I made a lot of progress this week! I worked on the tank, seat, tail light and I installed a unique coolant reservoir. My latest shipment of fiberglass arrived today so next week I can get a lot of glass work done. Here’s this week’s video and a few pics of the bike as it stands today.
Keep on hackin…
This week was spent on the LED indicator lights and a new key switch mounted in a panel on the old handle bar bosses. I had to fabricate a panel from some sheet aluminum to mount the LEDs on and wire them up to the harness. I used a handy online LED resistor calculator to help determine which resistor was required for each LED. Adding a resistor to LEDs is required to keep them from burning out. I’m supplying them with 12 volts and they’re rated at 2.5 – 3.5 volts. The resistor limits the current flow and will get a little warm so it’s important to use the right “ohm” value. The term “ohm” is used to describe the amount of resistance to current flow the resistor has. Resistors are color coded with their ohm value. Here’s a handy resistor color code guide to help with deciphering the code.
I really like the new LED panel. It covers over the unused handle bar mounts and it has a nice clean look that finishes off the instruments nicely.
I also did a little modification to the seat. I added a little more to the bottom at the rear. It just seems to balance out better and it hides the rear subframe a bit more.
Till next time, keep on hackin!
The saga continues…. This week it’s more wiring, more fiberglass, some welding and a different gauge setup. Part of hacking and inventing is being willing to put a critical eye to something that you’ve poured a lot of time into and decide that it’s just not right. That is exactly what I did with the gauge setup I had installed. It just didn’t go well with the theme of the build so I reworked it into something much more suited to this bike.
Here’s #13… lucky #13… no bloopers!
Keep on hackin…
Wiring on a motorcycle is one of those things that can be a little intimidating. When you start removing things and hacking the wiring up it can turn into a mess that’s hard to get back into working condition. I always label the wires as I remove them which helps a lot on reassembly. On this bike, I’ve installed a different gauge set from a 1994 Honda CBR 900RR and I had to adapt the wiring so it would make everything work. To help with this I did a Google search and found some wiring diagrams which really helped out.
I had a little problem with the tachometer but I found a solution. This video is all about wiring.
Keep on hackin…
I finally got some fiberglass laid up on the fuel tank today! Now that it’s in the works I can do a little on each day and before you know it it’ll be finished. It’s been a six month project so far and I’m really getting anxious to get this thing on the road! I’ll probably have to order more fiberglass supplies soon as I don’t think I have enough materials on hand to do a proper layup. I’d like to have at least six layers of glass on it, perhaps more. It needs to be good and strong and not thin and flexible.
Next week I’ll tackle the wiring and the final mounting of the gauges.
Till then, keep on hackin.
