R/R Modification

[amontyg]

I'm in the middle of installing a replacement R/R from a Honda and am need some advice. The R/R I have appears to be the exact one that is in the tutorial in BikeCliff's site:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/storagecliff/images/r-r_replacement.pdf

On my bike, the R/R mounts to the side of the battery rack between the battery and the wheel well. It is a tight fit, and when installed, one corner of the R/R touches the plastic wheel well and another corner is touching the turn signal relay. I'm not sure how hot this unit will get, and I'm worried that if it gets hot enough it may melt either of these two things.

The mod I'm considering is to cut into the fins on the R/R where they are touching these other parts until they don't touch anymore. I believe that taking say a 1/2" by 3/4" piece out of the corner of each external fin would probably do the job.

What are your thoughts? One thing I'm not sure of is if the fins are hollow and cutting them will allow for dirt and other debris inside the R/R. I don't think I would be cutting enough off to affect cooling significantly, but I suppose that could be a concern as well.

[tom203]

A shindengen R/R doesn't get hot enough to melt stuff- its edges are the coolest. The R/R fins are a solid extrusion, so you could nip them. But why don't you just install as is and try it- go for ride,come back,and see how hot it feels (compared to nearby stuff)?

[Nessism]

Trimming the fins won't hurt anything. When you wire it up just want to remind you to bypass the factory wiring harness; hard wire the stator feeds directly into the R/R. Do NOT feed the stator power into the factory harness since Suzuki has some convoluted, and questionable, wiring practices back in the day. Also make sure your R/R ground goes to a solid frame point or the battery. For the power output, wire directly into the fuse box or bypass that and go to the battery with 15A inline fuse. Reducing all possible resistance drop is critical to the life of your charging system.

[FiremanBob]

The Shindengen on my 550 touches the rear inner fender, and there isn't a mark on either part. I wouldn't worry about it.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

If you add extra wire, you can mount the r/r anywhere it will fit. It doesn't have to go under the side cover. I've even seen them mounted on the front of the frame, in the breeze to keep them cool. Good grounds and clean connections are a must.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[amontyg]

Thanks all,

Just for my own peace of mind, I think I will see how difficult it is to cut the fins and go from there.

Just to confirm that I understand, on my new R/R the green wire is going to go to the negative battery terminal. The black will get attached to a switched power source, like the brake light. Right?

Also, for the red power output wire, are you saying I should definitely not hook it up to the old solid red wire? I'm planning on soldering all connections between my new R/R and everything else.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

You have the correct wiring plan. It's OK to connect the red output wire from the r/r back into the stock harness connection. This connection goes through the fusebox. Make sure all of the connections in the fusebox are clean to cut down on the resistance and voltage loss.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff