So it was work on the bike time this past weekend. And to say I made progress would I guess be an honest statement. But to say I got it finished, would not be. Having high hopes for some progress and 'things happen when you press a button or move a lever' type stuff. You know, make it start to feel like a real motorcycle again and not just a pretty pile of rubber and metal.
Ceremoniously taking the M-Unit out of it's packaging and trying out various spots which to mount it over a Fat Tire brew, coming up with that mental plan of attack that seems to mostly work out.
Mostly.
(I just love my Newt and Ripley, people)
My basic challenges with this build come from things like mechanical and scientific 'whys things are how'. Or put a little bit more eloquently, the science and years and years of people smarter than I have over said years designed and engineered and conquered the inherent challenges in taking an engine and two wheels and making it all work together. You need an engine, right? And the engine needs fuel and oxygen, and a spark, which requires a source (battery) and a way to modulate it effectively (TCI) and will run itself dead over time without a way to recharge itself (stator) and will fry itself without the current being stable (regulator).
So, given the basic principles of all these things, and my lack of knowledge or specifics of such things, there's a lot of trial and error. And as I've mentioned in the past, I tend to learn and figure things out more by doing it wrong the first time.
So, we'll just continue with that theme for today.
The first main question to solve involved where to mount the new starter solenoid. The original bike had it mounted on the side, but I'd prefer to mount it under the new seat. And since the new one doesn't have that large rubber boot covering the whole thing, it would be very susceptible to the weather mounted where the previous one was. Or puddles.
But this is the thing, right, these dilemmas for me. I don't know if there's a reason why the previous one was mounted where it was or not. Don't know. Can't come up with one, but that means little. So, I'm gonna have to reach out to those much smarter than I about this silly question and will probably get a silly answer. But until I hear "no dummy, mount it anywhere you want" from someone who knows, I don't know.
So, once I got to this step, which was actually nearly the first step of the whole weekend's plan, since the solenoid is the first thing to connect and the things which all the other wires come from and go forth from there, given that it's now where the bikes main fuse is located. Since I don't know where I can mount this thing, I can't really do too much more.
Dammmmmmmmmm.
Not to be deterred and not to let the whole weekend go by without learning something, I did in fact learn something.
Apparently, the negative battery terminal is not the same thing as a negative ground.
The whole M-Unit is switched on and off, power-wise, by something. Since this is a custom build thing, it can be any switch thing you want. A lot of builders get creative in this sense and use things like a magnetic key or a starter button or keyless-thing or that or a rabbit foot (yes, seen that one). Me? I just wanted to use the ignition key. Could likely be a missed opportunity here to be creative or inventive, but I really at this point just want it to make some noise already.
So while I couldn't get too far down the road with the wiring in it's entirety, I could figure out a couple of things in the meantime. So I started with the ignition and that gaggle of wires from the previous harness, which has now been decimated beyond recognition.
Nothing like that lesson from Cortez, when he burned his ships upon arriving to the New World in order to motivate his crews.
So I figured through the process of elimination and the power of positive thinking and 'what could go wrong' that I found the wires needed for such a connection. And with regard to this step, I did indeed guess correctly.
I also leaned the negative needs to go to ground (chassis) and not the negative battery terminal.
So, turn the key and the M-Unit does its fancy spinning LED light thing. Awesome! We're in business.
Then 2 seconds later the whole negative wire starts smoking. Badly. Whoops.
And here's my reaction. I start laughing.
Well, I turn the key off first. And then start laughing. Because it's another thing that happens in life, and I've just added this one to that pile.
Things happen and experiences and lessons and these things, right? All the time, since being born. You learned that sidewalks can be slippery because you're 3 and you try and jump over the bush outside Burger King and fall and get stitches. You learn losing love hurts when you take it for granted one too many times and now it's gone. You learn to remember to tighten the oil cap back before adding new oil because you dumped 4 quarts on the driveway when you're 16.
So, I laughed.
And now I learned a little about electrical 101.
Just like the other times, lesson learned, put it in your pocket and keep going.
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