malt_vinegar

Good! Everyone should ride a Monkey Had a couple of rides, new engine is fitted, and working well. Exhaust sounds great! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyDirty1.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyDirty2.jpg Just got to add the new chain, 5 mins, job, and then it needs a clean after the wet weather! Its due for an MOT in April, so will get that booked in asap, and might have a bit of a prod of the carb to tune out some flat spots. But otherwise, it's riding well, and everything is working I have all the electronics fitted under the seat, its now 12, and using a larger 12v battery. Its got Electric start, and working dials. I am toying with the idea of adding a gear selector display, but I am not sure it really needs it. I also am planning to make up a small battery box and tidying up the wiring under the seat to make it look a bit neater, but not much more I want to do with it really!

I rebuilt a very tired 2013 KSR code 125 and it was quite a lot of work. I would strip down, clean and rebuild the brakes, with new seals and fluid as a priority. It's easy work, provided you can get the seals. It's not too expensive and will improve the overall feel of the bike. Also check all the bearings for smoothness and play. The ones used in the bike standard are likely to be sub standard and may well be on their way out. Notchy steering, swingarms and wheel bearings all make a bike feel sketchy. Chinese bikes are also notorious for rust. If you can, strip, clean (kurrust and wire brush) the frame/swing-arm and hammerite black it. You can use the straight to rust stuff after you have cleaned it up to help ensure it sticks and stays. I found the exhaust and heat shields were made of metal so thin they were mostly useless. Still, I cleaned, stripped and painted it with high temperature paint to make it look a little neater. Finally just hope they engine does not let go. Mine dropped both its standard valves on me on separate occasions, and even a replaced valve a short while after. They do not seem to like being rebuilt. I have rebuilt jap based engines much older and had no issues, but not this k157i fmi.

Next on the list, was knocking up a cable, and the required connectors. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition12.jpg Salvaging some connectors and separating the pins for re-use. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition13.jpg My boy and I got to work figuring out the wiring.. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition14.jpg Soldering (badly!) the new wires back to the salvaged connectors, they has some heatshrink added shortly afterwards. Repeat a few times: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition15.jpg Now, we have the makings of the loom/wiring extension http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition16.jpg Old vs New http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition17.jpg Back in place, fits fine. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition18.jpg Connectors, ready to be hidden away, with the original neutral light in place. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition19.jpg Stuck the light into the dash somewhere http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition20.jpg Notched out a little hole in the clocks housing, to run the cable through. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition21.jpg Folded around, and wrapped under the housing. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition22.jpg Wrapping up the wiring extension to join the two parts. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition23.jpg Routing the cable through, with a little adhesive catch holder near the headstock. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition24.jpg All fitted up, and WORKING... Well, mostly..... I then discovered a little oddity of the position switch. On connecting everything up, the numbers were a bit backward, and third gear would not work at all.. I kept testing what I though was the third gear contact, and it was fine, but would never work! Then i matched up the connector when the gearbox was in third gear, and it was flipped 180 degrees to where I thought it was, and in the space where there was NO selector contact... So, i fired up the bike, put it into 6th gear, and "3" popped up.... Ahh, i figured it out!! Pic to explain: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition25.jpg Right, so Red was what I assumed it was originally, with 6th gear having no connector, as it was likely a part that came from a 5 speed bike. I assumed the rotation was anti-clockwise as you look at the pic. However, it turns out the rotation is clockwise... and 3rd gear has NO connector. So when I was flipping 1-2 and 4-5 around, it worked, but showed 6th gear as 3 on the indicator... So, lesson learned! I will have to take the original part, and modify it, to add a 6th connector where the green 3 should be. At the moment, my plan is to drill a hole from the connector side, put a bolt through from the front, cut it short to length, drill a small hole in the inside, and solder a wire to that.before epoxy and re-silicone as before. I think that will give me a decent connection, and ALL the gears connected. I also will change the display to a blue one, with a 7 speed display, as the 6 speed one counts 0 (N) and as such, there is no 6th gear indication. This new display is on order already. However, its progress, and gives me the indication correctly on 1-2 4-5, blank on 3 and shows 6th as 3 So it will make sense to me only for the moment, till I get the new part made up!

