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Well.... i have been posting in here under different topics every time i have some trouble. I have decided I will probably need more help from you guys than I originally thought, and will now be setting this topic up for all of my project questions.
Just so you guys know, I am a 28 year old construction manager/estimator with lots of tools and little mechanical experience, but i am determined to learn. I spent a year of research before buying my first bike and I think I got a great deal scoring a running, street ready 77' CB400f with 9.5k miles on her. Carbs were rebuilt last year along with a complete top end rebuild, and she seems to be running quite well. Someone had "fixed" the common electric starter failure and turn signals were off, so i knew there was going to be some re-wiring. Overall though she looked pretty good for $1400.
Going to string some pictures with comments, so bear with me....
First picture is, I believe three owners ago. (thats not sweet paint work, its decals on solid silver paint)
this is what it looked like when the guy i bought it from purchased it. Repainted, rebuilt (partially), and all cleaned up. did anyone see the Thundercats emblem on the previous pics? <~~ yeah its still on the bike and probably always will be.
Here is the bike when i got it home. The last owner i bought it from didnt appear to know too much about the work done on the bike. I think he had a buddy do a little wiring and rebuild the carbs again, which would have made me nervous except for the fact that everything sounds good while running and doesnt appear to have any mechanical issues, yet.
Alright, now you know what i am dealing with, lets get in to where I'm at right now....
When i got the bike home, first thing I did was give her a once over and see whats missing. Right away I see that we have no airfilter, or intake snorkel on the bike. I called up guy to see if he pulled it an just forgot to give it to me, and apparently he had no idea... He though just the open box caught anything that mattered (this is where i began to question everything the previous ower said to me and began to talley up all the things i needed to check and go through). So... he has been running it without an air filter for 1000 miles
Next was a probably very necessary oil change. Tried to remove the oil plug, and as soon as i touched it, it just spun in place. Great! Guy stipped the oil plug.... After three trips to Napa and an hour of careful turning and pulling i got it out and replaced. New one is an oversized and fits perfeclty and is easy to remove and put back (actually not in picture.. ones shown didnt work. another trip to Napa).
Now once again, i am a beginner at motorcycles, and only have car stereo wiring experience. I can read wiring diagrams, but have never tried to put one to good use.
My guess is that this is some kind of starter relay, but i have no idea what its purpose is. if someone can enlighten me please i am all ears, or eyes i guess.
Here is where i think i made a mistake, the relay (i guess i will call it) wires were pretty short, so it was hard to get at the airbox, so i grabbed some wire and extended the existing wires. Later while messing with turn signals I accidently hit the starter and realized it wasnt working anymore... Dont dog on me about the crappy connectors and all red wires... i know, i am not going to waste good wire while testing so i am using these temporary set to make sure i know whats what. You can see in the pics that they ditched the original starter swith for this three way silver guy. It is set so toggle up is starter and switch down turns on the headlight...
so i am kinda trying to figure that out while working on the next thing. the turn signals....
Now the original plan was to only mess with the turn signals since the starter was working fine before i messed with anything. So... when i first looked at the bike (before purchasing) i could see that someone had labled the turn signal wiring and was hoping turn signals would be easy to install.... i was wrong. It looks like when they messed with the starter, they may have utilized some of the turn signal wiring, which was another reason for addressing turn signals and starter wiring at once.
I really wanted to leave any existing wiring and just run a new "turn-signal harness", and that may still be the solution, but i have to get the starter working again first.
My problem is, i have some wires that are in places they shouldnt be... like a brown wire that isnt connected to anything behind the headlight, and a black with yellow chase connected to solid black under the tank. I dont see these anywhere on any of the diagrams...
you can see in the second picture that someone has spliced in two blue splices into the turn signal lines for the rear turn signals, but when i plug those in they dont work. Currently, i can only get one turn signal to turn on, the left rear, and it doenst blink. I am posted on another topic and found i likely need a new turn signal relay, no prob $15. I am going to upgrade to LED turns as well since i already have to replace so much crap, might as well.
Are you talking about the switch in the second pic? That's not the starter relay - and hopefully it's not the starter switch.
Unlike car stereos, an old motorcycle has a VERY simple electrical system. Aside from the condensor / coils (I'm just gonna leave those alone for now) everything gets a positive and a negative connection to make it work. Sometimes stuff is grounded through the frame and motor (think spark plugs, electric starter motor, etc).
Find a diagram that is specific to your bike. There should be some around here......
Are you talking about the switch in the second pic? That's not the starter relay - and hopefully it's not the starter switch.
Unlike car stereos, an old motorcycle has a VERY simple electrical system. Aside from the condensor / coils (I'm just gonna leave those alone for now) everything gets a positive and a negative connection to make it work. Sometimes stuff is grounded through the frame and motor (think spark plugs, electric starter motor, etc).
Find a diagram that is specific to your bike. There should be some around here......
Sorry been posting really fast... i have the Haynes diagram up now and the ARC starter thing i belive is the starter relay... the silver switch is set as the sarter toggle up and headlight toggle down.
How should i go about wiring new turn signals with the existing wiring a big question mark?
Should i just try and wire them from scratch and ditch the existing wiring?
Can anyone think of what i might have done wrong with the A.R.C. Ignition System?
Anyone able to verify that that is the starter relay and tell me how that works?
Should i just bite the bullet and leave the wiring to the professionals?
Still haven't seen your starter relay - but I may have missed it. The starter relay has a positive lead from the battery going to it, and another lead going to the starter motor. There will be a 3rd wire (smaller than the first 2) that is the "signal" wire. The signal wire comes from the start button on the handle bars and sends a (usually) positive signal to the starter relay. Then it connects the pos current from the battery to the starter motor. To avoid all this.......go kick start only.
The turn signals can be wired from scratch. It's really not too bad, but I would try to repair the current wiring before trying it. Mostly just to confirm that it works. And if you pay a professional, what do you learn from that?
AS I POSTED IN THE OTHER TOPIC, and want to keep this topic going instead, "I DID IT!!!!!"
my electronic ignition is working again!
all turn signals are working again!
had a bad ground in the transistor assisted ignition module and the turn signals needed a new relay and had a wire crossed behind the head light.
THANK YOU GUYS SOO MUCH FOR THE INPUT/HELP. BEING A NEWB I CAN GET A LITTLE FRUSTRATED AT THE LITTLE THINGS, AND ITS YOU GUYS WHO KEEP PUSHING ME TO KEEP AT IT. THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH FOR THAT!
Tomorrow we start to sand and bondo and paint.... i will be sure to keep you up on my progress
excellent. FWIW, the empty brown in the headlight is probably for a 'park' light that you might not have fitted. Brown is Honda for taillight/park lights.
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