causing bottom end lubrication problems. You referred to a "shim kit" that you got from Ed the engine man which may be an issue down the road. If you have a roller primary side bearing and a bush timing side the thin shims that BSA used can cause issues and a custom one pice shim in place of a stack of thin ones is considered the simplest way forward. Have you seen this thread? http://www.piled-arms.com/tech31.html

Apologies in advance if I'm preaching.

[YZman]

Originally Posted by Packer

Good job you're doing there YZman. I found this thread yesterday and thought that with a start date of '09 it would be long finished by now Life has kind of got it the way, I hope that the future is looking brighter now.

You are probably aware that most of fthe issues with these old BSA 650's were down to axial movement in the crank causing bottom end lubrication problems. You referred to a "shim kit" that you got from Ed the engine man which may be an issue down the road. If you have a roller primary side bearing and a bush timing side the thin shims that BSA used can cause issues and a custom one pice shim in place of a stack of thin ones is considered the simplest way forward. Have you seen this thread? http://www.piled-arms.com/tech31.html

Apologies in advance if I'm preaching.

Good stuff man. Thanks for the link. Yea I was aware of some of that but its always good to read up more on it. Almost makes me want to tear my motor back apart just to check the end play

[Packer]

Just make sure that the alternator rotor is properly tightened, loctited, dot peened, tab washer.............

I wonder if it is possible to temporarily hook up an oil pressure gauge to the sensor tapping on the crankcase as soon as the bike is ready to run. Record the pressure readings, oil spec, temperature etc. Repeat after 3,000 miles and compare. It might act as an early warning of problems without needing to strip the engine down.

[YZman]

Ok. Finially have something worth posting. Been working on the wireing every little chance I get. Had to order up a few parts from Mcmaster Carr, bolts, spacers, grommets. Stuff like that. But I think I pretty much have everything I need to finish the wireing....except time that is. Seem to be lacking a lot of that this winter..

Have managed to do a little work in my shop getting it all setup the way I want it. Just bougth my 1st bench vice ever. And got some aluminum soft jaws for it




Anyways. Started making some wires up.



Ignition switch all wired up and ready



Drilled a hole in the back of the frame where the tailight wires will run thru



And another for the tailight wires to come out of. There already was that big hole in the back of the frame backbone, probably for water drainage during the painting process. Will work great for running wires up to the front of the bike



And up at the front of the bike the wires will come out here



Thats about it for now. Doesnt look like much but that took a lot of brain power to make the decisions of where to drill those holes, ok maybe i was a little scared to drill them... it is the frame after all

So this week I have to drill one more 3/4" hole up front, dont have a drill for that so I have to grab one from work tomorrow. Once that is done I can lay down the rest of the wires. Hopefully this week Ill make some real headway on the wireing. Cause next week I am headin to the Nuclear Cowboyz show and then flyin to Florida for some R&R.

[YZman]

Fun with wire!

[Hughlysses]

Nice work!

[YZman]

Also bought some 1/4" spacers to space the electronics off the mounting panel. My origional thought was mainly because I wanted to run some wires up behind those boxs up to the frame above. But as it turns out its turning into a great place to hide some wire connections. I hate having big bundles of wires and connectors visable. Im trying to hide all the connections I can (within reason) The 2 grommets I added to run the coil wires thru are directly behind the boxs and wont be visable at all from the back. The way the frame tubes run around the sides of that mounting panel you wont even notice that there is wires behind there. Nice and clean.

[YZman]

Santa finally found his way to the new house. Better late than never. Too bad he forgot to give me the brackets to mount the side case to the main case. Damn elves anyways.

[Packer]

Are you trying to keep us on the edge of our seats with these little teasers?

Should you have drilled the frame? How will you keep the oil in now, silicone around the grommets?

A good looking tool box by the way, all of my tools would fit in the little side cabinet