Riding about on the bike, the two things I was missing at the moment on the dash were a clock, and a gear indicator. I searched high and low, and could find nothing other than the standard neutral light only position selector: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes15.jpg That is what it looks like as it is currently on the bike. Note only one wire, and this is only used for the Neutral light.. I had whipped this off before to get a better look at it, and one of the things I noticed on the backside is that there are 6 contacts, but only 1 wire. It seems very odd that Honda would make the base with 6 contacts, and not have an option to have a gear indicator! So i bought a secondhand one to get a better look at how it worked. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition3.jpg You can see what I mean in the above, with the 6 contacts. The smallest one is the Neutral light, the one to its left is first gear, to its right is second gear, and it rotates around anti-clockwise continuing. I had an idea. I figured that if I can get to the backside of those contacts inside the sealed part of the unit, I might be able to make my own version, with all the contacts working. Which can then be hooked up to an LED display unit, to give me the gear selection i wanted! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition4.jpg Here is where I need to get into.. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition5.jpg My early attempts were quite gently, seeing if i could prize, or scratch out the sealant. But it was taking forever to get as far as above, so I took a different route! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition6.jpg As you can see, I found this much easier going! You can see the backsides of the 5 unused contacts, and thy are nicely drilled and ready for solder. I tested the continuity from from one side to the next, and there were no shorts, and all the contacts checked out. Result! Now to make it work.. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition7.jpg Haha, a bit of soldering, and its starting to look like this might actually work out. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition8.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition9.jpg No warping, no burns, and no breakthroughs, so this should be good to test. I went from lightest colour to darkest, with White as first, and brown as fifth. I checked continuity of all the connections again, and no issues were found. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition10.jpg It almost looks oem from the contacts end. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition11.jpg Lobbed in some RTV sealant around it all, and smoothed it off a bit. Done! Checked continuity again once it was dried, and all good. Now I have ordered an LED display (they all seem to go up to 6 gears), so I will have 1 wire not in use, but should be able to get it in the dash neatly enough with a bit of work. The way the display works is quite simple. It has 1 12v feed, and 7 earths to correspond with Neutral, and the 6 gears (or 5 in my case). If you ground the wire for first, this displays a 1. So, you wire this up white wire, 2nd goes to pink, etc. As the selector moves in the gearbox, it touches each contact, completes the circuit, and displays the required number. Looking forward to the wiring up on the bike next, it should be here by Sunday i hope!

Did a few more bits: I was not too happy with the throw, and brightness of the standard lighting setup. I had read that only the left side was meant to work, which upon checking out the bulb types turned out to be BS, due to having dual filaments, and one was burnt out. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rlights1.jpg So, this was how much light it was throwing with one halogen bulb. Main beam was not much better either! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rlights2.jpg As a side point, i was also not keen on the colour they were producing... http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rlights3.jpg So, first, I dropped in an LED BA20D replacement, that I knew worked well on my Monkey bike: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rgearposition2.jpg Straight away, it was much better!!! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rlights5.jpg Here it is next to the original main beam bulb from above to show the difference. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rlights7.jpg Now both changed, and low beam on both sides with LED to match the sidelight LED bulb. Will have a ride out on it tonight, and see how it is in the real world, but it looks good so far I also want to check I am not blinding people!

