Adding winkers to a bike that never had them?
Adding winkers to a bike that never had them?I have a 64 CA77 that does not have turn signals. I would like to install them for added safety but I am not sure where to begin. Any tips?
Re: Adding winkers to a bike that never had them?No tips, but I sure will be watching this thread. I don't like not being able to signal other drivers without taking a hand off the handlebars. I have a '62 without signals and I plan on putting them on. I bought everything, just haven't found the time yet. You'll need a switch, a flasher relay and the turn signals. Do a Google search or check ebay. They sell kits with everything you need. You can find original ones sometimes, but they're usually pretty expensive. The wiring diagram is in the back of the owners manual.
WinkersI have not installed them on a bike yet, but have accumulated most of the pieces. Here's what I have so far.
No matter what, a person probably wants to use LED lights front and back to reduce the draw on the electrical system. I got LED replacements for the 1158 bulbs. Lots of inexpensive offerings on ebay. Going that route, you will also need to get a flasher that is designed for LED lights. Again, cheap ones on ebay. The real decision is about going for period look or aftermarket. Lots of aftermarket examples that will save you a lot of money. If safety is your only concern, this is probably the way to go. There is a guy on ebay (thegreatrandolfo?) that sells a set of 2 amber and 2 red lights in chrome bullet covers that seem fairly well made and would look right at home on a 305. Your imagination is the only limit - and how much time you have to look. As for period correct, if you get the real deal original you will also have to find something to plug the hole in your wallet afterwards. But with some work, you can get the "look" for a little less. The rear winkers mount where the little "Honda" plates are attached to the luggage supports. I am planning to make the bulb holder for the rears, though I haven't got around to exactly how to do it. Probably just cut a plate of metal for the mount. Attache the bulb holder to it and zinc plate it. I compared the rear winker lens screws to a tail light screw on one of my bikes and they appear to be the same. I think the early ones were JIS thread and later are regular metric, so don't assume. There are cheap plastic front winkers assemblies available form Asia that are a little cheesy, but will give the right look. You can find rear winker lenses and alot of other pieces separately and most of them can be purchased new - mostly from Asia with the exception of the switch and probably the wiring harness. I got what I considered a deal on a switch for $100. Unless you can be patient and wait for a deal, plan on at least $150 and probably closer to $200 for just the switch. The wiring harness with the extra wires for winkers are not common in the US, though I did pick one up recently on ebay. It would not be that hard to just make a loom for the winkers. There is a color coded wiring diagram at the beginning of the electrical forum. The wiring is pretty simple. That is my experience so far. I have spent a lot of time looking and I hope it will benefit others. I also hope that others who have gotten farther than me will chime in. Re: WinkersWe bought a '64 CA77 in August and a winker set (including the four lights, a switch, a relay and some wire) from thegreatrandolfo back in October and have been waiting for the right moment to install them. This is that moment, since the motor's out of the frame for some tranny work and the steering bearings are getting changed out. We may even have the whole bike media blasted and powder coated back to an original white.
The issue we're having is deciding where to put the front lamps. We don't like the clamp-to-the-handlebars look. We're considering mounting them to the headlight bucket or to the fork covers. Does anyone have a suggestion in this regard?
What I did to add Winkers was, I located some OEM left and right switch assys from another year and model Honda that had the same size handlebars as the Dream which is 7/8". In my case, the left switch is from a 1970 SL100 and the right switch is from a 1968 CA175. I would've liked to have had both switches from the same year and model but I couldn't locate a matching set. They look very close in appearance but operate identical.
The only real challenge I ran into was the wires were of different colors for the different models. Using a multi-tester, it was easy to determine the function of each wire. So when it came time to wire them up, I located the respective wiring diagrams for each year switch and sorted out where they belonged in respect to the Dreams wire harness. The right switch had 7 wires coming out of it and only 3 were needed for the starter switch and the hi/lo for the headlight. The remaing 4 wires I folded back and taped them up out of the way. The left switch has 3 wires but all are used so no problems there. You'll have to buy yourself some wire (I used 16 gauge, 18 gauge would probably do) and a 2 terminal flashing unit (thermal type) and thread the wire from the headlight bucket back through the frame to the flashing unit, the rear turn signals and a power source. For a power source, I tapped into the brake light switch (black wire) and mounted the flashing unit inside where the airbox is located for easy access. Some may have spliced into a wire coming off of the ignition switch, but I found it easier just to splice into the brake light switch. The switches have the perch for the mirrors and they are of the same mounting diameter as the Dream, so if you have your OEM mirrors, they'll work. What won't work is the clutch and brake levers, they're different. So you'll have to pick up a pair of handles as well, but they are very easy to locate and both are the same. So if you order handles for a SL100 they will be the same as if you ordered them for a CA175 To mount the rear signals, I used an existing hole in the rear fender brace which made a very nice location allowing me to keep the lights close and tight to the fender as I didn't want it hanging out where I can bump it. I haven't found a suitable place to mount a signal up front as of yet, so I have none. They're not OEM, but they're very functional. They don't look like some aftermarket add-on and your hands don't have to leave the bars which is a huge plus! Below I've added links to the wiring diagrams I've used and here are the part#'s to the switches I have used. L/H - 353-110-670 R/H - 353-236-671 Clutch handle - 53178-051-000 Brake handle - 5375-028-672 Switches were purchased on Ebay, the handles are from Retrobikes and the flashing unit was from my local auto parts store. Total investment around $115.00us. I hope this answers your questions. It's not difficult to wire up turn signals, finding the parts is what takes the time. Good luck and I hope this helps. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hon ... tedIndex=0 http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hon ... &sp=-1&sk=#
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
