Hitchcocks Forum

I think we all know just how fragile Indian wiring looms are. Well. My Lightning has just suffered its third wiring fault. The first was the ignition feed snapping at the headstock. Then the tacho wire gave up. Now the AC feed to the headlight has gone bang. It's a wiring loom strip folks!

My '07 350 bullet lunched its stator at about 30k miles which took out the reg/rec too. I used this as an opportunity to upgrade the stator and fit a japanese reg/rec of a ZX6r I had lying about. Only other wiring issue I've had was a broken flasher wire in the rear sub-loom at about 50k miles.
It eats horns though. I can never keep a working horn from one MOT to the next but I think that's just vibration.
Multicore trailer board wire is fantastic for replacing sections of motorcycle loom. Especially the sub-loom under the mudguard. It's tough as old boots and comes in 7 and 13 core

My wiring loom is a bit of a patchwork at the moment. I'm currently considering buying in a stock Bullet loom and adding the Lightning wires. There can't be much of a difference. Just the feed for the tacho and the neutral light.

Oh. I forgot. There's the wires for the fuel gauge as well.

Barry,would a latter Thunderbird loom be a close fit?and should still be available
colin

If you have the skills (or patience) you would be better building your own loom. It could easily be better than the stock one. It isn't difficult if you have a general understanding of vehicle electrics, just time consuming.
It's something I'm going to do this winter on the 350 and I'm sure I can simplify the horrible mess that is the current loom. I plan to put the "center" of the loom in the left hand toolbox rather than in the headlight as it is at present. OK, I might use a bit more wire but it should be simpler and more robust with all connections soldered and with better quality connectors.

Later (AVL) Thunderbirds have all DC lighting and, I believe, a three phase alternator and reg/rectifier as well as TCI ignition.



Using a standard AC lighting Bullet harness with the fuel gauge and rev counter wiring salvaged from the original loom should work if you have a Lightning wiring diagram to work from. Making your own wiring loom on the basis of a couple of metres of good multi-core flex would probably be my preferred option. Besides the very handy 7 and 13 core trailer flex stinkwheel mentioned, 10 core is also available.



http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Choice-Cables/ ... 34.c0.m322



A.

Another vote for trailer type multicore wire. It makes things a lot easier.
Our hosts have a good selection of wiring sundries and a more extensive selection is available at http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/ who have everything you could possibly want (they have 7, 8, 10 and 13 core).
If you do decide to DIY get yourself a decent soldering iron (ideally a proper soldering station) as it will save a lot of frustration. Decent wire strippers are crimp tools are useful as well and save a lot of time.

Don't panic folks. I've been mucking about with wiring for years. Temperature controlled soldering iron. Check. Assorted tools. Check. Other 'supplies'. Check (That's the advantage of working for an Aerospace Company). At this time. Modifying a Bullet loom would be the simplest option. Then I could rebuild the original Lightning loom with better materials at my leisure. The intention is to be 'Off the road' for as little time as possible (Even a stock Bullet loom with keep me riding). I won't be making any decision until I strip back the loom around the headstock this weekend. I'll keep you Posted.

Although beware of solder. Only solder connections which are fully floating (ie two wires attached to nothing) or fully static (eg a wire going between two fixed points).



If you solder semi-static wires (so a wire attaching to a fixed down terminal), the solder creates a stress point just below the tinning where the cable goes from rigid to flexible, this is where it will fail. In such cases, crimps are best.



As an aside, when properly applied with a ratchet crimping tool, those red/blue pre-insulated crimp connectors will withstand in excess of 20kg hanging off them without the wire pulling out. I did a test on this using various terminal types and those came out best taking over double the weight of a non insulated bullet (although I preferr the neatness of these).