The bike went for it's MOT, and.... FAILED It had a binding rear caliper, which I managed to miss somehow. Still, it was sunny, and I was outside, so I took some pics. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes1.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes2.jpg Quite happy with how it looks for the moment, some niggles to sort, but not looking too bad for an old bike! I also made some downlight DRL for the nose, because I had some spare LED strip, and fancied giving it a go http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes3.jpg They are not too overly bright, but light up the mudguard at night, and make a visual highlight to help being seen. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes4.jpg Its more of a mock up for now, but I like the idea, and will likely revise this to make it a little more polished. I have them run off the sidelight bulb circuit, so should be on all time. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes5.jpg Someone warned me about these fairing bolts, but I am willing to give them a go, as the fairings were held on with a total hodge-podge of random bolts. I will keep an eye on them though.. At the same time as ordering my new brake caliper seals, I also ordered a brilliant little bike lift! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes6.jpg Here it is, £40 worth, and supposedly good for up to 500kg. It is not meant for lifting a whole bike, but it will tilt it on a front or rear wheel to give access, which is all I need. Its also great because it folds near flat and takes up next to no space when not in use! I could not recommend it enough if you do not have space for a proper lift! It made the brake job a LOT easier, especially as the bike has no centre stand. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes7.jpg Wheel out, bit mucky in here. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes8.jpg Brake system all out. Very easy to do once the wheel is out. Split pin for brake lever, 1 screw for a cable guide, and 1 bolt for the resevoir. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes9.jpg Pads out, and removed the piston, just by cranking the brake till it popped out, the just pour out the old fluid, and clean up any spills. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes11.jpg Mucky in here! Seals are all crusty and bulging out. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes13.jpg Old Seals, looking a bit worse for wear! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes14.jpg Seals out - and then I gave the recesses a good clean with a jewelers screwdriver. I also took the time to give the caliper as a whole a quick clean up whilst it was out. Assembly is reversed, and I had to put in a new bleedvalve, as the old one was VERY knackered. Put in new pads too whilst I was there. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes18.jpg All done, bar the bleeding. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes17.jpg Lunched bleed valve, was a right pain to remove, but got there in the end! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes20.jpg Threw on the new chain whilst the wheel was off. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes21.jpg New fairing bolts fitted, and you can see the last bit of carbon covering I put onto the rather faded and scuffed clock/dash trim panels. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rbrakes23.jpg Another one. Whipped it down to the MOT place for the free re-test yesterday, and they looked over the brakes, checked they worked, and handed me an MOT pass Had a good long ride out Sat afternoon, and its feeling like a new bike. Much smoother with the new chain, and the bike just FEELS a lot more solid. Hard to explain, but I really just feels more sorted.

1-3 are on one coil and 2-4 on the other. So likely you just have some dodgy coils. I would start there first and just replace them both anyway.

more wrapping! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125RWrap13.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125RWrap14.jpg I am liking the look overall!

Wiring is all tidied up at the front, now to the rear! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rled1.jpg Ahh, someone has been in here before too.... I shall snip down and tidy up the rather odd extensions/changes in here to make it look a bit neater... http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rled2.jpg Fairings back on, and the front now looks like this... A little bit neater I think! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rled3.jpg Rear given the same treatment. Had some fun routing the cables down inside the plastics at the rear, but no issues in the end. Now I can get the wrapped rear panels back in place, and see how it looks... http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rled4.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/CBR125Rebuild/CBR125Rled5.jpg Pretty happy with that, now toying with the idea of wrapping that grey plastic panel on the front of the tank...

Today I should have all I need to get this up and running: Brand new CDI type engine, of a certain capacity... A new 12v battery A wiring loom from a CDI equipped c90 cub A new 12v regulator/rectifier A new matched carb A CDI coil/wiring kit - Due today in the post A new low exit exhaust - Due today from courier. One engine: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyNewEngine1.jpg I actually already have the engine in place, but had clearance issues with the exhaust i was using before. Mainly around the electric start. So I decided against bending pipes to fit around it, as i was not sure how well it would survive such high temps. So found an under slung exhaust, that will change the exhaust routing totally. The new manifold and carb are fitting, but I have had to use a carb spinner to get it to fit nicely. Still, the carb spinner is a nice shiny red thing, so looks pretty cool.

