FH - wiring the dashboard

 This will be the first time that I've wired up an aerial with the separate instrument panel fitted to the swinging arm frame bikes with the headlamp nacelle. Looking at the wiring diagram it makes sense to wire up the panel separately from the rest of the bike, to be fitted later.

As you've seen, and in line with the wiring diagram, I have fitted a 5-way bullet connector between the main harness and the front end. Some of the cables from the instrument panel will go into this multiple connector, and others will stay on the panel whilst further connections will go into the headlamp. 

I made a start on the panel by fitting the ammeter and the light switch. I had the speedometer fitted as well, but found that the speedo lamp fitting was loose in the speedo body and the bulb holder could not be removed so I've sent this off for this to be repaired and the speedo overhauled.

Here's the initial layout. I've put all the wires in and crimped the ring terminals; the next step is to try this on the bike and see where the cable is going to route and how I can tie these cables together in sleeving.

This is the result. You can see I've terminated all the wires now, and added some sleeving and routed some of the wires around the top of the speedometer. I can't do much more until the speedo is back from Russell.

I need to clip the switch in and add the rubber ring around the switch and the ammeter, but it does work and I have both a rear lamp and a stop lamp. For some reason the horn doesn't work? 

It's alive!

Next stop on the wiring list is to add the combined horn button and dip switch. This is the original one and I have just removed the old wiring and clean the switch up with degreaser. More of that later.

FH - various jobs

 There's lots of little jobs around the bike getting on with. This one is the dynamo cork gasket which I bought from eBay. It was a little big and needed 3/8" taking out of the circumference.

That's the dynamo chain in place. It's got a split link which I think is unusual - but I think that this is the original chain. It's very difficult to tension because whilst you can turn the dynamo to tension the chain, as soon as you do up the clamp it pulls the dynamo back into the crankcase and loosens the chain again...

These are the clamps for the head steady. I've fitted them in place with some leather shim between the clamp and the frame to protect the paint. I'll leave these here for the moment until I have made the new studs for the rock box, and then I can fit the head steadies.

I bought all the cables as universal types from Draganfly. When I unwrapped them I was pleased to find the air and throttle cables were complete with their nipples fixed in place at both ends. Whilst the throttle cable fits ok, the choke inner cable is much too long so I will have to move the nipple.

These two pictures show the routing that I have adopted for the clutch cable. I've shortened the outer to suit this routing, and when the gearbox is back together I will fit the nipple.

I've made up two gaskets for the carburettor and the heat shield. 

Perhaps inevitably, the throttle stop is missing from the twist grip. As soon as you slacken the cable these loose stops fall out and can be easily lost. I'll make one on the lathe later - perhaps two, one for the toolbox as a spare.

FH - ignition timing

 Edging ever closer towards first start, I diverted myself from wiring activities to time the ignition.

Regular readers will know the rocker box isn't fitted yet, and I can tell you that it's much easier to set the engine in position for ignition timing without pressure from the valve springs trying to restrain you.

As I've fitted 7.25:1 pistons to this machine, I am timing it to Cyclone specification - 3/8" BTDC at maximum advance in place of the 11/32" for the home market models. here it is on the ubiquitous Wagamama chopstick, of which I have hundreds:

The timing is set with the timing side piston at 3/8" BTDC on the compression stroke.

With the engine in the right position, I fitted my little clamp to hold the ATD at full advance. The ATD is screwed most of the way on, but is not yet on the magneto shaft taper:

With a green Rizla in the points, I can rotate the magneto until the paper just loosens in the points. It's useful to have a 4 BA spanner available to just hold the magneto shaft on that central bolt while you gingerly tighten up the ATD nut from the other side. With the petrol tank off, it's easy to reach the magneto from the timing side of the bike.

Next, fully tighten the ATD nut. You can then back the engine off and come back up to 3/8" BTDC; if the Rizla is just coming loose in the points (with the ATD still clamped to full advance), you are good to go.

FH - more wiring

 Wiring jobs are plodding on at the moment. This next picture shows the splice that I have made to provide a battery feed to the horn and stop switch. It's quite difficult to follow the original wiring diagram and make all of these connections at the battery terminal with modern VRLA batteries with their tiny spade terminals.

It's soldered and covered with heat shrink sleeving.

Here is a view of the rear brake light switch. Behind the oil tank, in front of the mudguard and behind the toolbox is a very difficult position to get to to put that bullet connector in. Ariel clearly assembled the switch and the wiring before the oil tank went on - which reminds me, there is no seat bolt above the oil tank, so the tank will have to come off again!

You can also see in this picture that the rocker feed oil line is not very well fitted to the stub on the oil tank. I pushed this on a lot further.

This next one shows the wiring for the regulator, complete with the seal, clamp and split bullets:

That's the battery area complete. 

For some reason the battery lids are moulded with four cable access slots. This is because they are a copy of the original moulding which had to accommodate large Bakelite knobs for the battery terminals.

Next stop, wiring up the dynamo. You can see the dynamo D connection on the left, as it connects directly to one of the brushes. The field F connection on the other side connects to one of the white field cables going into the body of the dynamo.

I oiled that felt before I closed the dynamo up.

That's the dynamo wiring sealed up. 

The last job today is to finish the wiring to the rear lamp. These are the finished cables from the harness with Japanese bullet connectors for the stop switch and rear lamp and a crimped and soldered eyelet for the earth.

The earth wire is attached to one of the rear lamp fixing bolts. 

FH - wiring harness

 I'm not going to blog the complete build of the wiring harness, because I've done that a few times already for the Square and the W/NG. What I will do is show you a few details of the harness as it comes together.

This picture shows the arrangement around the back of the toolbox. From the main harness there are branches going to the horn, to the regulator, to the battery and to the stop switch.

I will probably add a series of bullet connectors to allow me to separate the main harness from the harness going to the rear mudguard.

This next picture shows the main earth cable to the rear which splits into three near the indicators. There is a soldered splice under that heat shrink.

This picture shows the harness going to the rear of the bike with that soldered splice and the wires to the indicators and the rear lamp all covered with PVC sleeving, with a heat shrink section around the joint.

The bike is running an original Lucas 529 which needed to be rewired. I've replaced the cabling and used some heat shrink to provide some wear resistance where the wires go through the rear of the lamp. The connections to the bulb are blobs of solder flattened on the linisher.

Here's the engine earth. This is taken back to the main frame earth which is the upper of the two oil tank bolts. I need to clean the Wellseal off!

For the record this is how I have terminated the magneto kill switch. There is a length of cable, covered in heat shrink, passing through a small length of fuel line which sits neatly inside the thimble nut on the end of the magneto. This end is now weatherproof.

The other end of the magneto cutout cable is soldered into a push button at the handlebar. The joint is hidden by a piece of PVC sleeving pushed over the button - I didn't have any suitable heat shrink to bridge these two sizes.