[Vernmented]

I thought I would document my rebuild as it progresses.

This was my first motorcycle. Purchased this 2008 in late 09. It had around 6700 miles on it and had been dumped a few times. It came without hand guards, tool kit, a slightly bent radiator, lowering links installed and a bent kickstand I think to match the new height, lightly dented gas tank and a god-awful monster energy drink M paint job on the front fairings. Pretty much stock. I think they bought it and beat the crap out of it. I was looking for something that I could ride to Alaska and back if I wanted and couldn't afford a BMW.

I bought the Happy Trail crash bars, highway pegs, center stand, wolfman bags, replaced original dog bones, spray painted it flat black and began doing mods while getting some good street riding in and prepping to eventually take a long informal trip with some money I saved up. I had a local shop do the doo for me. As I was getting ready to take off on a long trip the oil burning got really bad. Cancelled that and rebuilt with a 685 kit sometime in 2010 through Wymanwinn on klr650.net. I pulled the snorkle and dialed in the klx needle. This was the start me getting into the nitty gritty mechanic work. Loads of issues with my 08 but I always loved the bike and enjoyed tinkering and made me familiar with the ins and outs. Moved to Chicago from Florida and my impeller shaft broke. I have no idea how this happened. The bike just started overheating one day. This is a big PITA and I lived in the hood without a place to work on my bike. My Dad passed away and I moved back to Florida to my Mom's house and the bike sat in the garage with the parts I ordered to fix it until now, 8.5 years after it broke!

Times are different, my Mom is 80 and my cat is 17.5 and I am not planning any extended ADV riding. The bike was running great before and so much fun. I have no plans to ever sell it. I want to pull some extra weight off and make a really fun ripping around town and go wherever I want bike here in sweltering Sarasota, FL. I love the 80's Delta Force/Mad Max aesthetics.

I really fell in love with this thread and pulled some other ideas doing extensive forum lurking after a 10 year hiatus.

On a Diet, A lightweight KLR650 Naked Streetfighter Project.

Just wanted to show you guys a project I have been working on. Inspired partly by SamM's KLR650 lightening project, I wanted to shed some weight from...

advrider.com

I fixed the impeller shaft by opening up both sides of the crank case. The gas tank and modded manual petcock rotted so I replaced them with IMS 6.6, raptor petcock and replaced the original Thermobob with a Tbob2 to free up some space. Carb was cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner and rebuilt. The engine is back together with fresh oil, coolant and iridium plug and runs. Everything else will be gone through and replaced/cleaned/rebuilt/removed due to rotting and not leaving well enough alone. I have a two stage pod filter/air box delete at the moment but will probably L mod my airbox and get a unifilter to throw in there if I go into some nasty trail riding. Bulky headlight fairing and dash will be replaced with a Vapor and old school headlight as seen below. I'm going to see if I can move most of the wiring and maybe the lifepo4 battery behind the coolant overflow.

Bike currently has 14,100 miles on it.

I'll edit this post and update my mods/parts list here:

685 Kit
EM Doohicky/Torsion Spring
IMS 6.6 gas tank
Raptor manual petcock
Acerbis locking gas cap/vent mod
Headlight/Dash delete
Trail Tech Vapor
Air box delete
UNI two stage pod air filter on carb
Crank case breather filter
Chain guard delete
Rear sub fender delete
Relocate license plate/LED lights plate lights
Rear rack delete
Happy Trail skid plate
Battery Tender adaptor
KLX needle
Thermobob 2
Stebel Nautilus horn
HTP4-8-3B OSR racks with spacer mod
WOLEX505 Wolfman Expedition saddle bags
Kickstand safety switch delete
Clutch safety switch delete
Stead slide choke/cable and lever delete
Extended fuel mixture screw
AIS/CAS system removal/EM plug
EBC Sintered Double H brake pads
SS brake lines/5.1 fluid
Pro Taper 7/8 ATV High bars
Rox 2" pivoting risers
Shinko 700 front/rear tires
EM oil cap
EM subframe bolt kit
EM fork brace
EM prevailing torque nut
EM carb screws
EM front master cylinder screws
EM low pro magnetic oil plug
NGK Iridium sparkplug
Primary Drive Steel Kit & X-Ring Chain
Deep Hole fix
Low Buck Exhaust Mod
Pro Grip 714 grips
Emgo headlight mounting brackets
7" H4 headlight
Mobil 1 Synthetic 20w-50 oil
Zerex Asian Red coolant
3D Cycle Parts turn signal stalk delete kit
PDWestman banjo bolts
Hydraulic rear brake switch
Tusk billet foot pegs
Pre '96 clutch
'97 stator
'03 flywheel
'94 cdi
'05 ignition coil
'92 idler gear
'84 KLR600 kickstarter arm



