Not sure where you are brother, but get yer arse in here! BTW, I stole this from http://naes.afraid.org/mods/electrical.php
I'm still working on adding the graphics and links, do please be patient.
Electrical Mods
OEM-equivelant or better.
This page is about various electrical mods that I have pioneered for the FZR/Motorcycle world as my years have progressed. As usual, lets start with the standard disclaimer.
These mods are done at your own risk. I will not be held liable for any damages resulting from, but not limited to, carelessness with a soldering iron, negligence, poor instructions on my part, or other dumbass-ness on your part. In other words, all these modifications are done AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Aren't disclaimers fun? Anyway, now to the good stuff.
What's covered in this page:
YZF Voltage Regulator Conversion
NaeSLaS (poor man)'s Tail Integrator
Ford Escort ZX2 Coil Conversion
Fixing the Flash too Fast Problem
Making Single Filament Bulbs Blink
Radiator Fan Switch
YZF Voltage Regulator
The Stock Voltage Regulator (hereby called VR) is crap. It has poor grounds, an ineffective heat sink, and was designed for much less load than the FZR regularly demands. My made up statistics says that every 6 minutes, an FZR burns a voltage regulator. Anyway, the solution? The more efficient, larger, heavier-duty YZF voltage regulator.
As you can see, the YZF voltage regulator is physically larger, and has a built-in heatsink. Anyway, down to the Mod. You will need:
YZF Voltage Regulator (all the YZF VR's are the same, R1, R6, YZF600R, and even some cruisers. Check eBay)
5 Female Spade Connectors (available at hardware stores, and online at Radioshack.com)
1 Ring connector (available wherever spade connectors are available, Radioshack.com)
Crimping tool (vice grips work fine)
Sharp Scissors, or wire cutter/stripper
Short Length (less than a foot) of 12ga or larger wire (any color)
Here you can see the stock FZR VR connector against the YZF stock VR connector. The difference is why we have to do this conversion.
By the way, if you have a 95+ FZR, the new YZF voltage regulator should plug right in (or so I am told. Someone please confirm this by contacting me here)
So what you do, is remove the old VR by unplugging the electrical connector, and removing the two screws that hold it on. If you are sure it's burnt, then throw it away, smash it with the car, shoot at it, etc. Next, remove the the steel plate that was with it. This is the stock VR's "heatsink."
Next, cut off the old connector. Try to leave as much wire on the bike harness as possible.
After that, strip the ends of the 4 wires, and crimp a female blade connector on each one. Use the size of blade connector that will fit on the YZF VR's pins.
Next, take your short (6") length of 12ga wire, and strip both ends of it. On one side, crimp a female blade connector, and crimp the ring connector on the other side. This is the new VR's ground.
After all the wires are stripped and in place, time to plug in the VR. Connect the wires like so:
Notice that the black wire is in there, the top right corner. This is where you plug in your short length of 12ga wire.
Now that the VR is all plugged in and ready to go, you have to mount it. You will notice that the holes for the old VR do not line up correctly with the new VR. For most people's situations, this is not a problem. Be sure to clean the mounting holes real nice with steel wool so the VR gets a good ground.
Next, mount the VR using one of the screws, and be sure to include the ring connector (so it contacts the frame directly). But for people like me, who is paranoid about mounting stuff, I took some aluminum stock, and made a small adaptor so i could utilize both mounting screws of the YZF VR. Granted, this is overkill, but on the same hand, it never fell off. That's it for this mod!
Poor Man's Tail Integrator
This next mod is called the NaeSLaS integrator, synonymous with "poor man's" integrator.
This mod basically takes the turn signals, and integrates them into the taillight, so you can completely lose the landing lights, short stalk blinkers, flushmounts, etc.
When completed, the taillight and blinkers will work like this:
Basically, when you turn on the left blinker, the left side of the taillight will turn off completely, and blink.
You will need the following:
Two 12VDC 10A SPDT relays (requires a normally closed terminal, Radioshack has some good ones, part number 275-248)
One 12VDC 10A DPDT relay (also requires a NC terminal, Radioshack part number 275-249)
A few butt connectors, or Solder/Electrical Tape
2 Male Blade Connectors
2 Male Bullet Connectors
About 5 feet of 14ga wire
Wire Cutters/Strippers (sharp scissors will work too, if you're careful)
After you have gathered your supplies, it's time to work on the mod. First, you will need the wiring diagram:
Now that you have the diagram, the supplies, and the motivation, it's time to get cracking. First, look at the wires for the tail sockets. You notice that on one side of the connector, you have two wires (one for each bulb), and on the other side, you have one wire. You want to cut the black wires on the side that is split (one wire per bulb). Next, you will also have to cut the yellow wires on the side that has 1 wire per bulb.
