Here is a shot of the completed project.
The removal of all the equipment previously located above the front cylinder really cleans the look and lines of the bike up. The tank lift compliments all of this.
The mock up. At this point I had removed the tall riser that comes on the custom. I installed 1.5" risers and the top clamp/speedo mount from a Harley 72. The "idiot light" transfer required a bit of trial and error to finally get working.
Drilling and filing holes in the bars to internally run all the wires. These are HD bars off of a 72. I read a lot of bad info online about these. I tried sitting on different bikes with different bars to see what felt comfortable. I like the lower rise and soft pullback on these. The rise on the bars is 11.5". There are holes drilled on the sides for the factory wire clamps which I did not expect. The cost was about $80 from a local HD dealer.
Extending the wires 7".
I soldered and heat-shrunk all the wires individually, then heat-shrunk the pairs together. I connected pins to the end and reassembled the Deutsche connectors. This is a bit of a tedious process, but over 15 years in the pro a/v industry and I am pretty handy with a soldering iron and heat shrink. Patience is key here.
Speedo thrown in and bars on. Indicator lights not yet resolved.
Looks very clean with wires inside. Glad I took the time to do it!
Indicator lights in. Bezel from 2016 sportster low, 72, iron etc. Had to locate a jewel to hold my traditional bulbs as the new sportsters have LED lights. I did not want to convert to the LED wiring harness, jewel and everything else. This worked. Bezel, holder, jewel and 2 screws from hardware store about $25.
Speedo backing installed. The factory speedo had the trip odometer button on the back. The new sportsters with this speedo mount have the trip button on top of the horn button on the left controls. I had to improvise. Here is what I did:
I drilled a hole in the center of the headlight housing for a gromet and the trip wires, and one on the side for the trip button.
Here is the housing reinstalled. You can see the button loacted on the side with easy access when I fuel up to reset my trip.
Here is another mock up to see how much room I would have in the tank tunnel for the wires. Also installed a headlight visor.
More wiring.
Assembled and tucked. I wrapped all the wires with self fusing nylon tape, and electrical tape. The control wires, and turn signals wires go on the left of the tank, the speedo wires and horn wire are on the right. The horn is on the down tubes in front of the front cylinder.
At this point I had to determine where to put the choke knob and how to run plug cables. I relocated the ignition switch behind the rear cylinder.
Modified the factory choke knob holder, cut drilled, rounded and painted. Cut plug wires short and clean. I broke the fuel petcock during all of this. So that threw a curve in the job. Located a new one locally and threw it on (after spilling gas everwhere!)
I will post part numbers for those interested. I can tell you that I had about 18-20 hours in wiring, cabling, brake bleeding, clutch adjusting, drilling and fabricating. This was very enjoyable and rewarding. I drank many cold ones during this job, and for me that is sprite zero. This can be done at home with patience and basic tools. I strongly suggest buying and owing a bike lift, this would have been incredibly difficult without one.
I have a lot more I want to write up, but right now I am going to go ride again. Cheers!
A quick before after:
Before:
Before:
After:
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