XJ550 Fusebox Replacement

I decided to take a little time this labor day weekend and replace the fusebox on my 1983 XJ550.

I purchased the replacement fusebox and decal from chacal and went from there.

The only criteria I had starting out (and the main reason for this post) was that I didn’t want to install hardware thru the intake airbox and I wanted to leave the toolbag area for the toolbag.

So…

I cut a hole in the toolbag tray large enough for the fusebox to fit up thru from the bottom side.





I decided to try and use the origonal fusebox mounting holes, but run the bolts in thru the bottom side.



This would allow me to place the ears of the new fusebox on the underside of the tool tray, lowering the fusebox and providing clearance from the seat without screwing it directly on top of the intake airbox. But to do this I had to modify the new fusebox a little first.

In order to pick up the rear screw hole I trimmed the edge of the new fusebox mounting ear about 1/8” and enlarged the hole to 3/16”.



I wasn’t able to pick up the forward origonal mounting hole so I compromised a little. I cut a half hole in the new fusebox mounting ear.



This allowed me to sandwich the forward mounting ear in between two washers.



Once mounted into place.



This gave me about 1/8” of clearance between the bolt head and the intake airbox.



And then the wiring…

I didn’t spring for the correctly colored wiring extensions but I think I did the next best thing.

I used colored wire that matched the stripe in the origonal wires. So I extended the red and yellow striped wire with solid yellow wire and the red and white striped wire with solid white wire. I was able to match the solid red wire but the solid brown wire I extended with black. Oh well… I don’t think the electrons are going to mind.

I also used the same color pattern for the heatshrink I put over all the solder jounts.



All and all I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I didn’t have to drill into the airbox and the overall placement of the new fusebox is about 1/8” lower than the ignition module so there’s plenty of seat clearance.









Also, an unexpected bonus that came along with this project… Some weird turn signal problems I was having disappeared and the bike seems to be starting a little better.

I guess a lot is to be said for good electrical connections.

 

Real neat job, good post too.
I got over the coloured wires by using red & putting a yellow or white band of ins' tape around near the box & used brown for the brown of course.

 

Great job, hope to have mine soon.

 

really well done - i wish i had the patience. i DESPERATElY need to do the same thing but i'm not sure of the connections. where did you find your fusebox?

thanks
any tips - please let me know! justin_lacher@yahoo.com

 

I got everything I needed from chacal. Great service!

HCP378BC Fusebox, 6-circuit (p/n for XJ550)
HCP393 Decal, 6-circuit (p/n for XJ550)

He also has a wire extension kit that I wish I had gotten. HCP8553 (p/n for XJ550)
The extension wires match the original wire colors.

chacal Parts List Post

I think my only advise would be to solder the connections instead of crimping. Worth the extra effort in the long run...

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Is it really necessary to do the fuse box conversion if your original looks brand new?

 

I would say that if your fusebox “looks brand new”, has no corrosion issues and no loose connections at the fuses, then you’re probably good to go.

In my case the previous owner of the bike stored it outside for 10+ years. So I was dealing with a lot of corrosion resulting in poor connections at the fuses which resulted in heat buildup at the plastic housing. The way I saw it I didn’t have a whole lot of choice.

Sounds like you’re one of the lucky ones…

 

Old post, but had to comment anyway. My wiring for my fuses are a jumbled mess thanks to previous owner. Bought the fuse box today. Gonna give it a go. Thanks mate for the photos!

 

5 years later this post is still topical!

I recently ordered the parts from Chacal, and received them today.
Hope to find some spare time this week so I can install the new fusebox!

 

I rebuilt/re-soldered the old fuse box/glass tube fuses... in hindsight :roll: and on the to do list, is this mod.

 

Or NOT.

The original fuse clips crystallize and can (and will) break all on their own for no apparent reason. There is no outward indication until you have no "juice" to one circuit or another and find broken bits of fuse clip just laying there.

 

I can vouch for this. There must be some heat cycling that goes on (even just a little) and over the years the tabs get brittle. Mine looked perfect, but when I removed it the tabs flaked off like burnt paper.

 

You can get those fuse boxes on Amazon too, I put one on my Seca 750 about a week after I got it to cure lighting problems which turned out to be weak and cracked fuse tabs.

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H84960091-6 ... s=fuse+box