Wires, Wires Everywhere

[crazylarry]

Hi All,
I just discovered this wonderful site 3 days after purchasing my first motorcycle (a 1983 GL1100 Interstate), and have already decided that the naked look is the direction that I would like to take it in. It's in fine running shape, with 48K original miles, with the timing belts having been changed 4k mile ago (same with a rebuild on the carbs). As the bike is rapidly being reduced to its constituent parts for a thorough cleaning and inspection, I thought that now would be a good time to get rid of the fairing, opting for the naked look. My main issue is: what the hell to do with all the wires under the counterweight (as well as finding a good aftermarket headlight with signals). At this stage I am considering rewiring most of the bike, as many wires have seen better days, as well as restoring it to its former glory (thank the gods for California weather-no rust). Any advice on how to proceed with the mess of wires would be greatly appreciated and I will post pictures soon.

Thanks, CL

[Oldewing]

You are very close, the headlight bucket does go where the counterweight is. So there goes a wad of wires there. There are color wire charts in Shoptalk.


And, Welcome to our little'Wingdom.

[crazylarry]

Thanks,
It's a pleasure to find an such enthusiasm. I never imagined there would be this much info and help for Honda GoldWings. I'm looking forward to pursuing my restoration project over the summer.

[Oldewing]

Try to make one of the rides, we are more fun in person.......

[Casper]

Howdy from Calgary, welcome to the club. Redoing the wiring is doable, but a reasonable sized task. The wiring info is on this site, in the reference section. I took the file to my local Staples Store and had them print me up a poster sized copy that I pinned to the wall in my shop. Sourcing the correct color/striped wire is a bit of a task, that is if you want to go to that level. Nothing wrong with using good quality automotive wire in various solid colors, if you make up your own diagram so so can trouble shoot down the road.

A couple of link to suppliers who sell striped automotive type wire in small quantities.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/GXL-automotive- ... 0866209391

And

http://www.eficonnection.com


Good Luck.

[Psycrow]

I had a similar experience as mine is a 1980 Std with a Interstare farring added so when I removed the farring the mess of wiring was a nightmare. I ended up cutting as much of it out as I could. Additionally much of the advanced features of this motorcycle had been stripped by the PO, ie. Air shocks and safety features like signal canceler and buzzer and sidestand safety switch but the wiring was still all there just the connectors had been cut. I removed as much of this as I could as well without cutting into the harness to bad. As far as a headlingt was concerned, to keep cost down and maintain a certain patina I opted to soruce used parts from whatever like era bike I could find for eg. the rear shocks off of an 80's cruiser and a headlight from a Yamaha something.... Not everyones style but I like it. This wing was to far gone for a resto so rat custom it became.

Psy

[fish]

this is a recent project of mine
you should have seen it before I started

jeep wiring I.JPG (89.66 KiB) Viewed 340 times

jeep wiring II.JPG (82.47 KiB) Viewed 340 times

[Casper]

Nice work fish, I'd say put the seat and steering wheel back in, cross the red and yellow wires and you should be a go. Brake lights are blue to white, left turn green to pink, right turn purple to grey.

[fish]

those are old pictures. That baby burned down (I do not know why)

[chewy999]

Welcome to the club from the UK. Looks like you are already appreciating the wealth of knowledge, and banter that you can find here. Good luck with your project and don't be afraid to ask, we are all learning as we go.

[rcmatt007]

welcome to NGW.... I grew up in San Francisco. For our honeymoon we headed (via two wheels) up the coast and camped the first night in Jenner

[redwood]

Welcome to NGW! My Van looked like that after the mice got to it!

[crazylarry]

IMG_0471.jpg (69.23 KiB) Viewed 282 times

Luckily the wiring doesn't look as bad as the jeep wiring (quite frightening). I'm having my wife print up a large size wiring diagram (she does photographic printing), and from there I'll start putting together a plan of action. Right now I'm looking at a combo headlight/signal setup from J&P Cycles. Once I get all the parts, I'll begin work., probably by the end of the month. Definitely looking forward to riding on the roads out here in west Sonoma county. If there are any riding groups in the area, I would sure like to know. Anyway, here's a picture of the beast. She's an 83 Interstate that I just spent a week cleaning off 30 years' worth of grime. All put back together for a photo before the fairing comes off for good.

[duke182]

All that cleaning left you with an attractive bike.
Goodluck with your future modifications and upgrades

[ehadams]

Thanks for putting the links to wire sources. I knew someone had to be selling that stuff somewhere.