More winter project update.

Made more progress this week end with the electrical portion of my winter project. I fabed a battery box, relocated the CDI, fuse block and got creative with hiding the rectum finder/regulator.

 

Looks clean, dood. Did you put the pattern on the aluminum yourself?

 

Thanks man, Yea I did it with a wire brush in a drill press.

 

Make sure your regulator gets enough air flow to keep it's temp in check. You've got the fins perpendicular to the airflow.

 

So its ok to mount the electronics onto a metal plate like that? It won't accidentally short/ground anything? I had to mount my stereo amp to a wooden board before mounting it in my trunk because it did funky stuff to the system, so I assumed without researching that the same would go here.

 

Umm... sheet aluminum isn't conductive. At least not enough to matter.

 

"Umm... sheet aluminum isn't conductive. At least not enough to matter."
you don't really believe that, do you?

 

Aluminum is very conductive, in all its forms. Thankfully the plastic casings of the parts that are attached to that aluminum sheet are good insulators (by design).

 

Ok, the bug got me and I had to look it up!

According to a cited entry in Wikipedia, Aluminum has roughly 59% of the electrical conductivity that Copper does.

Quoting a related chart, Copper's conductivity is 5.96 x 10^7 σ (S/m) at 20 °C, whatever that is, with Aluminum at 3.5 x 10^7, and carbon steel (1010) at 6.99 x 10^6, meaning Aluminum is way more conductive than steel.

This still begs the question: would that mess with the electrical? I don't know. I guess it depends on how sealed the components are.

Edit: and I'm too slow. K-Moe has more answers in fewer words. Winner.

 

Hey Fitz, any chance you were thinking of magnetism?

 

Go easy on Fitz, anyone can make a mistake, just look at Rick.

 

I have nothing but respect for the man. With him in MI and me in OH, I'm hoping I'll get a chance to shake his hand if there's ever an XJ meetup in the area.

 

and never wash that hand again

 

I don't know how I feel about this. lol!

Looking good!

 

I have had no problems in the past with mounting it on aluminum.

 

Generally, any conductive mounting points on electrical components are either going to be grounded, or isolated.

BaldWonder, I think it's safe to say that there was something screwy with your amp. Either a loose connection shorting to the case, or shitty shielding causing RF interaction. Probably the latter considering it was remedied with a hunk of wood.

 

A rectifier has 2 sides: 1 ground which is grounded to the regulator/rectifier case and 1 hot side which is isolated. So your regulator/rectifier case needs to be grounded either through the case mounting or a supplied ground wire that is in the wiring harness that goes into the regulator/rectifier.
In the case of your car amp, I'm thinking RF problem. If you have watched any car rebuild shows where they install a sound system, they usually mount the amp on the speaker sound box(plywood).

 

Went for a short shake down ride today. New 16/48 gearing feels good, rear disc works fine with the rear sets. FZ600 swing arm works nicely, It now has 17" wheels front and back. Wonder what I will do to it next?

 

Looking good!!

 

Thrasher,

Other members may have said this same thing, I know Fitz did, and I agree...mods should look like they were part of the stock manufactured bike. I also believe performance mods should increase the performance of the stock part or at the least perform as well as stock. It looks good. I hope it performs as good as it looks.

Roc

 

Next time I want to do something I will ask permission to do so.

 

Coolest Seca 550 I've ever seen.

PM me the mod list if you will. :lol:

Hey roc82650, look up resto mod. :wink:

 

He put his racebike back on the street. It's not a 550 anymore; and I think it would be easier to get a list of things that aren't modified. (At least it would be a lot shorter.)

It's way cool and probably has a healthy appetite for liter-bikes.

 

I was saying anyone not knowing what the stock bike looks like would think yours was factory built like that. It's a good look and I'm sure it performs as well. I like it.

Roc

 

This forum is full of custom XJ's. Some people like them as they are others get creative. I bought my Seca in 1981. We have been thru a lifetime of experiences together. I have had many bikes in my time this one has to be my favorite. BTW it does preform like it looks.

 

I like the mods, made it look better.
You know what they say about opinions!