[Old Okie]

I am sure this has been covered but... I am working on a "79 Custom. Where does that wad of wiring that is piled behind the headlight really need to be??? Inside the headlight shell?? Will it get too hot??? Also how many horns should this bike have?? I can find only one mounting spot, behind the headlight. Thanks for the help.

 

[philbrewer]

I am sure this has been covered but... I am working on a "79 Custom. Where does that wad of wiring that is piled behind the headlight really need to be??? Inside the headlight shell?? Will it get too hot??? Also how many horns should this bike have?? I can find only one mounting spot, behind the headlight. Thanks for the help.

Shove it in the headlight bucket. Or do what i am doing and get rid of what is not needed.

 

[kingston73]

I'm pretty sure the 79's only had 1 horn.  I don't think Honda put 2 on until the GL's.

 

[marshallf3]

Believe it or not on the originals all that wiring was inside the headlight bucket - how I haven't a clue. Remember that the bike you're working on once had an aftermarket Vetter fairing on it but I couldn't see any evidence that the wiring had been changed to accomodate it.



There was only one horn on the stock bike, but if two would sneak in there the more the merrier. If you can figure out how the one mounted then perhaps comparing the fiche pix of this one to a dual horn GL might give a hint if it's possible.

 

[Blindstitch]

In the headlight bucket and one horn. Unless you want more.

 

[marshallf3]

In the headlight bucket and one horn. Unless you want more.

This is the gentleman that so graciously offered to help me with my bike as I've been going through all this cancer treatment stuff. He's put on all the parts, I've got the ones that need polishing and buffing at my office and I've been working on them as time permits.



I'm also stripping & priming my extra tank to be painted along with the side covers.



It is, in fact, close to being restored close to original as best could be. Paint won't be though, it's just going to be basecoat/clearcoat metallic blue with the tank wings and side cover decals. It's a really bright blue, similar to what you may have seen on some of the newer Harleys.



The horn question comes from the fact that it didn't have one when I got it. I bought an aftermerket one that's either here or with him but I also had a set of those dual-tone horns I scavenged off a GL at the wrecker yard. Thought the dual tone would be nice if they will fit.

 

[RAGBrian]

Nice thing about the Standards with the nacelle is that there are bracket that the multi pin plugs sit into to help sort out the wiring! And it all goes in there. As well as the Bosch relay that I installed to switch the Wolo air horn (similar to Steibel's horn) that is mounted to a bracket next to the radiator (couldn't fit it where the stock horn resides, which is WIMPY and ineffective).



Oh, I upgraded the headlight to one of the Sylvania Performance 7" round lamps (H6004) and has a lot more light output. I can see the light on the road during the day when riding on back roads that have a lot of shade (and darken the road way).

 

[marshallf3]

I've been worried about that. I've got an absolutely stock headlight bulb on this thing, came with the "year and model correct" headlamp bucket I bought for the restoration. I've never ridden the bike at night but have heard horror stories about the stock headlamps on these things.



Some have mentioned you can fit other bulbs into the stock buckets, is that what you did?



Bucket and ears are back wih me after he noticed a little minor rust starting to form on some of the inside areas of them and suggested it would be better to treat and put a halt to it now instead of later.It's not visible when they're mounted on the bike but if I don't do something now it'll eventually travel outwards and start to pit the chrome.



The parts are currently soaking in Evaporust and whatever that doesn't get is going to get hit with a very light brush on coating of phosphoric acid &/or the electrolysis method before all being coated with that "chrome" bumper paint I bought.



The acid etching method is fine for starting out on things you'll never see like the inside of a gas tank but I'm not sure it would play well with anything that had chrome on it. I've also noted most people have mentioned some pretty darn strong mixtures of acid:water when etching, I stuck with about a cup per gallon when using muriatic (~32% hydrochloric) or 92% phosphoric. Citric is probably safer than any of them but I'd start with at least two cups of the powder per gallon of water, it's a fairly mild acid.



I do love using the phosphoric at times as, after it's eaten away the loose stuff, it tends to convert remaining red rust into the more stable black oxide form - hard as a rock and will take paint. Some of you already know that phosphoric acid is the active ingredient in Naval Jelly, I just buy it as the concentrate since it doesn't cost much by the gallon from the same place I buy my citric in 50 lb buckets. I keep the stuff around at my job because I occasionally treat the domestic water systems with it in very mild form. It's USP rated (safe for human consumption) and works wonders to keep scale deposits at bay in the system, we've got fairly alkaline water here.