Future mods:
Gen 1 ignition
Kickstarter
Electric start delete/hole plug
Starter switch/kill switch delete
Battery delete
Minimalist wiring harness
Twin Headlight Ernie extended clutch arm
100% oil filter mod
Clutch cover crank oil restriction
Cogent Moab
Cogent DDC fork kit
Leo Vince X-3 slip on
LED tail light
LED headlight
EM caliper plate/320 front rotor

 

[Tom Schmitz]

Hmm, this has good bones.

Not wanting to throw a monkey wrench into your works, but feeling compelled, you might consider converting to a Gen 1 ignition system as a part of your HD Thoreau undertaking.

I have schematics...

Cue Evil Laugh™.

 

[Damocles]

"I'm going to see if I can move most of the wiring and maybe the lifepo4 battery behind the coolant overflow."

Careful; those lithium batteries bear watchin':



Story: Last Friday, battery died while far away in the deep woods. No problem. Hooked up little bitty booster battery, started bike, and rode on.

Less than a quarter mile down the road, low headlight beam goes out. No immediate problem (except perhaps to oncoming motorists I might meet), I switch to high beam. Within another eighth of a mile high headlight beam goes out.

Even I know now, we've got trouble, right here in River City. I'm riding along on a dark bike; apparently no battery power. Engine is running (thank goodness for Generation 1 AC-powered ignition), but should I kill the engine, re-starting would be at the least, a major problem. I vow to keep 'er running, to the limits of my ability, 'til I reach home (75 miles away).

I finally emerge from the back roads onto the Interstate; ride the next 50 miles with the aroma of fried lithium battery in my nostrils.

Reaching home, I replaced the battery (AGM lead-acid, this time). Only then could I evaluate fully the carnage: All light bulbs operating during the disaster (headlight, tail light, stop light, license plate light, dashboard instrument lights) blown. Neutral indicator light and turn signal bulbs unaffected (weren't on when the incident happened). Replaced all dead bulbs (except the dashboard ones; takes a little time and effort to change these), went on a 100-mile ride yesterday without incident.

What happened? Was the bike struck by lightning? If so, I didn't feel a thing. My guess; cells within the lithium battery shorted, sending the voltage regulator into its own version of insanity, resulting in a massive over-voltage; excess power cremating filaments and the battery itself.

Other ideas? Know of anything like this malfunction occurring? If so, please share!

 

[Vernmented]

WOW!!!! I ended up with the Scorpion Stinger SSTX14AHQ-FP. I was looking around for info on using an undersized lithium battery but couldn't find enough info in the forums to pull the trigger. I don't fully understand these things so I went with a "safe" choice. I was willing to experiment since if something happened and the battery was the culprit most likely I would be somewhere close enough to be picked up easily.

That is really crazy! Those Shorai are popular choices.

Hmm, this has good bones.

Not wanting to throw a monkey wrench into your works, but feeling compelled, you might consider converting to a Gen 1 ignition system as a part of your HD Thoreau undertaking.

I have schematics...

Cue Evil Laugh™.

Tom, I am intrigued. Now would be the time. I want to learn!!!!

