new guy here with some questions

[alienroads]

Hi all, just joined and I have a few questions. I've had my '66 CA77 for a couple of years now and I'm starting to work on it to get it running. One question: mine has left and right mirrors, turn signals (winkers) a crash bar and a chrome grab handle(?)/ luggage rack(?) behind the seat. A lot of the pictures I've seen, the bikes don't seem to have these. Were these items upgrades or accessories? The wiring has been boogered up a bit but everything works except for the neutral light. I hooked up a 12v power supply to see what would happen. Headlight, tail light, brake light, turn signals, horn, even the starter solenoid clicked! Where is the neutral switch located. One of the cut wires I have is a red/green which I believe from the diagram goes to the switch, except it's just kinda hanging out near the coil. I also have a maybe 18 ga yellow wire and the same size gray wire cut off and hanging in the same place. I need to dig deeper into the harness as there are a few wire nuts and some wire colors that don't match the diagram. Still needs a battery, carb rebuild, petcock and tank clean, tires and an oil change, but with most of the electrical working (so far) I feel that half the battle is done. Also, it only has 8,498.7 miles on the odometer! Anyway, any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Don't hold it against me, but I'm a Harley guy, although my first bike was a CB450, but this bike is just so cool looking I couldn't resist! Thanks again!

[Muddy]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your rebuild.

These bikes were configured in different ways for different markets, for example, here in Australia, I believe genuine Honda indicators (winkers) were mandatory for road registration. This may not have been the case in all countries. Dependent on where your bike was initially sold, it may or may not have had genuine Honda mirrors fitted - are they genuine Honda mirrors? If not genuine Honda mirrors, they may have been fitted later. Do you have a solo-seat fitted with a luggage rack in place of the pillion seat? I think this combo may have been rarer coming from the factory, but is a common upgrade in some countries. Genuine Honda parts lists seem to indicate a dual seat carrier was available.

The wiring on these bikes is pretty simple, but best you get yourself a coloured wiring diagram if you can. Do a site search here and then an internet search, you may find coloured wiring diagrams out there that can be very handy.

I'm struggling to remember, but I thought the neutral switch may be located under the right hand side crank cover (or it may have been the left side)? Given your description don't be surprised if it is not fitted to your bike. I seem to recall that some of the earlier models did not have a neutral switch or indicator. The green/red wire does seem to be related to the neutral switch/light. The yellow wire may be related to the rectifier and the grey wire possibly relating to the indicator (winker) relay, however who knows what may have been done to the wiring.

Good luck with work. Don't forget to post photos (but keep the size of the photos down) - everyone loves photos and they make interpretation easier.

[Muddy]

Hopefully this will help.

[alienroads]

Thanks for the info! I've been digging in the wiring and it seems like one (or more) of the previous owners may have had some wiring problems and added some other wires to bypass the bad ones. The red/green wire is one of them. I tried again and the neutral light does work. The other end of the yellow wire hanging loose is in the headlight bucket. It seems to be an add on also. It looks like the mirrors are original Honda. The piece behind the seat I think is just a grab bar for the passenger and to help pull the bike up on the center stand. It doesn't look like the image that you posted. The only thing that I'm not sure works is the starter motor. Like I posted, the solenoid works, but the power supply I'm using may not have enough "oomph" to make it spin. Guess I'll have to get a battery soon! Thanks again and I'll try to post some pictures soon.
(edit) I also noticed on the wiring diagram there is no high beam indicator light or wiring showing. My bike has a red high beam light in the speedometer and a dual plug on the blue wire going to the headlight.
(edit 2) just saw a post about turn signals. Mine are definitely not original, hence all the goofy wiring. One mystery solved! The mirrors have a small stamp on them that says "TOYO Japan". Not sure if that means they're oringinal. Might not be considering the turn signals.

[Muddy]

Yes, wiring often gets modified for good intent, but sometimes with poor results. Often it pays just to work thru it methodically returning it to original where possible, but also documenting any changes or updates. A whole replacement wring harness can assist and sometimes these come up at a reasonable price, but generally, just working thru it suffices (unless previous owners have really butchered thing).

In relation to the high beam indicator, it is shown on some wiring diagrams and not on others. Like the ignition switch, various models from various years/locations had different wiring etc. If your model came out with a high beam indicator in the speedo, there should be a dual terminal on the blue high beam supply wire in the headlight shell. Plug the high beam indicator bulb into the second free terminal. The bulb should then be earthed back to the frame inside the headlight shell (or near-about) along with other bulbs.

Given the bike is a CA77, I assume you are in the USA?

Bill Silver (Mr Honda) reports that turn signals (or “winkers”) were never a part of the US specifications for any Honda street bike until 1968, so finding parts for the turn signal system on bikes that found their way into this country is quite a challenge.

Do your indicators (winkers) look like these genuine units:

[alienroads]

I don't think the wiring is going to be to bad of an issue. just needs to be cleaned up a little. Yes, I am in the US. I've seen Bill Silvers site. No, my signals are not like those. They look like the later model Honda signals that are round and are on about a 3" long stalk on the rear and clamped on to the handlebars on the front. I'm trying to get some pictures to post. Do you think that Bill Silver would know what the specs for the ignition coil are (resistance, etc)? I would like to replace the coil with something that I could replace the wires on as the wires on the original coil are hard and kind of brittle. Thanks!

[Muddy]

Sounds good.

If your indicators are OK, it is probably just a matter of getting them going unless you want genuine indicators, which may be hard to come by.

There is probably nothing Bill Silver does not know about Honda Dreams. However, I think you could safely purchase a cheap equivalent coil from a dealer or the internet. I did this and just purchased an Emgo coil from ebay, which works fine.