Bridgestone Motorcycle Parts Discussion Board
Bridgestone Tech Talk => 350 Talk => Topic started by: moonpup on December 25, 2012, 04:42:32 PM
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Hey guys, I got one of the vintage wiring connections kit for X-Mass and will be either repairing or replicating the wiring harness on my GTO.
I've already started resourcing some of the other pieces I might need for this project but am having a little difficulty coming up with replacement rubber boots for the battery terminal connections. Does anybody here have a source for these? They don't have to be an exact replica but close would be nice! ;D
Here's a photo of one off my parts bike......
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hi moonpup , this looks like the same coveras the ones on the older honda an yamaha battery positive cables as well as the starter cables , i may have one out in the garage , i will try to look tomorrow , william anderson 8)
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Hey moon pup,
You can get these in various sizes from Aircraft Spruce. They have a very user
friendly web site - find the electrical section.
I have used them on many of my restorations - Japanese and British.
Do you know where to get the small flat rubber covers on the GTR instrument lights ?
Regards,
Skinny
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Thanks Skinny, I'll check them out. BTW, the sleeve part that holds the wire is slotted so that the boot can be added or removed with the connection still attached to the wire.
I was also wondering about those flat boots on the speedo/tach and couldn't find them anywhere in the parts manual. I then looked at the NOS speedo/tach I got from Richard and discovered that they come as part of the package when you buy them new. I don't think you can buy them separately.
Update..... I found these at Spruce but they're not quite what I'm looking for. Are there others I'm missing?
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/termnips.php (http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/termnips.php)
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I usually buy the -15 in black. It seems that they are as close for most purposes as I can find.
I just had a thought - maybe a search in McMaster Carr catalog might turn up something.
Thanks for the info about the instrument light covers. I have been thinking about buying new
meters from Richard anyway.
Skinny
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Ok gentlemen, here's some follow up questions for ya.
I took the wiring harness off my parts bike and took it to the local hardware store to look for some things. The guy there said that the wires were 16ga. Is that correct? When I got home and looked closer, there appeared to be at least 2 sizes of wire, with the smaller size being the dominant wire used. Would these be 16ga. and the other 14ga.?
Was also wondering if anyone has a source they know of that would carry all the different color coded wires.
Gracias amigos!
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Because The Wiring Is Not Very Long On A BS I Have Gone To A Auyomotive Salvage Yard They Usually Have Piles Of Wiring Harness Out Of Cars There All Color Coded And You Can Cut Them Apart And Make A New One The Ends Are Availible From Parts Suppliers And A Good Crimp Tool You Can Make Your Own And Retape It Hopefully The Old One Good For A Patern GENE
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Because The Wiring Is Not Very Long On A BS I Have Gone To A Auyomotive Salvage Yard They Usually Have Piles Of Wiring Harness Out Of Cars There All Color Coded And You Can Cut Them Apart And Make A New One The Ends Are Availible From Parts Suppliers And A Good Crimp Tool You Can Make Your Own And Retape It Hopefully The Old One Good For A Patern GENE
Thanks for the tip Gene. I'm headin to the junk yard tomorrow. ;D
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If it were me making the wiring harness, I would solder and heat shrink all the connectors instead of crimping them. It makes for a longer lasting trouble free connection, just my opinion.
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Gene, when I was into the Datsun 240Z's, I practically lived at the junkyards. However my current situation doesn't allow me the time to check them out and that is why I was hoping someone might have a link where I could just order online.
Also, can you confirm the correct or recommended size wire used on the 350's?
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Mike,
I have a busy day in the workshop today but i have some information on the wiring and ga etc.
And i will post some picture tonight.
Thanks.
Steve.
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You may want to check with Richard also. He's trying to reproduce the harness. Not sure of an ETA on them though.
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Mike,
On most motorcycle wiring i keep 18 16 14 gauge primary wire in the shop, you can get them in all colors and gauge sizes 40 feet rolls
For 6.29 at O Reilly auto parts most of the wires are 16 gauge on the Bridgestone but if i was making my own harness i would do it in
14 gauge for the red + and black - and the rest would be 16 gauge and i would change the fuse holder to a all weather holder and a blade fuse not glass and crimp solder and heat shrink terminals offer the ultimate electrical connection.
Thanks.
Steve.
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This is a kit i would like to own.
Thanks.
Steve.
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Steve, thanks for nailing down the wire gauge for me, that helps a lot.
I spent quite a bit of time scouring the net today and found these 2 sites that between them has every color combo needed. The first site had everything except the red w/black tracer and the yellow w/green tracer. The second site looks to have those and as a bonus, you're able to order them with a straight line tracer like the original wires had. ;D
Here are the 2 sites.....
