Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 1996 Fatboy. It's only got about 12,500km (7700 miles) on the clock and has been sitting for quite a while. There are few things I've got planned for it (stage 1, bars, turn signals, seat etc) and some things that need doing because it's sat for most of its life (tyres and brakes - which I've done, fluids, hoses, plugs etc).

I'm in the process of going over it and learning what's stock and what's not. The chrome all needs a good clean and polish, but the paint is in really good condition.

When I took the seat off, I found a small black box with no labels, that looks like it's been added (pink crimps going into a plug). Does anyone have any idea what it would be? Also, I noticed next to the coil there is an LED that doesn't seem to work - it could be related, does anyone know what it is?

Here are some photos of the bike and the things that I'm trying to identify.










P.S. I just picked up the workshop manual and I'm in the process of going through that to try and find out some answers but so far no luck.

 

The black box under the seat is you ignition module (stock). the red light looks to be wired into your stater relay and is possibly an alarm or something similar.... Not stock.. Welcome to the forum and nice bike... looks unmolested...

 

The larger box mounted transversely is the ignition module. I think he is talking about the smaller box zip tied to the frame on the right of the ignition module. Try to trace the wires that thing is spliced into. Could be some kind of ignition kill or alarm component or turn signal gizmo, although I think a turn signal gizmo probably would have the manufacturer's name on it. I agree that the LED is probably related to some alarm thing. They seem to like to put LED's on alarms for some reason. Toyota certainly does.

 

I"ll go with with what 98 hand Hess mentioned as well.

Any chance of speaking with the PO (previous owner) for some info?

WP

 

try to run the wires down it could be 2nd relay to starter see top of this forum from sticky

 

Thanks for the replies. The box I'm talking about is the one I'm holding in the picture. I think it's not stock because of the way it's been spliced into what I think is a plug.

Unfortunately contacting the PO isn't an option (bought at dealer), so I'm working on unraveling it myself.

Yeah I didn't think the LED was standard either, never seen them there on any bikes before.

 

Oh, the one in your hand. Where do the wires go?

 

The box in my hand has 3 wires coming from it - purple and brown, which are spliced into a plug you can see on the last picture - the 2 wires I'm holding in the last picture correspond to the 2 pink splices that are going into the plug below. The third is black which I'm assuming is earth and that seems to go somewhere under the tank.

I know the obvious advice will be take the tank off and trace the wires using the workshop manual - but I haven't had the time to do that yet so wanted to see if it might have been a common modification/accessory that someone recognised.

I'm going to be getting into the wiring in the next couple of weeks to put new turn signals and tail light on there so I'm sure to dig into it more then.

 

To the best of my knowledge neither that box in your hand nor that white box are stock.

Someone has done some extensive rewiring on that bike.

 

It's interesting because apart from some minor cosmetic changes - seat, bars, turn signals, and some other trim, it presents as relatively untouched. Still has the stock air cleaner, no stage 1. Clear title, matching frame/engine numbers.

I'm keen to find out the extent of any wiring changes because the PO (who apparently had it since 1997) didn't do a lot to the rest of the bike. For example front turn signals moved to nacelle but wiring not neatened up, new bars but controls not internally wired etc.