CB450SC nighthawk tracker build

HerrDeacon said:

Tank is awesome! Nice choice in scheme and colours.

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thanks. That tank turned out spot-on. I gave the painter some creative leeway, and basically told him I wanted white, black and gold. Otherwise, I told him to go nuts with it. The white actually looks pretty killer with the metal flake.

Long overdue update. Without boring you all to death, I have had some major personal changes this summer (sold our house, moved into condo, building new house), so I haven't had time or space to work on bike. A few weeks ago I decided this needed to get done so I've been working like mad. Got the upholstery done, got the frame powder coated and put bike back together. Mounted up some turn signals and a mini taillight. I don't have pics yet but I mounted up some mac headers and a vintage kerker slip on that looks pretty badass. Pics to come soon.

Ordered a boat load of electrical parts last week and will tackle the re wiring this weekend. Have a shorai battery, mosfet regulator, new starter solenoid, new ignition, and basically a wired from scratch harness is planned.

Great work! The subframe and number plate fit the bike perfectly, and the seat looks great. Good luck getting the wiring together, certainly not the most fun part of a build.

Scott in Penfield NY

Loving the seat and rear frame.

Thanks for kind words. Just have a few more electrical odds and ends to tie up and I'll be done.

Almost done. Still waiting on a few minor parts. I was basically done and my cheap, Chinese ignition didn't work. Never even used it. Serves me right for buying that crap. Only reason I purchased was because it was the smallest ignition switch I could find but it must have a short in it because it would cut in and out depending on if you wiggle it or not. Ordered a good quality one and it should come any day.

Got my shorai battery installed and the mosfet r/r mounted. Hid the starter and kill buttons on each side of subframe as shown. Got a vintage kerker slipon as well for $65. It polished up real nicely with a little metal cleaner and sandpaper.

I'm loving the look of this bike, excellent job on making the frame work.

Can you provide info on what you did for all of the electrical? I'm deciding on the battery and electrical for my CM450 right now and I really like the size of your Shorai.

Thanks

I am using the stock stator with a new regulator / rectifier. If you use a Li-Ion battery such as the shorai, you definately want to upgrade the R/R to modern technology. If you use the stock regulator, you will probably ruin the shorai, ballistic or antigravity batteries because the stock regulator output is too high voltage for these newer chemistry batteries, and they will cook battery. Definately worth purchasing this mosfet unit at the link below. Jack from roadster cycle is very helpful and will answer questions regarding the unit. For the specific model of shorai i used, refer to picture above. Its the smallest case size they make. Its 12V and has 220 CCA for starting.

Here is the item I used for the R/R:
http://roadstercycle.com/index.htm

Its pretty easy to re-wire the bike. I break it down into three separate systems. Each is independent of one another. 1) charging/ CDI/ Coils 2) starter 3) lights.

1) Once you toss away the stock harness, it is relatively simple to wire it up. Use the directions on the new R/R. The charging/ ignition system is its own electrical system that is independent from lights and everything else. The stator has three yellow wires that go to the new R/R for charging output. There are two additional wires coming from R/R that go to battery positive and negative- these are the leads that charge the battery. The CDI connects to the coils and a kill switch thru the single black wire. Kill switch is a 'normally closed' or NC switch. When the switch is not depressed, the CDI grounds to the frame and the coil is firing. When you push the kill button, the circuit opens (or breaks continuity of circuit) and the CDI is no longer grounded and the motor kills. If you have these items in #1 wired correctly, the bike will run by itself without any additional wiring connections.

2) Then you have the starting system. A large gauge positive lead goes from positive battery terminal to the starter solenoid (i used a generic honda aftermarket solenoid from ebay). The other large terminal post on the solenoid has a large gauge wire that goes to starter. There are two additional smaller terminals or wires coming from solenoid. One goes to your starter button and the other goes to the battery positive. Then you have to run another wire from the other terminal on the starter button to frame ground. Starter button should be a 'normally open' or NO switch. When button is not depressed, the circuit is open. Once you depress switch, it closes circuit, completing the loop between battery-solenoid-switch-frame ground, and starter motor will fire. This is also its own contained system, separate from everything else. I run the small wire from battery terminal to small wire on solenoid thru the ignition switch (see below., step #3), so that you cannot start bike unless ignition key is in.

