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Puget Dude’s creations and fabrications (Random project thread.)

Old Man Roger

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Maybe I’m misjudging the size, but it looks huge? Keep in mind how little force it takes to shift a motorcycle, you don’t want accidental shifts during hard braking.

A good solid stop would probably be a good idea too, too much leverage on the shifter could cause some issues with shift forks.
 
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Ohmthis

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I made a shifter similarly on a go cart years ago. I also suggest some type of stop on either the handle or shift rod. We were pretty zealous with our shifts, but didn’t break anything. A stop would protect any possible problems. I hadn’t checked in for a bit. Did I miss the headers? Did you build them or buy? The build is looking good.
 
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PugetDude

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I'm going to add opposing springs on the shift lever to dampen and limit travel. Thinking about miniature gas shocks, would be easy to limit travel with those... Ideas welcome.

Headers start at post #617...modified stock Goldwing headers, the mounting flanges are really finicky so I didn't want to chance getting them out of alignment.
 
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Bigblue&Goldie

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I'm going to add opposing springs on the shift lever to dampen and limit travel. Thinking about miniature gas shocks, would be easy to limit travel with those... Ideas welcome.

Look at the big RC Car shocks, a lot of trophy trucks use them on the gas pedals to help keep them steady and help with pedal return.
 
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PugetDude

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Built a quick bench in the garage at our summer place. Took the easy route and used the shelving that was already there as the base. Plywood drops from the construction dumpster next door. It's surprisingly strong. 18" deep and 14' long.

Wanted a rolling cart that would fit under the bench, space is at a premium. Torin offers one with a sliding top that doubles as a workspace. Perfect size, ~$200 on Amazon.... But another vendor on Amazon had an unbranded one that looked identical at $129....took a chance. Received the Torin branded cart. It's not heavy duty, but it is plenty sturdy for what I use it for
And it fits under my "temporary" bench, out of the way when I am not using it. IMG_20240830_131246891.jpgIMG_20240830_131312836.jpg
 

larry4406

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Built a quick bench in the garage at our summer place. Took the easy route and used the shelving that was already there as the base. Plywood drops from the construction dumpster next door. It's surprisingly strong. 18" deep and 14' long.

Wanted a rolling cart that would fit under the bench, space is at a premium. Torin offers one with a sliding top that doubles as a workspace. Perfect size, ~$200 on Amazon.... But another vendor on Amazon had an unbranded one that looked identical at $129....took a chance. Received the Torin branded cart. It's not heavy duty, but it is plenty sturdy for what I use it for
And it fits under my "temporary" bench, out of the way when I am not using it. IMG_20240830_131246891.jpgIMG_20240830_131312836.jpg
That’s nice use of what would be “the stool space”. Clever!
 

Bob Heine

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It's surprisingly strong. 18" deep and 14' long.
Scott, I believe that's an ideal size garage workbench. I found the shallow depth reduced my flat surface disease flare-ups. The length offers the opportunity to find a small workspace quite often. It also makes the search for the lost tool shorter when the pile covering it is limited.
 
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PugetDude

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This is going to be interesting... I have little to no experience with basic automotive wiring, let alone a large touring motorcycle...IMG_20240901_145121223_HDR.jpg
From what I have read online getting the ECU hooked up to all the sensor wiring is most important, most of the the rest can be abandoned... So, that's where I am starting. IMG_20240901_145115615.jpg
Did get the coils mounted and that little branch of the wiring wrung out, the guy I bought the engine from had #2 and #4 reversed... Kept wondering why the loom didn't fit.
IMG_20240902_163545736_HDR.jpg
 
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PugetDude

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Don't sweat the wiring. I had some anxiety when I wired up the Cobra but it was just one wire at a time with no big deal. It went surprisingly quick too.

:beer:
I hope you're right. The trike builder I bought the engine from told me I didn't need 90% of the harnesss if I was going to wire the car conventionally. I have a Speedway Street Rod wiring kit, just going to use as much of the Goldwing wiring as needed to control the motor. Time will tell.
 
