Connector Corrosion & Fuseboxes

ksoholm

ksoholm

Senior member
Location
Bellingham, WA, USA
I've been working on the "fully" restored RGS I bought a couple of months ago, going through it with some updates (Race Tech, Mikunis, brakes, Shindengen R/R, relay headlight, etc.) and to ensure it was done to my admittedly slightly obsessive standards. Pristine paintwork and lots of new parts, but, as I started taking it apart I realized all fasteners and axles were dry-no thread lube or grease anywhere, almost like the bike was to be a static display.

Part of my routine when I buy an old bike is to go through the electrical system, clean connectors, correct past bodges, etc. This "pristine" bike had lots of corrosion in many connectors and especially the fusebox. The connectors on the back of the fusebox were completely corroded. Electrical cleaner, Deoxit D5, and Scotchbrite, and every connector is fit for purpose. The hand switches were also rebuilt and now work like new, where before they were gummy messes to operate. Not saying anything you lot don't already know except perhaps expressing my surprise at the lack of attention paid to this critical area in this big-dollar restoration. These seeming little things - fully working electrics and switches working like new - to me really give an old bike a new feel.

Thank God the Laverda is a delight to work on. Fine build quality and design throughout.

Kristian
 

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I find similar issues on lots of bikes passing through the workshop.  Many turn out to be polished turds and often cost close to the purchase price again to get running properly and reliably.

piet
 
It's easy to be seduced by shiny shiny, but you have to look beyond that, ask the right questions, ask to see bills for work done, who did the work etc.
Some folk see a properly restored Laverda and immediately think their bike is worth that price. Ebay is full of them.
 
Grant said:
It's easy to be seduced by shiny shiny, but you have to look beyond that, ask the right questions, ask to see bills for work done, who did the work etc.
Some folk see a properly restored Laverda and immediately think their bike is worth that price. Ebay is full of them.
Click to expand...

Orange shiny shiny seems to be especially seductive... :D

piet
 
Grant said:
It's easy to be seduced by shiny shiny, but you have to look beyond that, ask the right questions, ask to see bills for work done, who did the work etc.
Some folk see a properly restored Laverda and immediately think their bike is worth that price. Ebay is full of them.
Click to expand...

Indeed; the bike is by no means a turd, just some details not up to my hifalutin' snuff. My specific questions about restoration were quietened by the bike's surroundings, 25+ immaculate bikes, including a number of very valuable Laverdas.

Kristian
 
My Jota is the opposite to a polished turd. It looks like a piece of shit, but everything works as it should.
I actually don't mind that it looks a bit rough. It's just an honest used bike, not pretending to be a museum exhibit.
 
You're 100% spot on, Kristian! A little dielectric grease goes a long way towards longevity in cars & bikes-
 
Our chrome plater showed me how you can gold plate just about anything, including a turd properly dried, and a butterfly.  Take your pick.

All too easy to do the bright shiny outside areas, much more time consuming to do items such as wheel and cush drive bearings, clutch and cush drive rubbers, starter clutches, clean the carbies, electrical corrosion .........
I'm not at all surprised by what you have found, and I don't think one needs to be considered anal to expect these items to have been addressed if paying top dollar.

Some of the LAVs I've seen sold here in AUS recently have been sold as fully restored, but I don't even consider them rejuvinated.  All depends on your viewpoint and expectation I suppose.

Some 35 years ago, my wife and I nearly purchased a Dino Ferrari in the UK before we returned home.  We had looked at over a dozen of them and had a reasonably good idea of what we were looking at (a nice Italian meal and multiple bottles of Penfolds did wonders in getting a Ferrari mechanic to enlighten us).  I crawled all over and under this one and it looked absolutely A1.  Luckily we paid for the mechanic inspect it. He knew of the so called restorer, and knew of all the bodges done on them to bring them back to looking A1.  You could poke a screw driver thru the 'chassis'/tub in the suspension areas.  It probably would have collapsed at its first encounter with AUSSIE roads at speed.  But by god it looked, smelt (oh the leather) and sounded superb.
Set me up for a lifetime of not being impressed by bling.

Anyway, you should enjoy your RGS, but don't expect perfection. 
It is after-all around 36 years old, and little things will keep you entertained, just like your children (if you have any) at that age.  Enjoy.

 
After cleaning electrical contacts I highly recommend RUST CHECK RED formula and anywhere else on your bike.

WD40 only lasts a day or 2 before it evaporates. WD40 maybe a good trouble shooter fix but does not have the long time durability of RED Rust Check.
 
I had a 1000 SFC Classic going through my hands some years ago. After removing all the BS the previous owner had "upgraded" the bike to and bringing it back to standard, the bike still wasn't running properly. I checked all connections just to find not only all of them corroded but also some of the connectors were broken. Fortunately I must say, as this forced me to cut them out and replace them with better, water tight ones. while crimping in the new connectors, I had to cut some insulation away from the cables and found a lot of "copper worm" as we say: green corrosion within the cables! I tried to remove as much as I could without the need of a complete new harnes.

After doing so, the bike instantly started, the headlight was brighter, the flasher turned faster and brighter etc. etc.

seems, there was a lot of resistance in the cables/connectors...
 
I find rewiring bikes like banging your head off a wall.
It's great when it's over.
 
.... if you have the time (and it?s appropriate for the needs) I?d highly recommend using PTFE wiring to replace suspect looms, especially anything that?s green. It?s more conductor than colored plastic and almost resistant to any mechanical wear. Silver coated copper is not cheap but a pleasure to work with ?cos it?s generally about half the dimension (not gauge) of similarly rated cable.
 
Dellortoman said:
My Jota is the opposite to a polished turd. It looks like a piece of shit, but everything works as it should.
I actually don't mind that it looks a bit rough. It's just an honest used bike, not pretending to be a museum exhibit.
Click to expand...

That's the way of a true road warrior.
 
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