Honda CB350 / CL350 Frame Ground Points

[nograv1]

I'm in the process of re-assembling my 71 CL350 from a complete teardown. The frame has been professionally powdercoated. I was stumped when I had all my wiring hooked up as it was before the teardown and popped a fuse when I turned on the ignition then tested the headlight/turn signals. I then came to the realization that powdercoat is probably not a conductor, and that all the wires that ground to the frame weren't properly grounding. Looked into it and learned that my assumption was correct: Powdercoat is not a conductor and my system wasn't grounding, hence the blown fuse.

So I've gotten ahold of a dremel with a sanding bit and I'm prepared to strip the powdercoat off the frame at all ground points.
My question is: How many ground points are located on the frame of this bike?

So far I've got:
1) Heavy gauge wire from the negative battery terminal to the upper rear engine mount bolt
2) Small gauge single dark green wire (main ground from harness I think) with circle connector from harness to bolt holding battery box to frame

Looking at the wiring diagram for the bike, it looks the items that need grounded are:
-Starter motor - there's only the one wire cluster coming out of it though, which snakes down under the engine and plugs in to the harness near the battery box... Does it not ground to the frame?
-Condensors - do these ground through the coil/condensor/ignition mount to the 'spine' of the frame under the fuel tank? I guess there's a lot of powdercoat removal that will need to be done here?
-Neutral indicator light - Don't know where this grounds?
-Horn button - I've got new left hand controls with a horn button included. I think it's internally grounded though, so not to the frame
-Starter button - Don't currently have a starter button (which reminds me I need to pick one up.... haha). This will be mounted off the bars, somewhere around the ignition, and grounded to the frame I guess?
-Contact breaker- ????

Basically, I need a complete list of points on the frame where the powdercoat must be sanded for a good ground connection. I already mostly reassembled the bike before testing the electrical system (dumb, I know), so I'm trying to make sure I get this issue all taken care of at once so I don't wind up taking this thing apart a second and third time. Can anyone assist?

 

[joea]

first thing is you need to have good continuity between the engine and frame. usually there are removable engine plates which will allow you to do this without removing the engine, you can add the negative battery cable to the same point . then get a wiring schematic and add the grounds that you need, it is straight forward. if you have a custom wiring harness you should have drawn up a schematic or you or someone else in the future will pull their hair out trying to figure it out if problems arise. all of your assumptions and questions will be answered with the schematic.
....joe@vcycle
www.joesvcycle.net

 

[Sonreir]

Your grounding may be an issue, but that's not why a fuse was blown.

Fuses blow from short circuits (e.g. too much current). A failure to ground results in zero current flow, not too much.

I think you may be fighting more than one problem.

 

[nograv1]

I'm not sure my blown fuse issue was from the faulty ground point after all, but some time with the Dremel gave me a good solid ground now. Now that I think about it, my turn signals I was testing out when the fuse blew were likely hooked up incorrectly because when I flipped the signal switch is when the fuse blew.

Got it all taken care of now. Have good power, headlight hi/lo works and I've got working turn signals (as well as running lights up front). Now to set the points, install some plugs, give it some oil and see if I can't get this thing running.

Oh, and I wound up picking up a 552 flasher relay to get the signals working. The original relay was bad, as most seem to be.