Dr. Shop Teacher's JFF Gilson Knight Rider

Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#121
#121
Piddlin' Away....Electric

Was waiting for the big parts to come in, so I started on the wiring for starting and lighting. Because the bike will be powdercoated, I need to locate as much as I can close to the engine or on the engine to ensure I have good grounds. The solenoid is an ugly looking part, so I needed to hide it as best as I can.

I made a mounting plate that fits to the engine bottom plate. It's an odd looking shape, but that's because the bottom plate has some stampings I had to work around.
I countersunk screw holes to locate the solenoid on the plate.
Here it is mocked up on the replacement H60 for Wilderness (the HS50 goes on a new toy):


After that was done, I located it on the bike's Franken Motor. It fits below the jackshaft and away from the Driven Clutch. Should have no clearance issues, though I did get insulator caps for lugs on the solenoid. I made up battery to starter cables using 6 AWG copper wire and lugs, soldered the wire in place in the lug and used heat shrink tubing.



Next up were the switches. I abandoned the idea of using a key switch due to space considerations. Instead, I'm using a heavy duty momentary switch to operate the starter (DC side). On the AC side, I'm using a heavy duty switch for the lights and another heavy duty one for the kill switch.

I made a template to locate the switches. Because these are heavy duty to handle amperage, they are pretty big, so locating them was a challenge.
1/8" pilot holes and then I drilled to size (while opening up just a tad for the powdercoat.)
The kill switch remains in it's original location while the lights and starter switches are paired together. In a lot of ways, this is a good thing as one wouldn't want to fumble around for the kill switch in the event of a spill.
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#122
#122
Now this is cool....Brakes!

The hubs arrived today! Man, I was stoked. This was my first effort at CAD and to see how they turned out was just way cool. I used "teamxi" on eBay, got a great price and damn accurate work from them.

Here's the hub:


The disc is secured with 6-1/4-28 screws. The Motovox discs have really poor tolerances, so I had to work them for a bit. Both needed to have the center opened up 0.003" which I did with a grinding wheel in the drill press (about 15 min of time). Then the bolt holes were just awful, so they needed to be drilled out just a tad. But everything fit together!


I only had time today to fit the front wheel and caliper. The hub needs to be perfectly centered on the wheel, so I used an axle just to make sure. Once it was bolted together, I did a test fit and a little grinding on the caliper mount--she's all there and works like a champ!


On to more electric tomorrow.....
 
OND

OND

#127
#127
Dr. Shop Teacher said:
The hubs arrived today! Man, I was stoked. This was my first effort at CAD and to see how they turned out was just way cool. I used "teamxi" on eBay, got a great price and damn accurate work from them.

Here's the hub:


The disc is secured with 6-1/4-28 screws. The Motovox discs have really poor tolerances, so I had to work them for a bit. Both needed to have the center opened up 0.003" which I did with a grinding wheel in the drill press (about 15 min of time). Then the bolt holes were just awful, so they needed to be drilled out just a tad. But everything fit together!


I only had time today to fit the front wheel and caliper. The hub needs to be perfectly centered on the wheel, so I used an axle just to make sure. Once it was bolted together, I did a test fit and a little grinding on the caliper mount--she's all there and works like a champ!


On to more electric tomorrow.....
Click to expand...
Beautiful work Pete ! :thumbsup: This is going to be one awesome ride .
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#131
#131
Sometimes ya gots to start over....Part 2--Battery and Lighting

I kept having second thoughts about using a Lithium battery and using the stator to charge it.:huh: I had been consulting with a well-respected member who suggested I contact @inventor pardue, for additional input. Jon was kind enough to respond and his advice was to go back to a traditional battery, use a AC regulator. Jon's perspective was that the voltage and amperage would fluctuate too much and the Lithium battery wouldn't take that sort of "abuse." :no:

So, I punted :surrender:and sourced an ATV battery with a small enough size and adequate cold cranking amps. I also picked up an AC regulator from MotoSports. So all this meant a new battery box. I wasn't going to fork over another $60 bucks for a laser cut box, so I made it myself and had it welded today.:thumbsup:

I used 1/8 x 3" steel to form three walls of the box. Here's another wacky photo with layout lines.



The sides slope from 3" to 1 1/2" and they were cut with the sawzall using a piece of angle as a guide.


To fake the laser cut, I used the sawzall to slice the rear corners down to 1/2"


Then a bit of heat to bend the sides.


The bottom was cut from the 3" stock and I notched for the rounded corners in the rear. the bottom will be partially open for any water to pass through.



Here it is all clamped together. The Cold Rolled Steel nearly always has some warpage, so I had to use a lot of clamps.



John, my welder, did a masterful job as always:




Here it is, with the monthly coffee cup, mounted on the bike. Plenty of clearance to the top rails. The battery easily pops in and out. I picked up some rubber bushings with 1/4" stainless screws that will partly isolate the battery from vibration. I'll install them at final assembly.



Now, I can finally finish the wiring and try the starter.....:smile:
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#132
#132
Wiring

Woke up to no heat this morning so not a lot done while I was waiting for the HVAC guy to show up. However, I started testing today and rigged up a line from the solenoid to the momentary switch for the starter. I was worried the over square H60/70 Franken Motor was going to really strain the starter. Turns out this was no problem at all. I tried it first without the spark plug (just fine) and then with the plug and no strain at all. One problem down.