Ok, so here was the loom being mocked up to the bike with crappy connectors, and long wires to work out the routing. This was when I decided to try and mount as much as I could under the seat to try and keep it looking a little bit more tidy! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring17.jpg I also managed to get a decent 12v Led headlight with proper dual led function for high and low beam. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring18.jpg Then i found a small LED equipped fuse box. It's great! when a fuse goes, a red LED, lights up next to it, managed to hide this away under the seat, and this makes equipping the bike with most of the 12v gear easy. You can also see the black finned regulator/rectifier bolted to the front seat mouting point in this pic, and later in the completed pics. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring19.jpg I then took two of the variable AC feeds from the stator connector, and fed them into the new 6v regulator/rectifier. This is then run to the 6v sealed battery, and this in turn feeds to the 6v to 12v adaptor. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring20.jpg I set the headlight main bulb to come on only via a switch when the ignition is on (red switch on the indicator/horn controls) so it would only run off sidelight unless I specifically wanted the lights on. I have decided I now need to add LEDs on the top of the headlight housing that light up when either the indicators or main lights are on, as its hard to see during the day, and the switches are easily knocked accidentally when reaching for the horn, indicators or lights. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring21.jpg The wiring was all shortened, wrapped up, and the horn was added. Then it was ready to ride! here is the "cockpit" all lit up. I added and LED t5 bulb to the speedo to brighten it up a bit, and its a clear improvement, and works fine in the dark http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring22.jpg Fresh back from a rainy shakedown the night before the run itself! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring23.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring24.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring25.jpg I rode about with a guy I met before from a C90 club, and also another monkey aficionado and some other riders of proper sized bikes. One chap on a massive Harley rode alongside me all the way down an NSL dual carriageway, and kept a big gap between me and the cars! He was a great help. My monkey mate and I avoided the main roads all the way home! Take aways from the ride.. 1 - The bike needs to be faster at the top end. 2 - Electric start would be superb 3 - Lights didn't last a full day 4 - More brake performance would be nice 5 - Paint needs doing! Solutions 1 - New engine and carb are in the works, just waiting on a quote for a newer engine with more capacity! 2 - As above - electric start should be a possible with this new motor 3 - 12v system would come with the new motor, allowing a straight 12v battery and 12v regulator/rectifier, with little adjustment of the custom wiring loom needed! 4 - My new c90 cub friend is helping me source a new set of forks, with a disc for the front 5 - The Cub was sporting a superb powdercoat job in the correct colour. So numbers have been exchanged and she will be going in soon, likely after the new motor. Not sure when this will all happen, it depends on the availability of the new motor. Its going to be fun!!

Started on the franken-loom. Hooked up the battery side on the bench with all the new bits with clip connectors to test it all out, and work out what is the best way to wire it. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring16.jpg So, we have a little spot light working as the headlight off a relay (just for mock up to test the relay), Orange unit is the 12v flasher (would not run at 6v, so going to hook it up off the 12v line), then we have the 4 indicator (chasing LED type) on the right. I have a 6v horn on the middle left, just below that is the igntion/kill switch/key unit. 6v battery is at the top, with the 6v - 12v adapter below it. Then the control unit at the top right. Finally, a volt gauge to keep an eye on the converter's output. Wiring was just done with small scraps for the mock-up, and clearly is not for real usage! But I wanted to get my head around it all before I started attaching to the bike. Next was to mount the battery to the bike. I decided to mount it below the seat, as it would be mostly hidden, and it has room for the adapter and other components, if needed. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring11.jpg I drilled a couple of holes, tapped them for mounting the adptor, and the battery is held in with a thick zip-tie, and it can be removed and replaced easily enough. I have a sealed battery unit so as to remove mounting angle restrictions, and allow me to lay it horizontally. Installed the controls: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring12.jpg Seat back in place, with battery and adapter hidden away. You can see the 12v lines (yellow and black) to head to the front of the bike for lighting/accessories duty and the 6v charging lines (Red and black). I have put the Halogen bulb plans on the backburner for now, and have ordered a better LED bulb for the headlight, and will run it off the 12v supply. I did this as I am also planning to run all the other lights off the adaptor for now to see how the battery/charging holds up from the new regulator/rectifier. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring13.jpg I also have started testing out waterproof automotive connectors. So, used one of those to connect the 12v line, which you can see here: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring15.jpg I also mocked up the charging circuit, and tested the output. It seems to be working fine, and I am planning to try and put it all together tonight on the bike with the temp connectors, then use the proper higher grade wires to get the correct lengths and connectors if I have time. So it should be tidy, easy to remove (for painting) and a lot safer/cleaner/reliable than before

