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Home > Do it Yourself! - Tech Tips - Cloth Wiring Tips
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| One
way to make your wiring NICE!! |
| This
was written and put together by Wes White of Four
Aces Cycle in Pacoima, California. It
was posted here with his permission, it is a great look
at how to give your bike a really nice wiring job with
cloth covered wire. |
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| To
me nothing ruins a flashy period custom or a bike (that
you just want to be nice and tidy) like that plastic
covered wire and those ugly crimp connectors that get
all mis-shapen and crunched when you crimp them. How
about just a bike that has a big snarl of wire masquerading
as an electrical system?
So
here is one solution… It takes a lot of extra
time comparatively but the result is undeniably better.
Go and get yourself some black shrink wrap in a couple
of different sizes and those boring crimp connectors.
Then get some nice cloth covered wiring for your motorcycle.
Make sure it is about 14 or 16 gauge. Some of your
more specialized shops will have it.
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| First
thing you need to do is strip the plastic off of all
of the crimp connectors. This is tedious and boring
and sometimes painful depending on whether you use the
dykes or a razor blade. Here in the San Fernando Valley
we have a couple of old time electrical shops that sell
connectors that do not have the ugly modern plastic
dealies around the base, but some of the butt connectors
are not available. If you cannot find an old shop, just
start taking the plastic off. This gives you a nice
clean connector. (note: quick and easy way to remove
the plastic, just heat it up with a lighter and pull
it off with with a pair of needlenose pliers) |
| Strip
your wire carefully then slip a little shrink wrap around
the wire. DO THIS FIRST, otherwise you might not get
it over the connector. Then add the connector of your
choice and crimp CAREFULLY. Slide the shrink wrap over
the connector and fire up your Bic lighter and shrink
the wrap on the connector. Nice and clean. When you
are using butt connectors, you can slip some bigger
shrink wrap around a couple of connections to make it
even cleaner. Look how much cleaner things are when
you use a little extra shrink wrap on the wires coming
out of the regulator. |
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| You
can even get crazy and run little curly wires to various
parts of your electrical system. I would not get carried
away with the curlies though. Too much of a good thing
can be bad. A couple of discreet ones look good, your
whole bike in curlies is kinda weird. Just take a screwdriver
and wrap the wire around it in a tight little roll.
Remove screwdriver and you have a nice, tidy curly. |
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| Oh,
and if your hands are always dirty like mine, wash them
before wiring your bike, the light colored cloth wire
can get dirty fast when you handle it.
So
if you don’t like your wiring, spend $40 bucks
and get after it. If you have already wired your bike
or had someone else do it for you, you can just replace
the wires with cloth covered wire or replace the connectors
only. This will also teach you a lot about how your
electrical system works.
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