You can see the engine build here: https://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/tecumseh/140821-project-14-854-block-rebuild.html

Below is the typical garden tractor wiring diagram:



I am not using the key switch, so the DC out of the stator will go directly to the battery to charge it (I'm using a blade fuse rated at 5A). Another feed will go to the momentary switch and over to the solenoid. The AC will feed a MotoSports AC voltage regulator that I'll mount under the seat. This will power the lights through another fused switch (7A). All of the grounds will be on the block and I will be using waterproof quick disconnects. I finally sourced a taillight that will fit properly, so I can complete the wiring for the lighting circuit.

I'll do up a wiring diagram in CAD once I get it all sorted out. [MENTION=31879]CarPlayLB[/MENTION] will remind us to keep the fuses close to the source, and we'll be doing that. I'm also stealing another [MENTION=31879]CarPlayLB[/MENTION] idea and will run the wires through the frame tubes.

Once the wiring is mocked up, I'll rig up a temporary fuel tank, start the bike and test the stator. If all's good, then it's on to the finish work before powder coating.
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#134
#134
Piddlin'....tail light mount

Not much to report today, I mounted the tail light. I made a mistake by not filling the original wiring hole for the tail light, so I cut a disc to fill the hole. Hadn't done vertical brazing in decades, but it came right back. Then I drilled a pilot and set the mounting hole for the left side. It's an incandescent lamp and mounts farther off the frame than the original, but I like the shape. I had an LED tail lamp, but figuring out the diodes needed was going to be a pain...so I punted on that, too.



Pics were taken with the cell positioned the same way, and this is what I got....:shrug::doah::shrug:

 
buckeye

buckeye

Well-Known Member
#137
#137
Dang it man.
You ever gonna learn to build a nice bike?
Impressive, as usual.
I'm just going to send you my Gilson's and let you build them.
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#139
#139
Lots of wiring (and rewiring) and re-thinking

There ain't nothing about wiring and making it look good on a bike that's easy. I redid a bunch of stuff over the last two days and mocked up more just to be sure it works. A buddy said I'd do the wiring at least twice--he's right. Here's the work on the battery cables and the DC supply from the stator--I'm going to have to do the DC again, as it just doesn't look neat.

The orange/red leads are the DC. I put in an inline blade fuse that just looks funky.:doah:


I used heat shrink tube to seal the soldered joint.

The cables had a clear plastic sheath that I peeled off to clean up the look. Here I'm using my crimper in a vise to set the 6AWG cable before soldering. The vise added the extra oomph needed.


Then the copper lugs were soldered on. I used my MAP torch to heat the lug which melted the solder. You have to move the torch a lot or the insulation will melt. There's no way a typical soldering gun will get the piece hot enough to melt the solder.
This is the AC regulator I picked up. Fairly easy to install.


I'm mounting it under the seat and drilled for a grounding point next to it.


Here, the solenoid feed is soldered in as part of the battery lug and goes up to the momentary switch. The charging lead is a separate line coming in with the blade fuse to the positive side of the battery.



Here's a view of the battery cables heading to the solenoid. Plenty of clearance around the drive clutch. I'm going to add some cable stays to the engine mounting bolts.


Another view. You'll see the switch to solenoid lead looping down. The battery is grounded to the front of the engine where the former tank mount lower bolt attached. I'm trying to keep most of the grounds at the engine without making a mess.


Two shots of clearance at the driven clutch. Plenty of room and no chafing of the wires is anticipated.


The blade connectors are going to get swapped out to waterproof connectors. I also have to source a few other connectors for the parallel circuits on the AC lighting side. I think I have it laid out so the engine can come out with just one wire connector needing to be released.


If the weather holds tomorrow, I should be able to wrestle the frame outside and start the engine to test the various circuits.
 
Dr. Shop Teacher

Dr. Shop Teacher

#140
#140
It "woiks." Testing starter, charging and lighting.

Got the bike somewhat assembled to test systems this morning before the rain, sleet and snow hit. One of things I needed to do was make sure the bike started--I knew I was going to have to replace the carb as the main jet is bottomed out and I knew it would not sustain full throttle without burping a lot. For this test, I left the existing China carb on.

To test the system, I started first with the diode. The manual says it should put out about 18-20 volts for it to test good. Once running, I used my multimeter and checked voltages at the blade fuse and, sure enough, got 19 volts at low idle. The next step was to check the voltage regulator. I first checked the voltage at the AC output from the stator and, at idle, I was getting about 8 volts at low idle and was right where it should be. I checked for output by wiring in a car lightbulb after the switch, and sure enough, it turned right on. The bulb does get brighter as I revved the engine up, but I think the regulator will cap the voltage as it is designed for a max 13.8v output.

I made up a simple hold-down for the battery. I'll do some more work to it.

Here's the light running directly off the stator.


The light running off the regulator after the switch.


Here's a video of the engine being started and running at high idle. I purposefully set the idle up to get a decent voltage reading. Now, I can break down the bike and start the finish work. Oh, and by the way, you'll hear our Boxer in the background most upset that he can't be outside the fence with dad.

https://youtu.be/7PkJ5ksvuoM
 
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