1978 XLCH Wiring PART 3 of ????

With the new handle bar wiring harness installed, it was time to tie it in to the remaining wiring.

One of the previous owners installed a larger gas tank complete with dash and rotary style switch like is used on the FL/FLH and many other big twin models. Great, I thought, this will be a good place to work to. I'll just redo the wiring as far as the gas tank switch.

Nope! Found this awesomeness under the cover. It's not wired anywhere close to factory spec. It seems the PO just found which contacts were connected when the switch was "on" and connected what he thought went there. (Spoiler alert: most of the wires weren't even fused that went though here though I hadn't found that yet.)

No big deal. I found a wiring diagram for a 1976/1977 FL/FLH, which was close enough to be "period" correct for my 1978. Using the switch positions and color codes from that diagram, I merged it with the diagram from the factory service manual for the XLH.

Wait... XLH??? Isn't this an XLCH? Good observation! Yes, based on the VIN and the presence of a kicker, it is indeed an XLCH.  However, at some point in it's life a PO added an electric starter which means I need to wire it based on the XLH diagram.  Really the only difference is the starter specific stuff: button, relay, solenoid, and starter motor. I'll post a copy of my hybrid XLCH/XLH/FLH diagram once the wiring is done and verified.

Now, to trace it back to the circuit breakers to make sure the to connect the switch correctly based on which breaker each wire goes through goes through. Ummm, breakers... breakers....? Found this.

Well crap! So this area will need to get cleaned up as well. You can't really see the extent of the horror in the pic. Almost every one of the splicing connectors had a short bit of exposed wire going before going into the connector.  Not to mention, I hate these types of connectors.

You may also notice, there are only two fuses in this entire bundle. From the factory there should be four. (Well, not fuses but circuit breakers.) One 30 amp straight off the battery and then three 15 amp; one each for the ignition, accessory, and lighting circuits. 

A PO replaced the circuit breakers during one of the "upgrades" but clearly cut corners by combining circuits. They really should be on separate circuits for convenience and safety. I'll be restoring them back to the original layout. 

In regards to circuit breakers versus fuses, I understand the arguments and merits for each. I don't have a preference in this application. If the PO would've left the factory clips for the CBs, I would rewire it using CBs. As such, they are gone so I'll just use fuses. I have a couple extra boots that I'll wire in to bring it up to the required number of circuits.

Before we get there though, I needed to trace out these wires and make sure everything goes to where I think it does.