1) http://brillman.com/store/p-wire-cable/primary-wire/pvc-primary-wire-plastic-coat/16-gauge.html?p=1 (http://brillman.com/store/p-wire-cable/primary-wire/pvc-primary-wire-plastic-coat/16-gauge.html?p=1)
2) http://www.riwire.com/Catalogs/sup/pages/wire.htm (http://www.riwire.com/Catalogs/sup/pages/wire.htm)
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This might help when you are doing your wiring etc.
Thanks.
Steve.
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http://www.connectomotive.com/ (http://www.connectomotive.com/)
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php (http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php)
http://www.vintageconnections.com/ (http://www.vintageconnections.com/)
Z
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Ok, time to bring this back up as I'm finally getting around to replicating the original wiring harness on my 350.
Looking back through this thread, I guess I never got an answer as to what size the original wiring was and just assumed that what the local guy told me (16ga.) was right.
Well, I got this chart that converts American wire gauge to metric and decided to check it out. I measured some of the original stuff and got .92mm. (you measure the copper/metal only and not the covering)
According to the chart, that means our wiring was 20 ga. Yikes, that's awfully thin!
Can that be right?
https://www.andersonpower.com/_global-assets/downloads/pdf/conversion.pdf
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popcorn
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I'm in the process of refurbishing/converting an old dynamo into the electronic version as outlined by OldSwartout in the "How To" section of the forum. I understand that these are third party parts and that the dynamo wiring may be a little heavier given its function but 20g seems too small. The wiring in the dynamo seems to be 16g. I have a couple of old 350 wiring harnesses and have thought about building a harness for my project bike using the old ones as a pattern. I'm not trying to build a replica bike so I will probably use 16g for most of the harness and maybe some 18g depending on the application. The heavier gauge is just going to be more efficient and the current generated by the dynamo seems to just be marginally adequate.
Not to hijack the thread but...Just to throw a new wrinkle into it, I'm going to explore running a total dead loss system using a lithium iron phosphate battery. For the initial phase the bike will not be street legal, which is why I'm considering building my own harness that won't power unnecessary items. I'm hoping to run it two laps around the Barber track like this and then decide whether or not to make it street legal. I've been collecting parts for a few years and I'm about to start reassembly on the engine but need to decide about porting and rotary valve mods first.
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Based on the information in the conversion chart I linked above, I'm still getting numbers on the wires in the main harness that correspond to them being 20 gauge.
I also just checked the wires on an old "parts" dynamo out in the garage and CL-100 is correct in that they are bigger. However, again using the conversion chart, they're measuring out to be 18 gauge..... not 16.
I'm trying to build a harness that will be as close to the original as possible, with the exception of beefing up the gauge of the wiring used. I bought some 16 ga. wire based on the recommendations I found here on the site and found that (7) 16 ga. wires won't fit in the protective tubing that goes into the headlight bucket.
I could make it work either using a thinner diameter tube or go with a braided tube, but that would defeat my goal of making a replica harness.
As of now, it looks like the max I can bump the gauge up to is 18 and still retain the original look. There IS one other option that would get me to 16 gauge and that would be using a TXL primary wire that has an extra thin insulation covering. They are actually thinner overall than the regular 18 gauge wire, but I don't particularly want to risk thinner insulated wires rubbing around where exposed.
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Hi Mike,
Will be needing a couple of harnesses myself shortly and have been looking at options.
With a 5amp alternator and 5 or 6 amp/hr battery, the electrical system is marginal as confirmed by CL-100. Totting up the electrical load with everything on gives a max wire loading in the order of 7-8 amps, hence the 10amp fuse. In theory you could wire it all in 20awg or 0.5mm2 !!
To keep the voltage drops down and beef up the system, I will use 16g for the main wires, IE, All black/red wires to the battery, earth wires and the blue switched live supply. Everything else can be wired in 17/18g to give a useful upgrade. Some of the minor circuits IE 3w bulbs, neutral switch etc could be 20g. This compares well with previous replies
I would have no qualms about using the current thinwall wires, they use a harder pvc insulation and should provide good abrasion resistance. The harness is well protected with sleeving, grommets etc. Just make sure none of the unprotected wires are rubbing against metal parts or protect with stick-on foam sheet.
Did find the more sites I looked at, the more confused I became. Everyone has different ideas or use various wire designations and max current or wattage ratings, so put this table together :-
AWG Area mm2 Strands/dia Amps
20 0.5 16/0.20 11
18 0.75 24/0.20 14
17 1.0 14/0.30 or 32/0.20 16
16 1.5 21/0.30 21
May not be an exact conversion between imperial/metric but near enough.
Hope this helps, Brian.
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I agree with Brian's assessment and like his ideas for where to use the smaller/larger gauge wire on a harness. I did notice that the wire gauge on the original harness was smaller than I thought, yet the insulation cover was thicker. It amazes me that the original harness has 20g wire in some places, as Mike noted. It looks more like the wiring on the dynamo is smaller than I thought.
Well done guys!
Rowland