Now that you have them separated, it is time for soldering/connecting up, as per the diagram, which is pretty straight forward. Look on the package that the relay came in to determine which posts are Common, Normally Open, Normally Closed, and the Coil circuit.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to post in the Forum, or email me.
Ford Escort ZX2 Coil Conversion
I wish I could take credit for this mod, but alas I cannot. The pioneer of this conversion is Ninjamuder, from the FZRArchives. Though, I was thinking of something very similar using Subaru ignition coils due to their smaller size, and greater availability to me.
Anyway, this mod replaces the stock ignition coils with the larger, stronger coil pack from a Ford Escort ZX2. For this mod, you will need:
A coil pack from a Ford Escort ZX2, or other Ford vehicle (there are like 15 Ford cars that use the same coil pack. Check your local junkyards, or as a last resort, check Autozone).
The Wiring Pigtail for the Coil pack
4 Sparkplug wires (I went for new ones from Autozone)
4 threaded spark plug nipples (won't come with new CR9E sparkplugs, you'll have to get new sparkplugs for the car and steal them)
3 butt connectors
Wire crimpers/strippers (or sharp scissors and vice grips)
Pod Filters and Necessary Hardware (the ZX2 coil pack is so large, that the stock airbox has to be scrapped. NOTE: Pod filters usually require a Stage 3 Jet kit as well)
So now that you are back from your parts scavenger hunt, it's time to get modding. I am going to assume that you already have Pod Filters and a stage 3 jetkit, and that there is plenty of room to mount the ZX2 coil pack The Pod filters and jetting issues are beyond the scope of this discussion.
Anyway, first thing you will have to do is remove the stock coils. Take off the tank/tank cover, airbox/pods (you did read above, and go get pods and a jetkit, right?), and then the coils. There are two bolts that hold the coils to the right side of the frame, and one nut that goes through the plastic heat shield. Unbolt all these, unplug all the sparkplug wires, and remove the coils from the top.
Next, you have to adapt the ZX2 coil to use FZR wiring. Now I cannot give you any definite wire colors on the ZX2 coil pack, because I have personally seen two pigtails use different colors. But I can, however, give you definite wire positioning. Here's the solve-all picture:
The wire colors are the corresponding FZR wire colors, according to positioning on the coil. Notice that the coil is sitting flat, with the wire connections facing DOWN.
The numbers correspond to the cylinders that the wires should go to. When you sit on the bike, the cylinders are numbered, from left to right, 1-2-3-4.
Anyway, after you use butt connectors or spade connectors to make the ZX2 coil plug in to the FZR harness, with the correct colors as above, you're ready for the next step.
Next, you have to install the threaded spark plug nipples. As stated above, the FZR uses sparkplugs NGK CR9E. These plugs will not come with nipples, ever. What I did is replace the sparkplugs on my car, and steal the nipples before I threw out the old plugs.
Remove the old sparkplugs, and thread on the nipples, then re-install them. If they are dirty, now is a good opportunity to clean them with a wire brush, or replace them all together.
Next, reinstall the sparkplugs, and then thread the sparkplug wires through the plastic heat shield. Keep note of which ones go to which cylinder.
Place the entire coil pack in the space, connect the spark plugs, connect it to the stock FZR wiring harness, and fire her up!
Side Note: Even though the coil pack won't ever leave it's resting spot, i'm not one to leave stuff sitting around to rattle in my tank cover. I took some stock aluminum, and bent/drilled it so it holds the coil pack in place.
IMPORTANT Side Note: Don't use this mod in conjunction with a Vance and Hines Powerpak!! The extra load (primary resistance) of this coil pack will blow the output transistors on the Powerpak, rendering it useless.
One more Side Note: With the stronger coil pack, you can gap your spark plugs beyond factory specifications to increase the size of the spark, thus improving combustion efficiency. Don't go too crazy with this, however, as you could lose spark completely, or the spark plug conductor could hit the crown of the piston.
