Rocketman's CBX

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Between the polished aluminum, chrome and powder-coating.... sunglasses will be required.
I like the purple.

[Syscrush]

Gnarled-up hands in exchange for shiny motorcycle bits - seems like a fair trade to me. :)

Very nice work!

[CopperCollar]

Today has been my only day off for quite a while and no end in site at work with two flight nurses transfering out.

So I took advantage of it and stayed up after my shift to finish up a 422 headlight bucket. This was the one that was on the Travesty and I had to rebuild about 6" of the outer lip and epoxy pieces in place. Off and on I would say I have 20 or so hours of work into it and Tried three kinds of epoxy before I found one that allowed the strength, flexibility and ability to work and shape it. I finally settled on Lock Tite plastic two part epoxy.

This was the first effort, all the gray was a piss poor epoxy that cracked easily, I had to cut it all out and start over:





Here it is done and with a second coat of paint:


Mike

[Syscrush]

Wow, what color is that paint?

[CopperCollar]

I use Duplicolor in the rattle can for this project, this is the gloss black. The stuff flashes fast so you have to be quick with it to avoid the overspray.

Mike

[CopperCollar]

Finally home after two all nighters, still wound up tight so I putzed in the garage a bit before napping for tonights adventure in the snow and wind.

I wanted to replace the rear brake master supply line but was to lazy to hunt down the ragline, I suppose VW or BMW shops have it. It is NLA from mother Honda.

SO I bought some brake reservoir line, cut to fit, slipped on the wire loom which is just a nylon weave, shrink wrapped the ends so they wouldn't fray and bought some spring clamps. I found a nice shiny spring clamp for the exposed end and just used a black one for the end hidden by the side cover:



Next I wired in a relay for the coils and the Dyna s module so they would benefit from a full 12 volts:



I polished up the bullet led turn signals and set them in place:


Tom had a Suzuki headlight bucket and had tucked all the wiring behind the frame head. It looked good to. I wanted to return a wee bit towards original and that's why I went with the 422 headlight bucket. I have an old wiring harness that I will modify this summer so I can return the Suzuki headlight bucket to another project, it just looks right on the bike and is what Honda should have done all along I think.

Mike

[Kool_Biker]

Next I wired in a relay for the coils and the Dyna s module so they would benefit from a full 12 volts:

Mike

This idea makes a lot of sense to me and is in line with the discrete fettling of the CBX electrics.
Not only for the 'full 12V' stated above (no idea if this would make any measurable difference to the performance of the ignition system), but primarily for saving our ignition and kill switches in the long run.
As I have reported recently, the 'elephant in the room' in the electrical system of my Z is the DYNA S I have also installed, measuring 9+ Amps with the engine stationary and the ignition ON.

Aris

[Syscrush]

As I have reported recently, the 'elephant in the room' in the electrical system of my Z is the DYNA S I have also installed, measuring 9+ Amps with the engine stationary and the ignition ON.

Wow.

Is that really normal?

[CopperCollar]

That's strange Aris,
I have a Dyna s and Accel coils. I installed a 5amp fuse between the battery and the relay. So far it has not blown.

I'll have to measure the amperage my system draws.

Mike

[Kool_Biker]

Mike

I have measured my system, twice, on two different occasions. And yes, this is what the DYNA seems to be drawing net, with the engine stopped and ignition 'on, after accounting for other loads'.
And do bear in mind, I have the OEM, that is standard coils and if anything, should be drawing less than yours.

Also please note the same current draw has been independently reported by mults14, see viewtopic.php?f=21&t=8213

Clearly average current will go way down once the engine fires, and duty cycles kick in ...

I would be hugely interested in your measurements, mine does seem excessive from where I come from.

Regards, Aris

P.S. I am a true follower of your fantastic work. Keep it coming!!!

[Syscrush]

Clearly average current will go way down once the engine fires, and duty cycles kick in ...

I would actually expect the current to drop significantly as soon as the coils are saturated - even when the engine is not running. And that should take less than 1 second. I feel like I'm gonna learn something valuable here. :)

[daves79x]

Coils are like electrical transformers, if you will. With the secondaries (primaries, in this case) all grounded, you will read continuity from high to low. Could it be that 'phantom' current is being measured? Don't know if such a thing exists, but 'phantom' voltage sure does. Your 9 amp draw seems quite high - just wondering if something else is coming into play here.

Dave

[Kool_Biker]

This is becoming interesting ...

I just pulled an OEM coil and did some tests:

The DC resistance of the coil measured at ~2.6 Ohms (guess +/- 10% for such a low resistance).
I then connected it across my power supply and sure enough at 12V its DC current draw was ~4.6 amps.
So the 9 Amp I have measured hides something iffy! As 4.6 Amps X 2 is close enough to the ~9 Amps I have measured, especially if you factor in the internal resistance of the DYNA switchers, could it be that TWO of my DYNA switches are on concurrently under these circumstances? The bike could certainly do without this extra burden!!!

I will have to investigate and come back.

Mike, I am so glad you brought this up. Frankly I measured the ignition current draw way back and just took it for granted. Obviously there is more to it ;)

[CopperCollar]

Aris, I followed your restoration quite closely and learned a great deal from your trials.

I am still in recovery mode from my work rotation and when I feel a wee bit more lively I will further investigate the amp draw on my system.

I am looking at painting and can't decide the color I want to go. Basic black is what I am leaning towards. I believe she was originally a Candy Glory Red based on some of the bodywork but CBX owners change body colors like Imelda Marcos changed shoes.

Mike

[Syscrush]

You know what's wrong with basic black?

ME NEITHER!!!

Carry on.