I don't know how or if this ties in but I have read about it in passing. I was able to push start my 08 after I left my key on and drained the battery. I still have a scar on my butt cheek from eating $#*! the first go around. Good times!

 

[Tom Schmitz]

Devel, get thee behind me. And don't push.

Gen 1 Ignition on Gen 2

I've been building a bare-bones harness for the '09. It has been stripped of unnecessary stuff and designed to integrate with the Vapor dash and HID headlights. That project has been on the back burner while I worked on the kick start stuff. Now it looks like I'll put a Gen 1 ignition in the...

www.klrforum.com

 

[Vernmented]

Devel, get thee behind me. And don't push.

Gen 1 Ignition on Gen 2

I've been building a bare-bones harness for the '09. It has been stripped of unnecessary stuff and designed to integrate with the Vapor dash and HID headlights. That project has been on the back burner while I worked on the kick start stuff. Now it looks like I'll put a Gen 1 ignition in the...

www.klrforum.com

That harness is beautiful. I have to read through that thread a few more times and try to wrap my head around it. I would like to get rid of what I can. I don't mind the soldering and splicing work, I just need to fully understand what goes where. This forum in a gem. It is also nice to throw caution to the wind and not worry about resale value.

 

[Jack Straw]

I like your switch to the Vapor and also the old school headlight. I'm currently right in the middle of a similar project on my 2008.

I used a Polisport headlight at first but I'm not crazy about the look so I have a 7" round sealed beam coming to fit with some fork ears. The new round headlight will sit about 3" lower on the fork tubes after I complete the removal of the stock upper fairing mount and the OEM instrument panel. More pics next week.

Resale value????? Never heard of that.

 

[Tom Schmitz]

I am not a fan of either splicing or soldering.

Surprisingly, KLR harnesses are quite inexpensive, even new.

I believe that the best approach is to get a new harness (because it won't be messed with, have any rub-through issues, dodgy terminals, etc) and start from there. Get a 2'x5' piece of 3/8" plywood and some brads. Pin the thing out and strip the tape from it. You can then mark wires and connectors that will be removed.

Go to www.cycleterminal.com, where you can identify the connectors. Spend the money for a decent crimping tool; you'll find that you probably only need one or two and they really aren't terribly expensive. Joe has found serviceable tools that are affordable.

Plan your work out and buy replacement terminals as required and proper terminal extraction tools. You'll be able to remove wires by simply using the extractors to pull the terminals out of the connectors. Where you need to reconfigure the harness you may be able to re-use connectors that you've eliminated from the harness, repurposing them and installing new terminals on removed wires.

The ground bus on the KLR is a dog's breakfast. They have quite a few branches and crimps on main ground wires. If you are removing a ground wire you can take it back to the crimp and simply clip it out. Adding is a bit more effort, as you need to carefully remove the insulation from a convenient point and add the wire in, using an appropriate splice crimp.

Finishing up the harness is best done with proper wire harness tape rather than electrical tape. Hard to find, but it has less adhesive and won't grow into a gooey mess over time. Better, I think, is the use of woven coverings of different diameters and marine heat-shrink to terminate it. There are bits of PVC on the original harness that can be re-used, both as armor and single or two-wire branches.

The whole process is quite fun and makes you feel all techie and shit.

I absolutely hate the connectors that are on the Vapor, as they are wee things that are hard to work with if you want to shorten or lengthen a lead, but they do work. They require a crimper for the tiny terminals that are in them.

When ordering the Vapor you might as well go ahead and order the $10 resistor lead, as their approach to making the tach work simply won't be successful and you'll spend more in therapist fees than the $10.

As ever, I'm open to chattage about the specifics of the project.

 

[DPelletier]

On the battery issue; any battery can have issues (I was the assistant manager for a autoparts and industrial supply house for many years), I've seen it all. Shorai batteries have been used in thousands of bikes without issue and large number of KLR's too. I've been running Anti-Gravity LiFePO's in both my KLR's for 4 and 7 years respectively without issue and I'm never going back; no maintenance chargers required and 2.2lbs vs. 11.2 lbs. ......just too much weight for me to ignore.

