Cleaning up the wiring and relocating some things to improve the look!

[chipripper]

Good day Sirs!

I swear sometimes, I think I might enjoy wrenching on my duc as much as riding it. I finally got sick of looking at wires, and I have more free time these days, so I decided to take her apart for additional "improvements". I got the wiring harness off, and am making a plan to get most of it routed to be hidden under the tank, and around the left side. I wanted to share my mock-up of a bracket to hold the coils under the tank, since my airbox is gone. Feedback is welcome regarding the bracket, coil position, etc. My plan is to bend and drill the bracket from some thin aluminium, and bolt it up to the 2 tabs that use to hold the rear of the airbox. I'll keep adding pics to this thread as I go along, to get some advice on wire hiding also.

bracket


in place


with coils


from the top


with wires


with battery tray and air filter



Should I also mount the starter relay to this bracket? It would be cool to have it hidden, but I would need to lift the tank if I ever needed to jump the starter. Opinions?

[koko64]

 

And the stacks are bike porn

[chipripper]

Went from mock up to rough draft last night. I've got the shape right, but my material is too thin (SO's aluminum cookie pan). I need to redo it out of some thicker aluminum so it doesn't flex so much. Any suggestions for for aluminium thickness that is rigid enough to hold parts, but thin enough to bend and cut with hand tools?? I also need to order some replacement grommets for the mounting points, since My doge ate both of mine last night.

This mess will be much nicer when it goes back on


Shiney


Shiney



With stuff stuck to it

[stopintime]

I'm not sure you're going in the right direction. You'd need quite heavy steel plate to hold that stuff and even then it will vibrate and eventually break. (I'm comparing to my horn brackets. Snapped when using a single 'layer' of steel. Holding up fine with the intended multi layer brackets)

Best solution would be if you find somewhere to anchor an extension on the bracket.

[Howie]

You also need a soft bend in the metal.  You probably need to support it better too.  That piece will vibrate terribly.

[Pinion]

try to figure out a way to use isolation dampener type mounts, they were used on the earlier bikes all over. Do same for mounting coils, Also if you know someone with a tig, do some gusset work on your bracket and you will be fine

[chipripper]

Thanks for the feedback, you all are giving me some good ideas. I went to harbor freight and picked up a bending break, so I could angle some 1/8" aluminum. I think that will be strong enough to hold the coils. I am going to keep the similar shape to what I am using, but continue it around the right side of the coils. I may also bend a 45° gusset and rivet it on if it's not rigid enough. I also found rubber push in grommets at McMaster Carr, so I should be able to get the vibe dampening right, using the airbox mounting points. I'll post up some more pics of the next iteration.

[chipripper]

Bending break FTW! I used 1/8" 3003 H14 so I could bend without annealing it. Came out nice and rigid. I need to get the cutout for the coils done, and drill out the mount points, but I think this is thick/rigid enough to use w/o gussets.

Since I can bend stuff now, and I have some leftover aluminum, I am going to try to bend up some headlight / turn signal brackets that lower the light an inch or two.

[chipripper]

Bracket is complete! I ended up mounting it on the push in screw thingy, that goes into the rubber grommet, that was originally the airbox mount. I think it came out plenty strong, but I am torn on whether to leave it on the rubber mounts with the push in screw thing, or if I should go for a more rigid mount solution. The rubber mount leaves it floating, but a rigid mount would expose it to more engine vibes.

Bracket


Black bush in screw rubber mount thingy (anyone know what these are called???)



All done up!

[uglyducky]

damn. great work man

[koko64]

Tidy work.

[chipripper]

Time for an update. It's been hot as hell in San Diego, so I haven't been able to spend much time in the garage. But I have made some progress on the wiring, and have a question about a doohikie. So far the rerouting of everything seems to be going well, and most wires are plenty long to get them where I want them to go. I only needed to extend the wire for the oil temp sensor, so I could route it behind the clutch basket. I found some nice heat shrink/low temp solder connectors on amazon that look the same as the few factory splices in the harness

https://www.amazon.com/DEPEPE-Waterproof-Solder-Connectors-Shrink/dp/B074HZHD9Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1533343668&sr=8-4&keywords=heat+shrink+solder

I hit the connection with regular solder, then slid these on, since I was worried about the low temp solder flowing while I ride. We'll see how it holds up.

The beginning!


The mess


The general idea for routing


To the guages and lights


I cannot for the life of me remember/figure out where this was mounted??? Anyone know?

[Speeddog]

I cannot for the life of me remember/figure out where this was mounted??? Anyone know?

Mounts to the lower bolt attaching the headlight ear to the U-bracket

[chipripper]

Thanks Speeddog!