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zmotorsports

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Don't sweat the wiring. I had some anxiety when I wired up the Cobra but it was just one wire at a time with no big deal. It went surprisingly quick too.

:beer:

^^This Scott. Don't sweat it. Just take wire by wire and component by component and focus on system critical items and work your way to the accessories. The first couple of engine transplants I did with EFI back in the 90's, I too was intimidated by the wires but thinking through it systematically sorted things out in my head and made everything flow with a logic behind it.

You'll be fine. The car is turning out nice so far, this is just the next step in the process.
 

Old Man Roger

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I will probably have to jumper out the bank sensor, kickstand and clutch switch wiring since I don't have any of those switches. I will want the neutral switch.
I may be wrong, but to the left of the scissors in the first picture of the harness, that may be the tip over/bank angle sensor? If it has an arrow, just leave it hooked up, and mount it so the arrow faces up.
 

LXCam

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I will probably have to jumper out the bank sensor, kickstand and clutch switch wiring since I don't have any of those switches. I will want the neutral switch.
Just a possible heads up. Some of those sensors have resistors in them so matching that or the impedance (if its a little more complex) can be important.
 
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PugetDude

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This is a positive sign. Waded through the hundreds of wires in the Goldwing harness to figure out how to get a timed spark out of the ECU. Thought I would throw a hail Mary around all the unnecessary wiring, so I jumpered 12v power to the Honda Fuse/relay box, and plugged in the ECU, the pulse generator and the coil packs. IMG_20240907_132735025.jpg
I ignored the Honda schematic and wired up the starter and ignition circuits with an old-school Ford solenoid. This got me around all the safety interlocks on the Goldwing. IMG_20240907_132835304.jpg

Stared at my temporary wiring for a while and then got up the courage to turn the ignition on... Waited a minute to ensure that I wasn't generating smoke anywhere, then twisted the key to engage the starter. It turned over immediately.

Pulled a plug and was able to verify that I was indeed getting a timed spark!


More to follow.
 
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PugetDude

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I’d be so tempted to squirt some gas down the carb and fire it up. Just to hear the exhaust note!
Had to dummy up a cooling system first. Used the old Honda radiators and molded hoses. When the guy I bought the engine from drained the coolant he didn't replace the drain plug☹️. Luckily it was a 6mm x 1.0 thread, but I had to make a soft plastic washer to get a flanged bolt to seal.
Didn't have enough hose clamps, so it was 12 gauge solid copper wire and a set of linesman pliers to the rescue.
Finally ready to try ..IMG_20240907_174032740.jpg
Poured a little gas in the carbs, which promptly ran out through two different open lines...
Got those plugged, poured in a little more gas, cycled the throttle, and turned the key ..

More to follow😉
 
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PugetDude

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After a month of trepidation around getting this Frankensteinian hybrid running, it fired up on the first try. Cranked a bit, coughed a couple of times, expectorated a bit of nasty brown goo , and then roared into life! Only ran for a few seconds until the carbs ran out of gas, but what a relief.
Open headers are not conducive to running in an attached garage. I did start it a couple more times to ensure it wasn't a fluke. Had to open the throttle quite a bit to get it to fire, but it did respond accordingly after starting. LOUD... So loud that my
Neighbor was so excited to hear it fire up he launched off his couch in the middle of a phone call, said " I gotta go" and ran over to witness History in the making.🤣

As @shortykorte mentioned, it sounded a lot like an uncorked SBC.

Ordered a set of inexpensive 2" glasspacks from Summit to hang temporarily so I can get some extended run time. Should be here early this week.

And a big thanks to @readhead for the little custom startup gas tank. I will be using that next week, plan is to get this engine running and then start cutting away the hundreds of bike wires I don't think I need- one at a time...want to use conventional hot rod wiring for the car and bare-bones Honda wiring off the ECU for the engine.
 
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