Joined Oct 2010
1K Posts | 0+
West Yorks
I have just upgraded my Gen 1 with Killaprilla’s heavy duty leads. It’s pretty straightforward but I thought I’d write it up and photograph it in case anyone is interested. My bike was fitted with an uprated battery and 150A solenoid by the previous owner. You need these to get the real benefit of the new leads.
Wes (Killaprilla) provides 2 replacement cables (battery-to-solenoid and solenoid-to-starter) and one additional cable (earth-to-starter). These are labelled and made to a very high standard. They are all protected by corrugated conduit and have appropriate boots to protect them from shorting. You’ll need the usual sort of bike tools, soldering/or crimping tools, some cable ties and some wd40 type lubricant. It goes without saying that this upgrade works best if all the connections made are clean and secure etc.
Tip from Wes: Use wd40 to lube the cable boots on both the old and new cables. This makes them much easier to slide out the way when undoing/doing-up the connections.
I removed the (front) seat, right hand side panel, right hand fairing side and lifted the tank.
1. Standard leads, battery and solenoid layout.
I disconnected earth and positive battery leads and pulled the solenoid and rubber mounting up off the mounting brackets and then removed the 2 terminal nuts from the solenoid so that the battery-solenoid and solenoid-starter leads were free.
Next I undid the nut that holds the solenoid-starter lead to the top of the starter motor.
2. Original cable in place on the starter motor just behind the right radiator.
I cut the 2 thin red wires as close to the positive terminal as possible and retained the red rubber boot for later on.
3. Thin red wires joined to original positive terminal.
I stripped some insulation from the end of each thin red wire, pushed on a length of shrinkwrap and soldered and crimped on a ring connector. (If you have no soldering kit you could just crimp this connector.)
4. Thin red wires joined to ring connector and shrinkwrapped.
At this point I unbolted the 2 small bolts that hold the coolant tank to the right side frame to allow some access behind it.
I found one cable tie behind the right hand side panel that I cut off at this point. It was holding the solenoid-starter lead to another part of the loom. The solenoid-starter lead is still not easy to remove at this point. I started by pulling the solenoid end of the lead out through the side of the seat subframe. (the area in picture 5) and then pulled the lead gently out from the starter motor end. (Just watch as you go that you are not dragging important stuff out with it.)
5. Cable tie shown behind right hand side panel. Remove the left hand end of the cable though here. The thick black lead above the blue pipes is the original earth lead that is retained.
Routing the 2 new leads through from the under-seat area to the starter is not easy to describe. I started from the centre, in front of the lug (to the right of the big lump of aluminium in picture 7) that the seat subframe attaches to, and routed the 2 cables towards the starter motor as close to the original route as possible. I routed the solenoid end of the cables behind the frame under the back of the tank and along the inside of seat subframe, back past the battery box.
When I was happy with the routing of the cables I attached the thick (positive) lead to the starter positive terminal and the thinner (earth) lead to the rear-most of the 2 starter motor fixing bolts.
6. Starter motor with new positive lead attached at top and new earth lead attached to rear mounting bolt.
7. New leads in place in seat subframe from right hand side.
I attached the leads to the terminals on the solenoid. I also attached the 2 thin red leads here rather than attaching them directly to the battery positive terminal.
8. Everything attached to solenoid including the thin red wires.
I pushed the original red boot onto the new positive lead and attached the lead to the battery. Finally I attached both the new and original earth leads to the battery.
9. Everything attached to battery.
I fitted a couple of cable ties to hold the two leads together neatly through the engine area.
Replace all ‘body parts’ removed at start.
Tidy garage
Done!
N.B. If you want some leads for your Gen 1 or Gen 2 then PM Killaprilla.
Wes (Killaprilla) provides 2 replacement cables (battery-to-solenoid and solenoid-to-starter) and one additional cable (earth-to-starter). These are labelled and made to a very high standard. They are all protected by corrugated conduit and have appropriate boots to protect them from shorting. You’ll need the usual sort of bike tools, soldering/or crimping tools, some cable ties and some wd40 type lubricant. It goes without saying that this upgrade works best if all the connections made are clean and secure etc.
Tip from Wes: Use wd40 to lube the cable boots on both the old and new cables. This makes them much easier to slide out the way when undoing/doing-up the connections.
I removed the (front) seat, right hand side panel, right hand fairing side and lifted the tank.
1. Standard leads, battery and solenoid layout.
I disconnected earth and positive battery leads and pulled the solenoid and rubber mounting up off the mounting brackets and then removed the 2 terminal nuts from the solenoid so that the battery-solenoid and solenoid-starter leads were free.
Next I undid the nut that holds the solenoid-starter lead to the top of the starter motor.
2. Original cable in place on the starter motor just behind the right radiator.
I cut the 2 thin red wires as close to the positive terminal as possible and retained the red rubber boot for later on.
3. Thin red wires joined to original positive terminal.
I stripped some insulation from the end of each thin red wire, pushed on a length of shrinkwrap and soldered and crimped on a ring connector. (If you have no soldering kit you could just crimp this connector.)
4. Thin red wires joined to ring connector and shrinkwrapped.
At this point I unbolted the 2 small bolts that hold the coolant tank to the right side frame to allow some access behind it.
I found one cable tie behind the right hand side panel that I cut off at this point. It was holding the solenoid-starter lead to another part of the loom. The solenoid-starter lead is still not easy to remove at this point. I started by pulling the solenoid end of the lead out through the side of the seat subframe. (the area in picture 5) and then pulled the lead gently out from the starter motor end. (Just watch as you go that you are not dragging important stuff out with it.)
5. Cable tie shown behind right hand side panel. Remove the left hand end of the cable though here. The thick black lead above the blue pipes is the original earth lead that is retained.
Routing the 2 new leads through from the under-seat area to the starter is not easy to describe. I started from the centre, in front of the lug (to the right of the big lump of aluminium in picture 7) that the seat subframe attaches to, and routed the 2 cables towards the starter motor as close to the original route as possible. I routed the solenoid end of the cables behind the frame under the back of the tank and along the inside of seat subframe, back past the battery box.
When I was happy with the routing of the cables I attached the thick (positive) lead to the starter positive terminal and the thinner (earth) lead to the rear-most of the 2 starter motor fixing bolts.
6. Starter motor with new positive lead attached at top and new earth lead attached to rear mounting bolt.
7. New leads in place in seat subframe from right hand side.
I attached the leads to the terminals on the solenoid. I also attached the 2 thin red leads here rather than attaching them directly to the battery positive terminal.
8. Everything attached to solenoid including the thin red wires.
I pushed the original red boot onto the new positive lead and attached the lead to the battery. Finally I attached both the new and original earth leads to the battery.
9. Everything attached to battery.
I fitted a couple of cable ties to hold the two leads together neatly through the engine area.
Replace all ‘body parts’ removed at start.
Tidy garage
Done!
N.B. If you want some leads for your Gen 1 or Gen 2 then PM Killaprilla.