Ok, bit more work done. I added a remote kill switch to the current loom so I can kill it from a flip switch on the top of the headlight whilst it has no key kill switch. Its temporary, and uses the existing high beam indicator hole, so not a final item, but it looks cool http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring10.jpg You can also see my temp headlight for test riding at night whilst the old lights are too pants! Anyway! The 2 wire regulator I had was a half wave, so was producing 3v, so I found a full wave 4 wire which claimed 6v Honda compatibility (albeit not the specific model I have). 4 wire: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring9.jpg The pink and yellow wires are AC feeds from the stator, and the red is a 6V+ out and the green goes to the battery negative (6v-) This is then fed into a 5v-11v DC converter to provide a solid 12v, in theory. (seen here with the now redundant half wave rectifier) http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring8.jpg This SHOULD allow me to run at least a full power 12v headlight (maybe an LED one if needed). I will then look to run all the other lights from the 6v+ from the battery meaning I can use LED bulbs all round, as the existing variable AC setup makes them flicker/dim too much at idle I mocked up a temporary wiring loom from the old loom I removed previously just to test my plan: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring7.jpg The bike started. and the regulator/rectifier was producing 4.8v at idle to 7.2v at fullish throttle (was testing indoors, and didnt want to be anti-social). the DC converted was producing a SOLID 12v at any throttle position. I ran an LED bulb from it as a quick test, and it worked well. So, my theory works (at least for now!). I just need to place the battery into the bike frame somewhere sensible, hook up the 4.8/7.2 line to the battery with a fuse of some value (not figured this out yet). I could do this without the battery in theory, and just run the lights only when the bike is on, like the original, but I might as well try to do it properly Then, run the 6v lights direct from the battery on 6v, the converter off the battery to give me a 12v headlight (and maybe a USB socket). Once this is all working, then its wrapping the loom, changing all the bullet and spade connectors to waterproof automotive connectors, and work out fitting in a key powered ignition/kill switch. I have also ordered a set of 6v/12v indicators, so I can decide where I am going to run them from. They are a slim, chasing LED type, to keep the power consumption down. Further to this, I have also got a 22mm bar hanging switch unit with an indicator switch, horn and light on/off switch. To work with that switch and indicators, I have ordered an adjustable flasher relay, so i should be able to adjust the flashing rate on 6v and 12v to suit. I managed to find a decent key/kill switch unit that should fit my existing mount, so that is on its way too! Oh, and a 6v horn, as the bike horns seem to pull quite a bit of current for what that are (~1.5amps) so I guess with my 12v dc converter maxing out at 4amps, I want to keep as much on the 6v live from the battery as possible to give the best headlight power available. So, the next couple of weeks will be putting all these bits together, working out how best to make the loom work in as few a wires as possible, adding proper waterproof automotive connectors where needed, and generally tidying up. After this is all done, its likely going to be the final strip down, to get the frame and forks sent off to the painters I also happen to think my existing LED array bulbs are less than efficient, but I have found a halogen 35w BA20D bulb that should only pull 3amps, so will give that a go on the DC converter.

