Making progress on the LED light conversion while I wait for more parts for the transmission and clutch replacement. I finalised the mounting of the polished aluminum turn signal housings for the rear (because this motorcycle has a full fairing there's no need to upgrade the plastic turn signal housings as they sit inside the fairing and cannot be seen when installed) and then decided to pull the fairing so I could get at the turn signal releay in the headlight bucket. Lots of effort but the results will be worth it.
In my opinion and experience, one of the biggest sins committed against vintage vehicles is chopping up the wiring. Factory electrical connectors are specific to the factory part - for example the stock turn signal relay is connected to the wiring loom using a very specific l-shaped connector. The installation instuctions included with the replacement LED relay tell the installer to drive the connecting pins out of the factory connector so they can be reconnected to the new relay. There is limited space in the headlight bucket and removing the stock connector will save room but it also means that there is no way to revert the machine back to stock without sourcing a repalcement connector and then grafting it into the existing wiring. Rather than breaking connectors, splicing wires, and generally molesting the factory loom, my approach is to make what I call "jumpers" to connect my mods to my machines. By my definition, a jumper is a short piece of wire with the appropriate connector at each end. Rather than driving the pins out of the stock turn signal relay connector, I cut three short pieces of appropriately-colored wire and crimped on the connectors required to "map" the stock connector to the LED-compatible relay.
I have no intention of reverting back to incandescent lights but, because no one gets out alive, I know I will not be the last owner of any of my motorcyles. I do not want to be THAT previous owner the new owner curses because I irreversibly molested the machine they now own. Taking the extra time to execute these mods in a thoughtful manner, and keeping the stock bits I remove in a container that stays with the machine, is my commitment to the future of these machines.
