Honda CB550 four K AWY 834S

[Bryanj]

Old fuse boxes can give problems as the spring clips that hold the fuses get corroded and also loose their springiness giving high resistance contacts which can get hot enough to melt the solder in the fuse cap and on the back where the wires attach. On the sister US site Hondaman does a plug and play blade type replacement or its easy enough to do your own

[Nurse Julie]

Check for continuity on all wires before fitting to bike. 40+ year old copper wire can literally fall apart inside the outer cables 😭😭😭
http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,15937.msg133703.html#msg133703

[Rob62]

Checking before fitting is a great suggestion. Connect the handlebar controls (if you have them)... its easier to correct any faults with the harness on the table.. But generally go through every connection, give it a good clean, replace any damaged insulation, nip up any loose bullet connectors or replace them if they are non-standard.... Just generally tidy it all up and you should be good to go. Back in the day those coils were fitted on backwards with the ht leads coming out of the rear because on a wet dingy day she used to missfire... but I would probably be tempted to replace them now with new reliable modern items, they’re not expensive and they look good..especially if you’re not anal about originality. I bought some for my CB750 from wemoto i think they were about 25quid a set.. Having said that, if they still work you could just use them as they are.

[K2-K6]

I can't find the thread containing it,  but someone on here was running the loom (not components) through a diswasher cycle to clean and prep it.

Could have been BigAl.

[Nurse Julie]

I can't find the thread containing it,  but someone on here was running the loom (not components) through a diswasher cycle to clean and prep it.

Could have been BigAl.

Mike the Bike always uses the dishwasher for the main loom and so do we if they are really cruddy. It's also so much nicer to work in a non black, sticky, dirty pile if wires 😁

[rocker61]

a big thank you to all that replied, all ideas duly noted and gratefully received. nurse Julie- the nearest to a dishwasher I have is a teenage daughter who thinks that even washing plates and cutlery is a form of medieval torture

[rocker61]

rob 62 - I have read on a different thread about reversing the coils, but it was to help stop the ht leads frying on the exhaust manifold

[K2-K6]

a big thank you to all that replied, all ideas duly noted and gratefully received. nurse Julie- the nearest to a dishwasher I have is a teenage daughter who thinks that even washing plates and cutlery is a form of medieval torture

The trick is to put it in someone else's dishwasher,  then avoid any contact after retrieval 

[rocker61]

oddjob thanks for the info,duly noted.when cleaning the crud off I dismantled them from their mounts,cleaned and returned in the same places.on my loom I have two angled and two straight ngk caps, I presume angled are 1+4, straight 2+3?

[Rob62]

Thats’s correct rocker.. cranked caps to the outside.. My recollection of reversing the coils is a bit blurry because its so long ago. I cant remember exactly where I got the tip from but my thoughts are that it wasn’t an uncommon thing back in the days when plenty of people used these old bikes all year round as their main transport (as did I). I definitely didn’t come up with the idea myself, I was only 19... At that time I worked at the Yorks Copper Works with about 4000 others, they had a bike park with literally hundreds of bikes in there every day all year round so there was plenty of advice for us young bikers.. i can vaguely remember having a conversation with somebody at work about it... Certainly the heat from the headers wouldn’t be a problem, not in the short term at least.

[rocker61]

hello folks, been following nurse Julies suggestion about testing the harness and found a few problems wiring wise, the wires to the clutch switch were hanging on by about 6-7 copper  strands so new one ordered from dss, and a few bullet connectors mangled and need replacing, I would be grateful for any thoughts on the following -
bullet connectors or spade?
stripping the wire ends, twisting the copper threads and solder coated  before fitting connectors for better contact?

[Bryanj]

Stick with standard size bullets and get a decent crimping tool. I have a Ripaults 3000 which show up on ebay occasionaly and vary wildly in price, also have a "spare" which i might consider parting with

[Rob62]

Yep definitely stick with Japanese style bullets, they are available on ebay or rs components etc... As far as soldering is concerned, if you’re just preparing the end of a wire to fit a bullet then no need to solder but if you are adding on lengths of new wire then yes twist and solder the ends... but if you need to make such repairs its probably better to replace the entire length if you can (although you will find such joins on original looms in some instances), stick to the correct gauge of wires too. I wouldn’t bother buying an expensive top quality tool personally, unless you plan on repairing looms for a living, but avoid anything un-branded cheap and nasty, I tend to try and go for middle ground compromise of price v quality... same advice goes for any diy mechanic buying tools.

[Rob62]

Rocker, have you checked out this guy’s channel on YouTube?
https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicOctane
He builds lots of CB550 brat bikes, all the same style but they look cool.... he does a lot of mods to the electrics adding led’s etc.. Plenty of good content, def worth a look.

[rocker61]

rob62, just sat thru a couple of vids, seems a decent source of info ill sit thru some more this week. Thanks for the link