2 cents,
Dave

 

[DPelletier]

Good luck with the project; I like the look of the single headlight vs. the stock Gen2 fairing and headlight. I prefer to keep the stock airbox and side panels etc. I see in that link, the guy got his Gen2 down to 345 lbs wet, no fuel; my KLR's are 353 lbs but still retain all the stock plastic, airbox, etc.

 

[Damocles]

On the battery issue; any battery can have issues (I was the assistant manager for a autoparts and industrial supply house for many years), I've seen it all. Shorai batteries have been used in thousands of bikes without issue and large number of KLR's too. I've been running Anti-Gravity LiFePO's in both my KLR's for 4 and 7 years respectively without issue and I'm never going back; no maintenance chargers required and 2.2lbs vs. 11.2 lbs. ......just too much weight for me to ignore.

2 cents,
Dave

The Shorai worked great, over the years I owned it. Once, the battery sat in the KLR650 for two years in storage; when rolled out finally, the bike started right away without charging.

I have no idea why the battery and all my light bulbs blew. Thus, I don't blame the battery for the carnage. This experience may be unique.

I replaced with lead-acid AGM not because I run, screaming, from the room in fear of a lithium battery. Not knowing the cause of the malfunction (could have been internal in the KLR's charging system), I didn't want to risk destroying an expensive Shorai lithium, or equivalent. So, bike runs OK with lead-acid AGM battery; when this battery wears out, I'll consider going lithium again.

 

[pdwestman]

"I'm going to see if I can move most of the wiring and maybe the lifepo4 battery behind the coolant overflow."

Careful; those lithium batteries bear watchin':





I finally emerge from the back roads onto the Interstate; ride the next 50 miles with the aroma of fried lithium battery in my nostrils.

What happened? Was the bike struck by lightning? If so, I didn't feel a thing. My guess; cells within the lithium battery shorted, sending the voltage regulator into its own version of insanity, resulting in a massive over-voltage; excess power cremating filaments and the battery itself.

Other ideas? Know of anything like this malfunction occurring? If so, please share!

Damocles,
Your KLR voltage regulator may have decided to over-charge the lithium battery. A recent purchase of a Tucker BikeMaster Lithuim for my wifes '80 KZ550 and reading its instruction & cautions is why I suggest such.
"Do not allow discharge Below 12.8V (resting voltage)"
"Do not allow charge voltage in excess of 14.8V."
"The standard voltage for charging is 14.4V."

My wifes quite low fluid level, flooded cell battery indicated I needed to test the system, yikes, the 15.2-15.4V requires a new regulator. The flooded cell & AGM's can be quite forgiving. I believe that Boeing Aircraft found that Lithium batteries are unforgiving.
I attempted to use a newer model 3 pole lithium Regulator on the 2 pole 1980 alternator, it won't keep up with the system. So I need to order a new common regulator for her bike and hope it stays near 14.4 - 14.6V

Did that battery melt an equal sized hole in the Clean Side of your air filter Box? Do you have Pics?

 

[DPelletier]

I believe that Boeing Aircraft found that Lithium batteries are unforgiving.

Those were Lithium ION, not Lithium Iron which are much more stable. Lithium Iron Phosphate Vs. Lithium-Ion: Differences and Advantages

Dave

 

[Damocles]

Damocles,
Your KLR voltage regulator may have decided to over-charge the lithium battery.

Good, plausible explanation.

Did that battery melt an equal sized hole in the Clean Side of your air filter Box? Do you have Pics?

Didn't notice any hole anywhere, except in the battery casing.

Pics? "Move along, folks; nothing to see here!"

 

[Vernmented]

I like your switch to the Vapor and also the old school headlight. I'm currently right in the middle of a similar project on my 2008. View attachment 26839 I used a Polisport headlight at first but I'm not crazy about the look so I have a 7" round sealed beam coming to fit with some fork ears. The new round headlight will sit about 3" lower on the fork tubes after I complete the removal of the stock upper fairing mount and the OEM instrument panel. More pics next week.

