yellow's '80gs550e - UPDATE!

[yellow]

So this is gonna be the tug for the hack. Eagle - Spirit of America sidecar. She needs to be in top form for winter. Any, I repeat, Any suggests to improve reliability would be appreciated. So.....

AIR LEAK - Macmatic - THANKYOU!
1. Had classic increased idle. Replaced o-rings. Idles well.

PETCOCK - was leaking fixed the following way since PO had rebuilt in last year.
1. Ground down lever so I can turn it completely off - Works Great!
2. Stretched spring by diaphragm to ensure seating of o-ring. Figured engine pulled plenty of vacuum. Theory worked and works well. No more leak - but can turn off if necessary - see #1

CHARGING - was not charging at all
1. went thru stator papers and followed flow chart. Good news Stator in good shape, bad news Regulator bad. Is the Regulator(the finned gizmo that says regulator on the side) the same as the Regulator/Rectifier? One in the same?
2. Battery is shot. Used car battery to determine that the Regulator is bad
3. Thinking of replacing with HONDA CB R/R.

CARBS - Choke pilot circuit still screwed up on #2. New carbs? or just a new pod? Not sure what is best and how much this costs.


Thanks again to this forum for keeping me sane.

[crc1214]

Glad to hear you got things worked out. Sucks about the charging system though, been there done that. I believe your 1980 model was the first to use the combined regulator/rectifier unit. Easiest way to tell is just by looking at a wiring diagram.

If you do indeed have a combined unit, the most popular Honda R/R swap is the Shindengen (sp?) SH-232 regulator/rectifier used on the CX500's and CM400's. Just do a search for CX* reg* OR CM* reg* on e-bay and you'll find a slew of them. Just to be safe, I'd ask the seller if they are the SH-232 models. It will be listed on a little red sticker on the unit itself. Sometimes you can even see it in the pictures.

Oh screw it.... here's some links to some ads..... I've got e-bay open right now.... this one I know for a fact is a SH-232, cause I asked him. Don't worry, I'm not going to swipe this from you. Bid on it if you want it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4639898738&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ADS%3AMT%3A28

Also..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-Honda-CM400-CM-400-Voltage-Regulator_W0QQitemZ4640159338QQcategoryZ10066QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1981-Honda-CM-400-C-Regulator-Rectifier-SH232-12-1-1_W0QQitemZ4641464066QQcategoryZ35594QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For wiring.... three wires coming from your stator go to three yellow wires on the r/r unit. Attach red/white wire from r/r to battery positive terminal (I put a 10A inline fuse in this connection, others do not). Attach green to battery negative terminal, and attach remaining wire (either brown or black) from r/r to a positive V wire that is hot only when the ignition switch is turned on (some prefer the brake light switch, I spliced a + wire coming right out of the fuse box). This is a sensor wire, so it's important that the wire it is spliced off of is seeing V very similar to the V reading taken across the battery terminals with the bike running.

Now if your bike does use separate regulator and rectifier units, this is all probably useless to you.. LOL. No, just let us know and we'll get you through it.

Good luck!

[yellow]

For wiring.... three wires coming from your stator go to three yellow wires on the r/r unit. Attach red/white wire from r/r to battery positive terminal (I put a 10A inline fuse in this connection, others do not). Attach green to battery negative terminal, and attach remaining wire (either brown or black) from r/r to a positive V wire that is hot only when the ignition switch is turned on (some prefer the brake light switch, I spliced a + wire coming right out of the fuse box). This is a sensor wire, so it's important that the wire it is spliced off of is seeing V very similar to the V reading taken across the battery terminals with the bike running.

Now if your bike does use separate regulator and rectifier units, this is all probably useless to you.. LOL. No, just let us know and we'll get you through it.

Good luck!

Wow! thanks for the info. They way mine is set up right now is this, Two wires to REGULATOR, one does not. PO had also taken nob off of light switch so you can turn off the headlight. I think this is what may have fried REGULATOR.

HOW DO I FIND A WIRING DIAGRAM TO DETERMINE IF MINE IS R/R OR JUST R?

[crc1214]

I would strongly encourage you to get a manual. You can find used and new ones on Barnesandnoble.com and ebay, and new ones at a real good price at repairmanual.com

Promise me that you'll do that and I'll try the best I can to solve your immediate need of knowing if this is a combined unit.

OK... look at the unit that the stator wires plug into. There should be two wires that lead out of the unit, where do they go?

If it's to another unit with a bunch of cooling fins, you've got separate units. If they lead elsewhere, you've got a combined unit. I wish I could tell you where "elsewhere" is, but it's been a while since I replaced my r/r and I can't really remember where the heck those outlet wires lead to in stock configuration (black wire I think is grounded to the frame, red/white wire would be spliced into red wire going to + battery terminal I'm guessing).

[yellow]

Yep.....

Chad - Thank you. You were absolutely correct. It is one unit. Checked your way and conferred with manual. Stopped by local salvage 'cause I like to support the local guy...."hmmmm let's see, that will be $75"....well, not support them that much.

Do you have any ideas about the carbs? (see original post)

Thanks again

[yellow]

NEW (used) R/R

Got one today and gonna try and hook it up...only thing is I have 5 wires from old and six from new. I'll reread posts and see what happens. Thanks again.

I'll try and let you know what happens, but lost my computer so library visits are few and far between.

yellow