Plotted out the cabling, and cobbled it together with new wires and connectors off the stator. I then wrapped, and neatened it up. I still have 1 live to play with on the brick connector, which should allow me to do battery charging/light power without changing the main loom for now. http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring3.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring4.jpg Overall it looks a lot neater under here. It also shows clearly the little fire damage the paint had under the tank, where the carb caught fire once! I also need to work on my fabric wrapping skills http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring5.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring6.jpg I still need to find and add a key that will fit to do two things, bridge the ignition live to earth when off (acts as a kill switch) and then have 1 position (ON) for powering up the lights. I still also have to figure out how to add the regulator and rectifier when they turn up, and make it look neat, so I can add in the battery. Under the seat, or behind the engine mount look like good options when I get around to it I will shrink wrap any ends when I do the final loom, just to keep it tidy, and I decided to use a rechargeable horn which arrived this morning to keep the wiring to the bars more simple! Getting closer to pulling it all to bits, so I can get it shot blasted and re-sprayed, and rebuild the forks! Should have a new project in the garage very to help me keep occupied whilst it is away!

I did some playing around with the gearing today. I have moved up to a 17T front sprocket (it will not fit any larger without fouling!), and a 31 rear. I am now hitting 40mph on a slight descent, and 36/7 on the flat. Happy with that for now, the gearing is a LOT longer, and 1st and 2nd are actually usable, if not perhaps a tad slow.. So will do a bit of tweaking with the carb, timing and valves to see what I can get out of it, and will likely iron out any flat bits nicely. I will leave the 24t rear in case I get a LOT more power out of it. Some of my spare sprockets, new tank emblem bolts (Honda package each tiny part idividually!!) and front sprocket retaining bolts: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyGears3.jpg Couple of things happened in the testing... The wiring starting playing up and it would not let the bike start. So I pulled it all off, and continuity tested the lot, and could not find any problems... Next step was to just run the Coil wire direct off the stator (effectively hotwiring it) and it jumped straight into life again. I figured it might be the ignition switch/key that was screwed up. So I pulled it apart, and it looked VERY secondhand. With some corrosion: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyKey1.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyKey2.jpg I continuity tested everything, and it mostly made sense, and matched to the wiring diagrams I had. So I supposed it could be the corroded case wire, i removed, and re-soldered in a new one to no avail. So i think this part may have more corrosion inside and i didn't want to delay stuff more, so I got fed up and put the part on the shelf for now. Ok, so as I could not find the issue, I decided to make a new "loom" (it's so simple once the key part is out of the equation, it should not really be called a loom!). For testing I hooked up the lights direct to a hot wire from the stator (using spade female connectors), then the coil, and switched brake light (which runs on its own line). I don't think I really need the no-lights option on the ignition, so will just have an ALL ON setting for everything. I also changed some connectors in the headlight/front loom, and re-wired it/wrapped it all to make it a little tidier in there.. See below in a state! Also note the missing tank badge ready for its new bolts/screws: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring1.jpg You can see the empty ignition/key ring under the front of the fuel tank. Plan now is to replace that with a standard (generic) ON-OFF key controlled switch which I am sourcing now. Rear lights wiring in progress: http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyWiring2.jpg Once that was knocked up, and tested as working, I took it out for a ride, and it rode perfectly. GREAT! So I fabric wrapped it, and hid it away where possible to make it look a lot neater. Its a bit dirty from its test run in the rain! http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyPhase2-1.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyPhase2-2.jpg http://maltopia.co.uk/images/monkey/MonkeyPhase2-3.jpg Next is a plan to replace all the spade connectors with waterproof modern plug connections (already arrived), and fit a 4 point plug to the new loom to fit into the original stator plug a bit more neatly than my individually crimped spade connectors. You can also see the new bars properly now in these last pics! I have also decided to try and fit a regulator and rectifier to the new loom, so I can run a battery for the lights. It should keep them brighter at low throttle, as the voltage varies on the hot lines from 3.7v up to about 9.5v at full thottle. The Regulator dumps any voltage over 6v to earth, and the Rectifier changes the AC to DC to keep the bulbs from blowing. Mine don't actually blow at the moment in fairness, as some bulbs are now LED and the remaining incandescent bulbs are 12v rated so should survice the 9+ volts on thr 6v line. This will also allowing it to charge the 6v battery I am planning to fit.