Anyone Made/repaired a wiring loom?

[Matthew Duncan]

just looking for a few tips.

on my project bike im about to start the wiring, most of the harness is there ( in next to unuasable condition ) so im thinking of redoing the bad bits, if not it all and adding in whats not there.

Has anyone ever done this for a whole bike before ?

kinda tools should i be looking to get ?

have a decent crimping tool, soldering iron and tools for removing cables out of the block connectors , aswell as the usual pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers etc

been looking into it for a while and from what i've gathered its easy enough, as long as you use the right "ampage" cables, follow the wiring diagram like a hawk and take yer time . .

any thoughts or comments ?

[Cynic]

3 very important words to help.

Vehicle wiring products

Have to admit when i rebuilt my loom i cheated, and where they were perfectly servicable i kept the multiplugs. A lot of the stuff in the headlight for example is usually mot all that bad. It was the stuff exposed to heat and road crud that suffered and there i used connectors i felt were practical. An example being the mag multiplug, on the dt it sits near the exhaust under the tank. Not any more.

Lay the loom out on a big bit of board with pins/ nails in it to locate stuff, long enough and wide enough to lay it out properly, with any tape on it for now. Peg all the legs out and highlight what they do. Mag, brake sw's etc. picture it like your bike squashed flat in an old MGM cartoon.

Then take the tape off, nasty shitty job. Now (dull bit) do yourself a drawing, better done in sections or it gets too confusing of all the wires and note all the colours. There WILL be more than in the manual, check the lengths and order as required as well as connectors etc.

Now get another board and duplicate the peg/pins and the various locations on that, like 'headlight', 'mag' etc. Then build up the new loom referencing the old, double check then once your happy add the connectors as required (you may want to use modern stuff unless your after factory anorak spec) then remove from the board after a token tape up to make it protable. Shape it on the bike so it fits the frame properly, check it all works then give it the good news and tape it properly.

Easy eh

HTH

[DirtyDT]

Cynics peg board is the way to go.

Use good quality crimps.

Have a look here at everything you will need. LINKY

[Airhead]

dont bind the loom with adhesive tape, use loom tape it's non adhesive and you only fasten it at its extremes with adhesive tape. This gives flexibility.

what kind of connectors does the Guzzi have?

What about the moulded multi pin connectors, how are you going to do them?

dont use pre-insulated bullet connectors, use the froper ones with a proper crimp tool for that kind (cant think of the name of them)

PM me your email address if you want a copy of something i scanned from a magazine re building your own loom

Mervin will tell you where to get the correctly coloured cables and connectors from

[slice]

Hi Matthew, Did mine a couple of years back, nasty bloody job, CYNIC is right (as usual) copy the old one onto another board and be strict with yourself about getting the same length and make sure you have loads of shrink fit heat seals to go over your solder joints, I used a whole pack of the things. I also cut off the original connectors and used them on the new loom as they were still in good shape but there are loads of suppliers of new connector blocks on ebay if you really want to go to town. I also used that curly plastic stuff that goes around wire bundles instead of insulating tape as it made it easier to feed the wires out where I wanted them, you can get it from most good motor accessory shops and it will save you hours of fiddling plus if you have a problem you can unwind it and get at the wire joints if you need to. good luck with your loom, your going to need a weekend at least to get it done.

[drewpy]

check out my blog on a "how to" with colour pictures

[gemini]

not sure if Cynic forgot the link but its here

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php

[mervin]

the 2 places linked here are good for supplies

and also

http://www.polevolt.co.uk/

http://towzatronics.co.uk/

and for older rare connectors try http://shop.xs650shop.de/front_content.php?idcat=3

[Matthew Duncan]

Cheers for all the help guys, im gonna get some of the boards that work use on there pallets ( the ones with the holes in it ) and get some dowels to keep it all in place

think my plan is to take the orig wiring diagram, and break it up into smaller chunks, like one diagram for the lights indications ect, one diagram for ignition and so on so on, if i do that in colour and print them out on that clear plastic stuff, i can make it all in sections, then put the diagrams ontop of each other to see where they all join.

for binding, im planning using expandable braided cable as i allready have a reel of it from other projects that i have done, i also have a decent enough amount of multi-colourd heatshrink.

i havn't came across any moulded connectors, just the latching type, and i have the tools to remove the spades from them, and PM sent

and cheers for all the links everyone

will update my thread in the projects section showing how im getting on, and will come back to this one if i get stuck

[Speedshop]

we have wiring products for motorcycles as well as the specialist knowledge from having done the actual work. Just don't phone up expecting me to walk through wiring a bike step by step. Tech advise is available to returning customers via email.

www.rexs-speedshop.com

[Matthew Duncan]

cheers for the link speedshop