Fixing the Flash Too Fast Problem
Ok, for those of us who have installed LED turn signals, smaller load bulbs, integrators and the like, we are all too familiar with the "turn signal epilepsy," or the flash too fast problem.
Basically, in most every turn signal relay made, they are load dependent by design. That means that if the number of bulbs they are driving changes, they alter the blink rate. This is done by a crude wattage measuring system in the relay, so that if a bulb blows out, it alerts the driver, and they can replace the bulb at next service opportunity.
What does that mean for us? If a bulb blows out, or the turn signal circuit draws less wattage than it's supposed to (say, aftermarket bulbs that draw less current), then the relay alerts us.
For most, they accept it as a fact of life. You replace the bulbs, they blink faster. But for NaeSLaS, that is unacceptable.
So, to fix the flash too fast problem, you can take one of two routes. You can either add load to the stock harness, or replace the relay. I personally have tried both, and I suggest the first route (adding load) for a more stable, OEM operation.
The next question is this: How do we add more load to the system? The answer, is heavy duty resistors. I went to Radioshack, and found the perfect ones for our purposes. They are 10ohm 10W ceramic power resistors. They should look a lot like this.
Radioshack part number 271-132 worked best for me, because they come in a two pack. I ended up buying 4 total resistors, because I had an integrator in the rear, and flushmounts in the front.
Next, take these wirewound resistors, and wire them up like they were a light bulb.
It takes a bit of experimentation to get the exact number of resistors, but generally you will need one per side, per bulb that you replaced.
For instance, I replaced both (front and back) bulbs on both (left and right) sides, so i needed 4 resistors total. If you only replaced 2 bulbs (say, flushmounts in the front), you would only need 2. Keep in mind this is just an example, and there are differences between bulbs and turn signal relays.
For the other method of equalizing the load, you can replace the entire turn signal relay. This will indeed fix the blink problem, but you will lose your turn signals ability to self-cancel (yes, they do self cancel at about 35mph). The easiest way to do this, is to go to Autozone and purchase an Electronic flasher relay. Basically this is a blinker relay that regulates it's blink rate electronically, instead of using a load-dependent system. The hook-up is pretty straight-forward, for it's power terminal, connect it to the brown wire in the harness, and for the driven (or blink) terminal, hook it up to the brown/white wire.
If this mod was performed successfully, then the blinker rate should be back to normal, no matter what kind of bulbs you are using.
Making Single Filament Bulbs Blink
So you bought some single-filament bulbs (or LED's), and want them to blink when you hit your turnsignals? I know this is what I did. I had LED flushmounts on the front, and wanted them to blink with my turnsignals.
The item that makes this happen is simple: Any 12V relay that has a NC (normally closed) terminal. 12VDC 10A SPDT relays are what I used, the same from the Tail Integrator Mod above. You can source these at Radioshack, part number 275-248.
You will need one relay per bulb that you want to blink. Now that you have your parts, all you have to do, is wire it up like this diagram:
That was simple, wasn't it? Just think, there are online retailers that sell similar "magic" devices for $20 a piece, when we spent $3.79 on a relay.
Radiator Fan Switch
This mod allows a person to control their radiator fan, so they can take action before the fan switch takes effect. An FZR owner might need this to turn the fan on before it gets too hot, or because their stock fan switch is broken.
For your information, the stock FZR fan switch doesn't usually trigger the fan until about 2/3 of the way up the gauge. This is normal operation. Even in New Mexico summer heat, I only had the FZR turn it's own fan on twice. But at the same time, my FZR was always cold-blooded.
Anyway, you will need either a switch capable of handling 10amps or more current draw, or a relay capable of 10A or more. If you are using the heavy-duty switch and wiring, then all you have to do is find the connector under the tank cover for the fan switch (look under the radiator cap). Wire one switch wire to the solid red wire, and the other switched wire to the solid blue wire.
I vouched for the relay, so I wouldn't have to run more heavy-gauge wire around the bike.
Use the same wires as the switch above (blue wire, and red wire, underneath the radiator cap).
After this is all wired up, turn the ignition on, and give the switch a flip. Radiator fan should come on, regardless of temperature. One more note, this does not override the stock fan switch. The fan will continue to be automatic, as well as follow your control. Basically what this means, is that If the fan switch turns on the fan, this circuit will not turn it off.
