The handle switch box of the latest motorcycle is made of plastic and its performance has been improved, so the internal components have been less likely to deteriorate by rust. I will explain the key points of "How to restore the wiring" based on the switch box of the vintage motorcycle with the aluminum housing in this article.
I will explain the key points of "How to restore wiring" based on the switch box of the vintage motorcycle with the aluminum housing in this article.
Purchase the same color wire. The use of wire protection tube is also good.
I fully restored the handle switch box. The same color wiring with the OEM wire was cut to the same dimensions and passed through a commercially available black vinyl protective tube to prepare. It is also good to finish using a harness tape, but the level of the waterproofness is better if the protective tube is used.
1. When disassembling, it is better to work on "a big waste cloth"!
Old switch knobs are often fixed by screws. Some knobs of the blinker switch are integrated with metal parts. On disassembling, place a waste cloth in the tray and be careful not to lose disassembled parts.
The inside of the switch box before disassembling has usually been dirty by dust and old grease. After spraying the anti-rust penetrant to the switch box and cleaning the dirt with a toothbrush, start to disassemble.
This is the sliding contact part of the switch knob. There may be a small spring behind such contacts and it is held by the viscosity of the grease, so please be careful not to lose the spring on disassembling.
Disassemble the parts in order. It is very helpful to take a picture with a mobile phone camera before disassembling since small screws and washers are easy to lose and the photo is a guide for restoring them back to their original position.
Do not proceed with the work roughly. Remove the parts that are possible to remove from the switch box housing first before proceeding to disassembly. Switch boxes with different designs have different internal components, so it is effective to take a photo on your smartphone before disassembling.
A switch box used for long years is often dirty by grease with dust. If disassembling the switch box housing while being dirty, it is difficult to understand the configuration of parts. Therefore, it is recommended to spray first with the anti-rust penetrant into the switch box, resolve the dirt with a toothbrush, and then remove the dirty grease with a parts cleaner.
It is better to apply first with oil or kerosene for resolving the dirt because dirty grease is not easy to clean up even if it is sprayed with a parts cleaner directly, the pile-up dirt is probably difficult to remove (the same method with cleaning a drive sprocket).
・The components are very small, and the steel balls and springs are easy to lose, so prepare a tray on disassembling.
・Put the waste cloth on a tray, and disassemble the handle switch box on it.
・In this way, it will prevent losing the small parts.
2. Soldering the tip of the wire is a key point!
There is a knack to pass the wire through the protective tube, but I will explain it later. After inserting the wire into the protective tube, replace the old wire, but before removing the old wire, solder the tip of the new wiring in advance.
After removing the old wire from the switch, solder the new wire to the switch. While making contact with the remaining solder on the switch points with the soldered wire tip, the connecting part was melted with a soldering iron to combine those solder.
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It is basic to restore using the same wire color, but if you remove all the old wires at once, there is a possibility to make a mistake in the connection point, so, it is better to work one by one when replacing multiple wires.
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The connection was completed like this. The wires were replaced with new and the protection tube was attached, so it became beautiful. Certainly, after the work is done, it is necessary to check the wiring whether it is properly connected by using the tester.
Before restoring the parts, try to reassemble to the inside of the switch box housing using only the removed parts, and reproduce the assembly layout. If it has some problems for the assembly layout such as wire bending, incorporate them skillfully after adjusting it. Apply grease lightly to the contact points.
After restoring the new wiring, assemble around the switch knob and perform a switching operation to check that it works properly without any problems. At this stage, you can check the connecting wire by using a tester.
The size of the protective tube requires a certain amount of allowance (about 2 wires) for the number of wires. It is complicated to insert the long wire, and the twisted wire cannot be passed through the protective tube, so it is better to use a new same color wire with no twist.
If passing multiple wires through the protective tube, it is better to make the exclusive "guide" to a thick code or metal wire that is temporarily soldered together with the ends of multiple wires.
・If the switch contacts are worn, there is also a method of restoring the amount of protrusion by tapping lightly from behind the contact with a center punch or a thin flat punch.
・Work carefully because there is a possibility to break the contact points if you hit too hard.
3. Since the switch box was fully restored, finalize with polishing and inking!
Since the switch box was completely disassembled, the front and back of the switch box housing were cleaned by a glass bead shot (sandblasting), and then it was buffed on the front side. After buffing was done, I put in ink on the marked part by touch-up pen. The full restoration of the switch box housing was completed.
