64 Tiger Cub Motorcycle

FRS 106, Michael Littman – Spring 2012

The Wire Harness

One of our main goals as the electrical team was to build a wire harness for our bike.

The wire harness that came with out bike was not compatible with an energy transfer system:

Therefore, we had to build one from scratch.  To start, we first consulted the manual for a good approximation of the wiring of the wire harness.  (Although very helpful, we didn’t follow the manual exactly.  For example, we felt certain single snap connectors were not needed.  Also, the manual didn’t fit all of our needs, as we had a speedometer, etc.)

With the circuit diagram in hand, we got to work.  Work involved meticulously soldering electrical contacts on to the end of wires in order to ensure a strong electrical connection and repeatedly making sure that the current flowed the way we wanted through the wire harness.  Here is the wire harness in progress, laid out on the ground:

Here is a convenient model of our wire harness: (In this picture, the sun refers to high beam and the lightning bolt refers to low beam.  As noted, the brown wire in the switch is actually white.  Not pictured in this diagram: some ground wires and the speedometer). The red arrow at the coil represents a connection to ground (the frame of the bike).

Finally, after we constructed the wire harness, we bundled it up and fastened it into the shape of an actual motorcycle:

Here is the finished product: