new wiring for future bobber?

fendrjgstng94

XS400 Newbie
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
CT
Hey guys

I have a 79 xs400 and am planning on doing a bobber project with it. My one main concern is the wiring, even though I'm an electrician by trade, I'm not too confident with motorcycle wiring (idk why). Do you guys reuse some of the stock wiring or is there a kit people buy specifically for bobbers that can help minimize wiring and make it easier to do for newbies? People say its pretty simple, but for some reason I'ts not clicking in my head

I want to keep the bike as clean as possible so pretty much what i want is a horn, night time lights and possibly a neutral indicator light (plan on reusing stock gauges) and maybe I'm forgetting other things to make it street legal. I'd also like to try to keep most of the wires hidden in the frame and fake oil tank. I plan on removing the electric start too once i get the motor up and running.

Any tips?

Thanks
 
Wiring isn't hard at all. There are numerous diagrams online that show wiring for a simple bobber. You'll need headlight, tail/brake light, gauge lights, license plate light, etc. If you want to keep it street legal, don't forget the turn signals as well. I just traced down the wiring for each component that I wanted to keep, and saved those wires. The rest got cut out of the harness and thrown away.
 
what about like the key ignition, did you relocate it to clean up the bars? and with the hardtail frame did you run the wires inside or just try to hide them as good as you could?
 
I'm interested in this as well. Took the headlight out and about 10 minutes later I woke up.. there are alot of wires in there.. I've thought about doing the same, making a new harness that can be tucked up under the rails out of sight. Plus the wiring on these bikes is likely 30 years old so new wire can't be a bad thing.

Does anybody know if the electronic ignition wires are all together under the battery, I would hate to remove some wires and then not have a running bike. I am thinking of using a seperate keyed ignition under the seat and maybe a dirtbike style kill switch so want to get rid of the oem bar controls. I know in addition to the run/stop switch, starter button and ignition there is also a safety switch in the clutch lever.

I would like to get rid of the turn signals as this bike is a just a country road bike but will have to check state/local laws governing the bikes first.

That's about all I have looked into the wiring right now.

we should have some good intel and pics on this subject in a few weeks time I bet.
 
what about like the key ignition, did you relocate it to clean up the bars? and with the hardtail frame did you run the wires inside or just try to hide them as good as you could?
Yes, I did relocate the ignition....I also changed it to a universal ignition that you can buy from most auto parts stores. I relocated mine off the left side of the bike, under the seat. My thread has a few pictures that should show the just of where it's at. I didn't run any of the wires inside the frame. Most of them are tucked and zip-tied up under the tank. The only wiring I want to hide inside the frame on the rebuild of the bike this winter is for the brake light. It's about the only wiring you really see, depending how you hide all of the electrics (fake oil tank, etc.).
 
I'm interested in this as well. Took the headlight out and about 10 minutes later I woke up.. there are alot of wires in there.. I've thought about doing the same, making a new harness that can be tucked up under the rails out of sight. Plus the wiring on these bikes is likely 30 years old so new wire can't be a bad thing.

Does anybody know if the electronic ignition wires are all together under the battery, I would hate to remove some wires and then not have a running bike. I am thinking of using a seperate keyed ignition under the seat and maybe a dirtbike style kill switch so want to get rid of the oem bar controls. I know in addition to the run/stop switch, starter button and ignition there is also a safety switch in the clutch lever.

I would like to get rid of the turn signals as this bike is a just a country road bike but will have to check state/local laws governing the bikes first.

That's about all I have looked into the wiring right now.

we should have some good intel and pics on this subject in a few weeks time I bet.
Most of the wiring in the headlight can be moved. The only thing I actually have in there is the wiring for the light and the light switch that comes out of the headlight housing. I have points ignition, so I can't help with the electronic ignition part, I'm sure someone else will chime in. I think that making an entirely new harness is the way to go actually. Like you mentioned, the bike's wiring is old, and it's just a matter of time before you will have problems with it. A new harness altogether solves that. There are wiring diagrams on here that show the stock wiring. Just study those really well, and cut out what you don't need. Another big advantage to making a new harness, is that you can keep the old harness, just in case something goes wrong.
 
here's one

0e6c9d3d.png
 
thanks everyone.

now if i was to put a fake oil tank in, what would be in there as terms for components. fuses? relays?
 
thanks everyone.

now if i was to put a fake oil tank in, what would be in there as terms for components. fuses? relays?
-started solenoid
-ignition
-fuse block
-relays
-turn signal flasher
-etc.

You could put anything you choose in there. I would recommend venting the "fake oil tank" somehow, so you can dissipate some of the heat that your electrics will produce. Make sure that anything in there is actually mounted, and not just "stuffed" in there.....I'm sure you knew that, but figured I'd still mention it.
 
This was one of my main concerns also. It ended up being fairly easy. I installed only signals, headlight w/ hi-lo, taillight, lic lite, brake light and switches, an ignition switch, and of course the ignition components. I deleted the guages (installed a bicycle speedo instead), I use my ear for a tach, deleted all the warning lights including the neutral light (without elec start you can tell pretty easy whether you are in neutral).

I put all the igntion components in the fake oil tank except the coils. The signal flasher is in there also. The fuse block is on top of the battery. I used almost none of the original harness except the nessecary plugs. I mounted the hi/lo switch in the headlight and the signal switch in the side of the elec box to save a ton of wiring and so I could delete the left side handlebar switches.

I ran all wiring externally, so I tried to keep as much out of sight as possible, and tried to locate components close together. I had a nice diagram that I'll post that worked well, but it still helped to draw a few pics of the bike and figure out routing of the circuits to keep everything as clean as possible and to be able to share as many wires as possible.

By no means a master at the job, but I figured it out and now have a pretty good idea of how to wire a bike. BTW, besides a good simple diagram like the one below, it helps to have a factory diagram, especially if you are using signals, etc.
 

Attachments

  • XS-400.pdf
    408.4 KB · Views: 585
1549508_10201787184293573_467233936_n.jpg


Anyone here have a wire diagram for a 1980 XS400 II Special? I want to bypass all the relays. All the simple diagrams I find online are for "Kickstart Only". I need it w/ the starter/Kill switch.
 
Back
Top