3) third and final is the lights and ancillary stuff. For this, you run a separate 15A fused positive lead from battery to your ignition switch. Other end of ignition switch will then go to all the lights. I basically have four positive leads exiting ignition switch, each going to its own location. One lead goes to running lights on tail. One lead goes to the rear brake lights thru the brake lever switches and then to brake light. One lead goes to the turn signal relay- turn signal switch- then to turn signals. One final lead goes to headlight switch. I used a three way button switch with off-hi-lo.
You then run a ground lead from each of the lights to the frame. If you want horn or other accessories- just run additional positive leads from the ignition switch to their respective areas.


I know this is real simplified in my explanation, buts its actually very easy if you break it down into individual components and take your time. Do a search for "simplified wiring harness" to get a diagram. Also, note that I eliminated all the idiot lights, neutral light, warning lights, clutch safety relay, headlight kill relay, etc, etc. You don't need these things and this will really simplify things. I basically threw out my stock wiring harness and wired my own up in a couple hours. Soldering gun is recommended. Also recommend crimper tool so that you can crimp your butt connectors. I purchased a $4 crimper at menards and it works just fine.

Also, you can go to bellicomoto website and sign up for a free account. They have a simplified CM450 diagram.


If you want actual specifics on the switches, controls, ignition, etc- I can supply those links. PM me directly.

some info on electrical parts used in case anyone wants to know.

best place to buy the battery:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FIUJ0S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

ignition switch:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GTY0A6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Headlight switch
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321378748731

Fuses
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231311282936

Turn signal flasher
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121375336687

Starter solenoid
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310519461168

Posh mini handlebar mounted switch- used for turn signals.
http://www.posh-factory.com/product.htm

Mosfet regulator and rectifier
http://roadstercycle.com/index.htm

Shorai battery
shoraipower.com/lfx14l2-bs12-p78

New leads to go from battery to starter solenoid
http://www.ebay.com/itm/380875283025

Taillight
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Round-LED-Black-Taillight-with-Red-Lens-Chopper-Bobber-/251539487337?vxp=mtr

Kill switch
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3V-Red-LED-Lamp-4-Pin-1NO-1NC-Momentary-16mm-Stainless-Steel-Pushbutton-Switch-/310668828773?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=L7x8UdRPQK3W%252FSwfjmrV3NnrRbs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Start button
http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Start-Horn-Button-Momentary-Stainless-Steel-Metal-Push-Button-Switch-/141392378296?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20eba479b8

Re: CB450SC nighthawk tracker build- finished!

bike is finished. I just need to borrow a friend's camera and get some decent shots.

Looks great, neat build. Wheelie time!

Very nice build! Beautiful colors, proportions and detailing. What rear shocks did you end up using (looks like you might have had 2 or so iterations)? Any changes to the front end springs/fork oil/valving?

zap2504 said:

Very nice build! Beautiful colors, proportions and detailing. What rear shocks did you end up using (looks like you might have had 2 or so iterations)? Any changes to the front end springs/fork oil/valving?

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Shocks are stock cb450sc from original bike. I took them apart and threw away shroud on top and powder coated springs.

Front end is still pretty soft despite using heavy fork oil and a 2" spacer on top of springs. May have to look into heavy duty fork springs. Soft forks was definately a complaint of the cx500 front end. Only reason I used them instead of stock forks is that stock ones were bent and I wanted to use comstars.

Bike looks great!

that looks great i like it
did you check full travel clearance ? because it looks like you will have enough wheel travel for the tire to eat the fender
with the shocks layed down you increased the leverage on them,the springs and damping will be a bit soft, and increased rear wheel travel from stock

xb33bsa said:

that looks great i like it
did you check full travel clearance ? because it looks like you will have enough wheel travel for the tire to eat the fender
with the shocks layed down you increased the leverage on them,the springs and damping will be a bit soft, and increased rear wheel travel from stock

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Yep, definitely checked clearance. The fender is perched higher than stock and the upper shock mounts are lower than stock, so its raised up a few inches from stock rear height anyways. Before I had the welder tack on the shock mounts, I made sure it would clear, but also made sure chain wouldn't rub against swingarm from being too high.

so you actually removed the springs from the shocks and bottomed it out ?

xb33bsa said:

so you actually removed the springs from the shocks and bottomed it out ?

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Yes I did. Did you notice that the springs are powder coated black? I removed them and actually bottomed them out, and then had them powder coated black while I was at it.

it looks awesome, nicely done

xb33bsa said:

it looks awesome, nicely done

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Thanks.