Resale value????? Never heard of that.

Good luck with the project; I like the look of the single headlight vs. the stock Gen2 fairing and headlight. I prefer to keep the stock airbox and side panels etc. I see in that link, the guy got his Gen2 down to 345 lbs wet, no fuel; my KLR's are 353 lbs but still retain all the stock plastic, airbox, etc. View attachment 26840

These are both beautiful builds. I added them to my KLR picture folder for inspiration. I actually bought 3 natural IMS 6.6 tanks. Vendors like to take your money for a few days and then tell you they aren't in stock. The third one I gave a day to process my order and then messaged them to see if they actually have the product. Of course they didn't. I ended up with a black one that was $50 cheaper and looks sleeker but there is something about that natural color and fuel level that I love. There is an epidemic of online resale middlemen selling product they don't have.


Tom,
I guess the ignition mod is on the must do list. I read through the post again to absorb a bit more. What I am seeing is that I need to replace the CDI, exciter coil, ignition coil and possibly the rectifier. A quick search on ebay had this pop up as well.

Ricks Hot Shot CDI Box Kawasaki KLR650 1990-2007 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Ricks Hot Shot CDI Box Kawasaki KLR650 1990-2007 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

This stuff is over my head right now but I want to learn what I can. I love the idea of getting rid of as much safety circuitry as I can. I clipped and soldered the kickstand and clutch junk years ago. I was considering adding some sort of LED high beam or spot light type of thing onto the high beam circuit. The headlight I have uses H4 so I should be able to just plug into it or use the new socket and boot that came with the light. I am also hoping to move the main fuse and starter relay to clean up that side, remove the bracket and have easy access to the slide choke.

Did you switch to a gen 1 ignition mainly for your kickstarter project. Can I delete some of the "junk" with my current gen 2 set up. It looks like the "idiot lights", starter lockout switch, starter circuit relay and the interlock diode unit (what is that?) can go. Why did you delete the turn signal relay? I will keep reading through this stuff till everything clicks.

Ideally I would just get rid of the battery if I could and have a kickstart but I remember reading through your write up a while back and thinking I wouldn't be able to do that. Maybe I can rig up some sort of moped pedal mod. Bahahahahahhaaha.

This is fun.

EDIT.
The gen 1 ignition doesn't need a battery to run but the gen 2 does? Would I only need a little jumpstart battery to get the bike to run? I haven't used the scorpion yet. I could probably send it back.

 

[pdwestman]

OK,
So the WPS (part# 490-2524) FeatherWeight battery (MFG part# HJTX14AH-FP-Q) installed in my KLR reads,
"Lithium Ion Polymer Technology.
Yada yada..................
No Hazardous Acid or heavy metals, Non-explosive and Non-combustible."

The BikeMaster (part#780813) Lithium ION battery (MFG part# DLFP12A-A) installed in my wifes KZ550 (with the warning about Not to Exceed 14.8V) reads,
"The most advanced high-power Lithium Ion Phosphate battery technology from BikeMaster.
Yada yada...........
No corrosive liquids, no toxic heavy metals make the BikeMaster Lithium Ion batteries enviromentally friendly."

I'm thoroughly confused and I think so are the wholesalers.

Excerpt from Daves link,
"Another safety advantage of lithium iron phosphate involves the disposal of the battery after use or failure. A lithium-ion battery made with a lithium cobalt dioxide chemistry is considered a hazardous material as it can cause allergic reactions to the eyes and skin when exposed. It can also cause severe medical issues when swallowed. So, special disposal considerations must be made for lithium-ion. On the other hand, lithium iron phosphate is nontoxic and can be disposed of more easily by manufacturers."

 

[DPelletier]

I suspect you're right, much of the marketing info is wrong or misleading. Anyhow, from Anti-Gravity (what I have in mine);

Lithium Battery Info
What type of Lithium does Antigravity Batteries use?
We use Lithium Iron Phosphate also called LifePo4. It charges and works perfectly fine with all 12V vehicle systems, provided the stock system is charging correctly.

