The Deconstruction of Columbo, The Ate Up '80G

[3Phase]

Columbo's latest un-build:

The Harness Unwrapped!

The wiring harness with my 50A circuit breaker and a couple of connector-elimination mods. It took over an hour to carefully unwrap the pile of tape at the top of the picture. This is the second time I've redone this harness since 2007 and it's getting some more upgrades and mods before it gets sleeved and reinstalled again. I don't like the number or the method of splicing the wires and the factory ground wires are a joke.

The layout perspective is from the right-hand side of the bike. There is no test but see if you recognize the wire groups and think you can re-wrap it without cheating and using a schematic.




The wiring harness is soaking in mineral spirits to remove the dirt, grease and tape goop. It's only been in there less than two minutes and the solvent is already filthy.



Bottom of the tank and the fuel tap mounts touched up with aluminum paint.






Clean and de-rusted again.




That's all for today!

Now I have to clean and dry the wiring harness, then mock up the mods and repairs and make a parts list. It's getting flame-resistant split sleeves instead of wrap this time so I won't have to do this again.

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[Prothec]

Looking forward to seeing your results!

[jetmechmarty]

wire harness

Since you've gone to all this trouble, you might want to consider reassembling the wire harness with cohesive tape. It is commonly known as F4 tape. It is stupid expensive, but you'll never have glue all over your harness again. This stuff is forever and if you do have to take it off, you won't have a mess doing it.

http://www.skygeek.com/f4-black-tape...ftkaArxY8P8HAQ

[3Phase]

I'll post the progress, Prot!

I'm building the layout board and jig for the harness from the packing crate that held my Harbor Freight motorcycle lift but I have to be able to put everything up and walk away for a week when I leave for Colorado on Wednesday morning so I can't get too involved -- yet.

Marty, I was looking at that exact tape for wrapping and sealing splices instead of the self-amalgamating rubber. Does the silicon hold up against fuel spills?

I checked out a bunch of flame-retardant split-sleeve looms and I was going to try it but the good stuff is a weave. It's pretty and it's flame-retardant but they don't sell it in a solid (non-weave?) split-sleeve so it would be a dirt and oil trap. You have to use a hot knife to cut it too or it gets messy but I don't have one of those so I'll probably have to use wrap again.

Most of the goop on the wires was from the original tapes and insulators from Yamaha's splices that I didn't fool with last time. I used a premium fire-retardant tape made by Plymouth Rubber with very little adhesive, their #85 tape.


Anyway, it was not the cheap tape from the bargain bin or one of those festive multi-color kits that's too stiff to stretch and conform correctly and is slathered in adhesive that won't adhere to anything including the tape five minutes after you use it.

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[jetmechmarty]

F4 tape is impervious to just about anything your XS can throw at it. I don't think there's a better choice for building a harness. Amazon or someplace might get you a small price break. Another thing to consider is that XS11 vintage wiring has substandard insulation by today's standards. It needs to be protected. Also, it's unplated copper wire. Remove the corrosion from the exposed parts as best you can.

[jetmechmarty]

I see your vinyl tape roll is 108 feet. F4 tape will be about $5 per foot. You get what you pay for.

[3Phase]

I see your vinyl tape roll is 108 feet. F4 tape will be about $5 per foot. You get what you pay for.

The #85 is good tape, I'm down to my last 2 rolls so I need to order some more. I like the feel of it and how it handles while I work with it but it's not harness wrapping tape. The minimal adhesive did hold it in place without unraveling or crawling and it did not bleed glue all over itself and everything it touched even after it'd been baked for years over the engine. I won't use any other tape now if I can avoid it, it just feels wrong and it doesn't hold up as well.

The Sky Geek link says they're expecting 9 rolls on 12 July so the stuff must be popular. It looks like I need to wrap 4' of main harness not counting feeders, drops and doglegs and the rolls are 1" x 36" x 0.2" (almost 1/4" thick! ) each.

I don't suppose I'm lucky enough for you to have already wrapped the harness on your 'Special and can tell me if 3 rolls will be enough or if I will need 12' and $60 to do the whole harness with some left over for new projects and repairs?

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[3Phase]

I have several projects so I bought 5 rolls, I'll use them. If I don't like them I'll return them.

Apparently they aren't actually in stock yet and if they show up on schedule they won't ship until Friday while I'm in Colorado. I'll have something to look forward to when I get home.

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[jetmechmarty]

I never undid any of my harnesses. When I do cut into them to make a repair, I use the F4 tape to repair the damage. I have used lots and lots of it doing repairs on heavy jets.

[TopCatGr58]

The Sky Geek link says they're expecting 9 rolls on 12 July so the stuff must be popular. It looks like I need to wrap 4' of main harness not counting feeders, drops and doglegs and the rolls are 1" x 36" x 0.2" (almost 1/4" thick! ) each.

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Hey there Scott, Marty,

Both of you guys need to put on your glasses. The Description for the tape is shown as 1" wide, 0.20" thick, but 36 (') FEET long, not inches!!! That comes out to $0.40 cents a foot, a much better bargain!!

T.C.

PS, WALMART also carries this type of stuff, SILICONE SELF FUSING TAPE:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rescue-Tap...&wl13=&veh=sem
Comes in different colors also!

Amazon also has it: https://www.amazon.com/F4-Tape-Self-.../dp/B002LA2258

For that matter, F4 has it's own website, and you can buy it from them also!
http://www.f4tape.com/f4-tape-online-store.html

[3Phase]

Thanks, T.C.!

I'll call the place tomorrow, if the order needs to be fixed I'll git 'er done.

I figured the 'feet' on the site listing was a typo because Marty's familiar with the stuff but maybe it's a much bigger roll than he's used, good for fixing much bigger or many, many, many jets!

Either way I won't see it until I get back home!

.

[3Phase]

And looking the ad again and the F4 site it's 20mil tape, 0.020, not 200mil 0.200 so it's not even close to 1/4" thick. That's a relief, actually, I didn't want to stretch it that tight to thin it down anyway.

It doesn't say if it's the typeII triangular or typeI rectangular tape but my eyes are tired and I can't read any more.

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[aqqus]

I've used that F4 tape to seal battery cables and air hoses on my semi. Works good. I have a buddy that used it to repair a hydraulic hose on his semi end dump trailer. sealed it with the tape and reinforced it with rudder sheeting and hose clamps. Held for two days until the shop got the new hose.

[3Phase]

I got the F4 Tape:-






It looks and feels like good stuff.

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[MarkD]

Regripped my putter with this stuff.