On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:41:13 -0400, Wrench <kbyerly@indy.rr.com>
wrote:

>Belly up to the bar, guys, and let me buy a round while I tell my
>tale.
>
>I recently built a custom around an 80" evo. The day I took all my
>info to the BMV to get the title paperwork started I took the bike to
>fill the tank for the first time.
>
>I pulled out of the station and within a quarter mile the motor
>faltered, backfired, and died. The gauges also died. Fuel streamed
>out of the carb overflow tube. Luckily, no fire.
>
>I pushed it home (about a half mile) and put it on the lift. The carb
>came off and I found a sludge in the bowl. The gas tank was drained
>and the gas filtered, the bowl taken off the carb and the insides
>cleaned.
>
>I hope that part is done....I haven't gotten it off of the lift
>because of the electrical problem.
>
>I found a broken wire going to the key switch, and a second partially
>broken. Both were replaced. Turning the key to the first position
>turns on the head and tail lights. Turning it to the start position
>now turns on the gauges (a dakota digital) and then trips the breaker
>after a second or so, losing the gauges as well. Flipping the run
>switch to 'off' and turning the key doesn't trip the breaker and the
>gauges stay on.
>
>I have narrowed down the short to involving the ignition circuit. The
>wiring is through the frame and bars.
>
>I don't see any obvious wire breaks or exposure.
>
>My question is, what is the next step. Should I replace the starter
>relay, or am I doomed to pulling all those wires out of the bars and
>frame? Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks for reading a long post!
>
>Ken
A drink for all, Shirley -

Well, the afternoon was spent using the compass, pulling the bars off
(looked like it was there according to the compass technique), and
tracing the ignition wires.

I found the short actually in the ignition wire going from the run
switch to the coil, about 3 inches from the coil. It had gotten
caught between parts of the mounting bracket and flattened with the
insulation opened, thus the short only when the run switch was on.

That was a total pain, but now there are two others, although I know
how to fix them.

First, my motorcycle lift's hydraulics leaked and now the lift is
stuck elevated and I won't be able to get the bike off until I can get
lifting help, or figure how to release the safety catches. It is a
Sears lift. Looks like it needs a new piston.

The second is there was a brown sludge in the gas line, and in the
carb. Cleaned the carb and lines, filtered the gas, put it all back
together, and got NO FLOW through the lines. Drained the tank again,
pulled the petcock and found that somehow the filter was off of it.
Found it on one of the benches. I wonder what bozo put the petcock in
without the filter........(guess it was me since I built the darned
thing...how could that have happened!?)

I put a followup pick on the other newsgroup.

Thanks for the help!

Ken