1974 XS/TX650 rebuild

[th62]

Here's a selection of positive stop grommet nuts. Whenever mounting anything in rubber it's important to ensure the grommet is compressed the ideal amount, too much and the rubber will distort and eventually destruct. Too little and the mounted item will move and vibrate, negating the effect of rubber mounting and also eventually destruct. Not a new idea, the Japanese have been using it for years on their bikes. Particularly helpful when mounting things on bikes prone to vibration, 360 degree twins are a good example. In this selection I turned up on the lathe, the bullet headed one on the right is thread for bolting to a frame tab, used for mounting side panels, the grommet in the side panel just slips over the bullet head in a tightish fit, the front of the panel has two grommets secured by grommet bushes and allen head bolts. Next one is a threaded, positive stop, through nut I used for a similar purpose. The third is a grommet bush with a 6mm through hole, this one is used for mounting the seat. The bush is mounted in the grommet in the seat and an allen head screw passes through the bush and threads into a tab welded to the frame. The last is a grommet bush with a 6mm through hole, turned up from delrin. This one is used for mounting the aluminium battery carrier I welded up. As the battery poles are very close to the side of the carrier, I didn't want it shorting out if a nut, spanner, or whatever, made contact between the battery pole and the carrier, the Delrin bush isolates the carrier from the frame, so if the positive battery pole is shorted across to the carrier, it won't result in the battery shorting out.

[tonyfoale]

Here's a selection of positive stop grommet nuts. Whenever mounting anything in rubber it's important to ensure the grommet is compressed the ideal amount, too much and the rubber will distort and eventually destruct. Too little and the mounted item will move and vibrate, negating the effect of rubber mounting.........

I always cringe when I see grommets bolted up tight without a positive stop.

[asterix]

What holds the rear of the side panels? On the front of them, there are two socket head screws but I don't see anything on the rear .

[th62]

The bullet headed bushes are bolted onto a forward facing tab. The panels have grommet attached to them at the rear which is pushed over the bullet headed bush.

[jdurand]

For smaller grommets you can just use hollow rivets. Ready made, work fine.

[th62]

I bough a twin outlet coil for a CB750 for use on the TX, unfortunately it won't fit where the original coils were so I fabricated a mount and mounted it up where the flicker indicator relay normally sits. This necessitated turning the coil on it's side, so the plug leads follow different paths to the plugs, a bit untidy, but I think I can live with that. Rather than have the points lead snaking all over the place, I drilled a hole in the top of the points backing dish and took the wire straight up to the coil. I did originally make a coil mount that bolted to the horn bracket mount, the coil residing between the front down tubes, but that looked very untidy. For now, the coil is out of sight under the tank, looking much tidier. Shame about the plug leads following different paths and angles, but, you can't have everything. You'll notice I even polished the plug caps. Getting down to the nutty gritties now.

[th62]

Re furbished a couple of ignition switches today, one is two position the other is single position. Unfortunately, the M4 threads in the bakelite surround were stripped, so I had to drill them out and re tap to 5mm, I also had to turn down the heads of the 5mm countersunk screws so they'd fit in the existing aluminium back clamp. The bakelite is in pretty rough condition: two big gouges and numerous scratches. So, I chucked it on the lathe and turned down the outer surface as much as I could, but the damage is still visible. I then soldered a bridge across a couple of terminals on the back of the switch and soldered another wire for feed on another terminal. That gives me one live feed in and two out.. The other switch is a two position, it's in better condition than the other, but open to the weather due to the open back design. The switch will be mounted on the right rear engine mount, so I've opted to go with the single position bakelite switch, which is better weather proofed than the other. The two out feeds and single position suit the electrics I've designed for the bike anyway.

[th62]

And this is where it goes. Made the bracket for it this morning and mounted it, complete with grommet where the wires exit. I'll replace the philips heads with allen heads later. No philips head screws will ever reside on any bike I build, hate, hate, vomit. Positioning the switch here, allows the use of two less wires up the spine of the frame.

[th62]

Regulator/rectifier plate done with a couple of panel mount, blade fuse holders on the side. Only need the one, but if I change my mind later on, I have two, plus I can add another two underneath the existing ones if I'm so inclined. The random orbital sander gives a nice finish on aluminium.

[th62]

I've been scratching my head on how to join a few cables under the seat. first option was a few twin bullet connectors, but I thought that was a bit untidy, so came up with this idea: A few bits of Delrin machined up to take a piece of all thread, a couple of nuts, a couple of Delrin washers and a couple of dome nuts, which I'll later replace with nylon domes. This setup allows several cables to be joined and insulated, negating any accidental short circuits. In reality, it'll only join three, maybe four, cables. I call it 'attention to detail'...