WOLO because YOLO

While looking for inexpensive mods that can make a difference I came across one that didn't see much play on Harley's but did for imports and cars...... The WOLO Bad Boy air horn. I can say every single bike I have owned has had horns that barely qualify being called a horn. They do a piss poor job at notifying fellow drivers and inattentive cager's that they are going to run you over, an upgrade is definitely a step forward in safety. The impetus besides a fresh mod also came in the form of an email from Harbor Freight with a 25% off coupon which made the $39.99 horn only $29.99, how could anyone sane man pass that up?

In all it's glory after removing from the blister pack


With a silver bullet for scale


It is a compact two tone air horn that has a self contained compressor that does require battery power and a relay to be added but that is an easy deal. Well, so I thought until the curse of the Chinese relay bit again. I removed the factory horn from the bracket, drilled out the top hole, and bolted the WOLO right to it, easy peasy. For wiring you put the factory horn contacts on 85 & 86, +12v switched to contact 30, then contact 87 to the horn's positive, then the horn's ground to ground.

Easy.

Unless your relay that comes with the kit is broken and you spend too much time thinking you have a bad ground. SMH Using the spare I bought the other day when installing the cruise control every thing worked perfect, the damn horn scared the bejeezus out of me first time.

I'm sure it will get inattentive driver's attention when/if it is needed.



Actually tucks in tighter than stock




I'm now part of the club

It's the little things

It's almost too hot to ride in Texas, testing the cruise control can wait a little while, besides I leave Wednesday for a run through Colorado. 

So instead I decided a little extra project was needed for the right saddle bag. With the 05' cop bikes having ABS it leaves a useless part of the bag on the front side which is only good for a pair of folded up soft lowers or your bungie straps but I though a shelf was in order.

I whipped up a quick pattern and made this shelf out of some scrap lexan and some black faux alcantara, both of which I had laying around the garage. 

It makes a nice shelf for the things that usually ended up in the bottom of the bag like sunglasses case, ear plugs, phone, etc. 

Success!

Kind of...

After running through the diagnostics 50 times and not getting the correct results I decided that I needed to add a relay for the brake circuit. I grabbed the two I had on hand and wired one up, screwed around with it for an hour, grabbed the second one and spent another hour, wiring it every way possible and still not getting the correct diagnostic reading. I quit, I have something else to do, run out and get cat food and I'll stop at Autozone and pick up a new relay. I get back to the garage, wire it in and BINGO! Brake circuit is working correctly! Tuck a few wires away, add the side covers and let's see if it works.

I get on the highway, hit 70mph, turn on the switch, thumb the set button, and cruise control! Wait, it drops about 3mph, speeds up 3mph, drops about 3mph. Darn, I think I may have too much slack in the control cable or I have the sensitivity set too low.

But I did get it all back together



More things to check tomorrow.

One Step Forward

And maybe a step sideways.

Spent most of Saturday finishing up the wiring on my cruise control project, well most of that time was spent looking at wiring diagrams to decide where I would pull the tach and VSS signal from or running after heat shrink and split loom. I was able to grab the tack wire from the stock 12 pin connector on the right side of the bike but I got tired of chasing that white/green VSS wire so I split it and tagged into it near the connector also on the drivers side.

After connecting to the wrong taillight wire, brake instead of running, I got it all hooked up right and performed the diagnostics on the paperwork included and it works! Go out for a ride, no bueno, the cable is too tight and binding the throttle. This creates a cruise control of itself lol. Back to the garage to extend the attachment. After burning myself twice I got it done but called it a day, the wife asked me to install two new faucets, one kitchen the other our bathroom, and the latter tested every bit of patience I had requiring a dremel to remove the rusted nut holding the hot side handle on. That was the end of working on Saturday, on anything. Now to find time to replace the faucet in the other bathroom....

More Parts

Not much has transpired on the cruise control project, I've been rearranging wires, drawing diagrams, and doing some ciphering' now that I've decided to get this done before a planned trip to Colorado the end of July.

I like last minute mods, lol.

I also "lucked" into a Craigslist deal on a Reckless Motorcycles fairing for the princely sum of $400. It needed a little bodywork on the front which I was going to color match it anyway and brackets for my bike, but was a unknown as to whether or not it worked, seller said it did but couldn't prove it.





The best feeling was that after procuring a plug that it fired right up and sounded great, I was sweating blown speakers or a non-op head unit. Not a bad deal as the run $900+ new.
The nice thing about the Reckless is they use a Bluetooth Infinity marine stereo with Polk Audio marine speakers, no need to fear the rain.


So while I was playing with that I perused eBay and picked up a new chrome rack for the tour pack and decided to grab a left side control for an Ultra to utilize the Push To Talk button for my aftermarket cruise. $50 later one was on it's way but upon ohming it out the PTT button was junk contrary to the listing. I can still use the radio volume button I guess, although I was saving that for the radio. We will see what the seller says as it was listed as working fine, maybe a little discount for my trouble would be nice.

Sunday Mornings

What better to do than spend some time in the garage while the wife sleeps away the day, lets cut something up.

After pulling the bags and both side covers I started looking for a spot to stash the cruise control unit. The right side was full with the ECM and the PCIII unit so it left the right side that had a few problems in the way and after rearranging some wiring I think it could work although the abandoned ABS wiring still presented a problem.

Not any longer, not going back....


With that out of the way it looks like a great location and fits behind the side cover


The included cable is long, too long really but I was able to route it up by the coil and back around


The kit had several pieces to attach the cable to any throttle body


But I ended up using this one that fit perfectly on the factory connecting point on the throttle body



I also beat the mounting bracket into submission but called it a day after that.

And for my next trick....

I have decided that I want to add cruise control. It was an option when my bike left the showroom floor but my came without being a police model. The quick and painless way(short of install and cost) would be order up Harley part number  77196-04 which is the kit for my bike, unfortunately Harley no longer makes this and there is only one available at a site that carries the non-obtanium kits but they would like a modest $863.

That's not happening.

After hours of research I came across several sites with people using an Audiovox kit that uses a vacuum servo or a Rostra kit that has an electric servo, I chose the latter and ordered it from Amazon for $167 plus a left side set of handlebar switches for stock radio/CB controls. I think that I can make the Rostra kit work for what I need along with factory style switches.


In the mean time I have disassembled a factory king tour pack and it is ready to take to my paint guy. Plus the next obsession is looking for an aftermarket removable fairing with a radio, I have convinced myself it will be great when touring.....