Shorai's website isn't the best, but they do refer to their LFX Lithium-Iron powersports batteries.

Dave

 

[Tom Schmitz]

Tom,
I guess the ignition mod is on the must do list. I read through the post again to absorb a bit more. What I am seeing is that I need to replace the CDI, exciter coil, ignition coil and possibly the rectifier.

The full list is the rotor, the stator, the CDI, ignition coil, and the kill switch. The rectifier was replaced because it was reputed to be a better match for the charging requirements of a LiFePO₄ battery. The exciter coil is a part of the Gen 1 stator.

A quick search on ebay had this pop up as well.

Ricks Hot Shot CDI Box Kawasaki KLR650 1990-2007 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Ricks Hot Shot CDI Box Kawasaki KLR650 1990-2007 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Rick's has a good reputation, though I have no experience with it. If I remember correctly, the unit had some programmability. That could be interesting, but I don't know that there is much low-hanging fruit to pick with it.

This stuff is over my head right now but I want to learn what I can. I love the idea of getting rid of as much safety circuitry as I can. I clipped and soldered the kickstand and clutch junk years ago. I was considering adding some sort of LED high beam or spot light type of thing onto the high beam circuit. The headlight I have uses H4 so I should be able to just plug into it or use the new socket and boot that came with the light. I am also hoping to move the main fuse and starter relay to clean up that side, remove the bracket and have easy access to the slide choke.

Did you switch to a gen 1 ignition mainly for your kickstarter project. Can I delete some of the "junk" with my current gen 2 set up. It looks like the "idiot lights", starter lockout switch, starter circuit relay and the interlock diode unit (what is that?) It is a block of three diodes that takes the circuit status of the starter lockout switch and the kickstand switch and either ables or disables the starter circuit. can go. Why did you delete the turn signal relay? I will keep reading through this stuff till everything clicks.

I had already figured out how to install a kick starter with a Gen 2 ignition. I chose to install a Gen 1 ignition for the fact that it is simpler and can run with a ver-scheißen or no battery. You can eliminate, completely, the safety switches and thus the diode interlock unit. I didn't delete the turn signal relay, per se. What I did was replace it with a circuit that includes a relay designed to operate LED turn signals and incorporated an emergency flasher circuit. You can eliminate the idiot lights if you feel that they aren't necessary. I generally know if my high beam is on by either looking at where the light shines and applying comparative judgment, or by looking at the switch. I know where neutral is and can double-check with a bit of clutch. That said, I left both those functions intact. Starter circuit relay, not so much. It is there to take the load off of the starter switch. If KHI thinks that the starter switch can't handle the load of the starter relay, then the starter circuit relay should stay.

Ideally I would just get rid of the battery if I could and have a kickstart but I remember reading through your write up a while back and thinking I wouldn't be able to do that. Maybe I can rig up some sort of moped pedal mod. Bahahahahahhaaha.

This is fun.

EDIT.
The gen 1 ignition doesn't need a battery to run but the gen 2 does? Would I only need a little jumpstart battery to get the bike to run? I haven't used the scorpion yet. I could probably send it back.

In layman's terms: The Gen 2 needs only enough battery charge to energize the ignition circuit. That's as little as 11v, which is a 'dead' battery', but it does need at least that voltage. It will energize the ignition circuit because that requires next-to-no amperage. The exciter coil in the Gen 1 serves to provide energy to run the ignition circuit.

.....

 

[Vernmented]

Well, I bought this even if I end up mounting it on the wall of my garage to think of what could have been. I have spent the morning digging around looking for parts, building up a partzilla cart and reading through Tom's kickstarter and clutch write ups. Lots of work ahead in whatever path I follow.

 

[Tom Schmitz]

if it is in good shape and you are going to use it, get a new circlip and the washer for a KZ1000 kick starter.