So a few months ago, I bought my very first motorcycle, which happens to be a 1994 XJ600s. Even though the model is almost 30 years old, it surprised me that it rode so smoothly. I didn't need much time to decide to buy it.
One downside though, was the modification the previous owner made. He turned it into a naked bike, which was nice, but the custom meter was incorrect. I was able to tell the correct speed from my phone I had mounted on the steer, but that did not feel like a proper solution.
So I decided to change the meter. Since I was free to choose what I wanted, I was looking for options with a tachometer as well. After some decision making, I choose to put the original meter back on. This however, meant that I needed to put back the original fairing and headlight.
After some browsing, if found what I was looking for, all for no more than €65,-. Now it was only a matter of assembling everything and hoping all would fit and function.
The first step was taking the parts off that were not originally there. The result was an empty front as can be seen on the picture.
Next step, mount the cockpit and check the speedometer. Since the meter itself only needs the mechanical cable, this was an easy step. After connecting it, I bundled the hanging cables and drove through the streets. So far so good: The meter functioned well for as far as I could tell and the needle was stable. I was able to mount the head light as well.
From this point on, I needed to figure out the electronics. The cockpit I got did not have the lights that were supposed to be in there and the sockets were take out too. I decided not to care too much about just having soldered lights being held in place with duckt tape, so that made the choice for new lights easier. I did some browsing and bought a few LEDs for about €10. I also read by coincidence that the oil indicator should be an old fashioned light bulb. I bought a set af two, so I had a spare one.
Unfortunately, the previous owner cut off all the cables he did not have connected anymore, so that meant I had to figure out the schematic. Luckily, the internet is a never ending source of information and I was able to find it.
Still, connecting the electronics remained a puzzle for me, even with the schematic. The reason is that I started with the indicator light for the turn signals. This is connected with two wires that go to and from the left and right turn signals via the indicator light. I was struggling with this and thought the schematic was just wrong. Therefore I tried to connect everything just by finding out what worked. After sorting out what wire was more or less responsible for what, I eventually connected most of the lights and the tachometer, although I mistakenly used the wrong ground for some connections at first, causing the high beam to flash when my turn signal was on.
After a while, everything was connected, except for the turn signals. I couldn't wrap my head around it and decided to take a look at the schematic again. I found out that the wiring was done exactly as I did myself, giving me som reassurance I was on a good path, but when I tried to connect the indicator as described, It just worked for one side. I decided to draw the turn signal part of the schematic, in order to see it that made it clearer (all the other things drawn there made the overview harder for me) When I did so, I suddenly dawned on me. The problem might be the LED, since its only able to conduct electricity in one direction. This realisation came when I saw that the indicators had to have a built in diode in order to work as they were connected. (See the schematic. Without the diodes, both sides would blink when indicating.) When I connected my LED the other way around, I saw that the other side worked when and the side that worked first, did not work anymore. This confirmed my theory and so I connected the light bulb I had as a spare instead. After some soldering, everything worked as it should and I only had the fairing left.
The fairing was actually not that hard. Somebody I knew told me that I might have ome problems aligning the holes where the bolds should go, but this was actually quite simple as well. I just had to gest some extra bolts and the fairing nuts that were missing.
So after a few weeks of working on this project during the evening, I completely redid the front. The reason I did it myself was not only to save some money, but also to lean a thing or two from it. Still, I am curious to know what others think of it and if they have suggestions for improvement on the way I did things, so if you read this post, please share your opinion.
Thanks for reading!