burnszilla
New member
The neighbors must think I'm crazy... I worked on my K75S in the driveway tonite for 7 hours. I finished at midnight. I had the halogen work lights shining on it, my LED headlamp on, drinkin' Red Hooks and fartin'.
I installed heated grips when bought my bike last year, and I also ride with a Widder electric vest when it gets chilly. I was finding that when running the grips on high and having the vest on at the same time, they were fighting for the electricity and not running at full power. So, after prowling on ebay for months for a 50 amp alternator, I finally snagged one in September. I installed it tonite to aleviate my power shortage, plus i'm going to purchase the wife an electric vest or jacket tomorrow. I ran into some trouble getting the alternator to fit. It just wouldn't slide in all the way. After a bit, I figured it was the nut that was holding the wheel on. It was hitting the receiving end on the bike. I removed the washer under the bolt, put some lock-tite on the bolt and put the nut back on, alone without the washer. Bingo! It was in there like a fat kid on a Ho-Ho!
After I got the alternator in I figured while I'm at it I might as well install that hazard warning switch I bought in the summer. The reason I bought it was to be able to adjust the brightness of my Kisantech signalMinder with running lights feature. I removed the tank. I searched around for about 5 minutes for the socket that the instuctions (yes, I broke down and read the instructions!) say it plugs into and finally found it tucked way under the wiring harness on the left side.
Now this might be an informative piece of information for you K75 and maybe old K100 owners. When I bought the bike I read the Clymer manual and learned of the "High Altitude Loop". This is a circuit that is under your left side cover tied to the frame.
Excerpt from:
THE BMW WORLD
AN INTRODUCTION FOR NEW BMW OWNERS OR POTENTIAL OWNERS
Copyright 1991 D. Eilers.
High-altitude Operation
The K bikes have a small socket in the wiring harness which accepts a plug containing a resistor. The resistor "fools" the computer into thinking less air is flowing past the airflow sensor by purposely "miscalibrating" the sensor. This effectively leans-out the mixture -- exactly what you want for high altitude operation. The plug costs about $6 and should be used if you go much above about 4,000 feet for best performance. The plug does make a difference -- my K bike would not idle in the Colorado Rockies without it, but ran fine with it. Some people who frequently ride the mountains wire the plug through an accessory switch (available from BMW) to make the change to high- altitude mode as easy as the flick of a switch. The newer "Motronic" engine computer introduced on the 1990 K-1 model eliminates this need by using a barometric sensor to automatically adjust for any changes in altitude. Motronic is now also on the 1991 K100RS.
So, I plugged the resistor into the harness and split the loop of wire coming out of it. I soldered a 16" piece of double wire to a rocker switch from radio shack
that I attached through a hole I drilled in the black plastic cover on the bottom of my left fairing just next to the throttle body. The switch is hidden from view down there, but you can reach it while riding. During the summer while riding in the Sierras it was a pain in the butt pulling over and installing the loop. Not anymore.
Next project: Installing the Fuel Plus.
I installed heated grips when bought my bike last year, and I also ride with a Widder electric vest when it gets chilly. I was finding that when running the grips on high and having the vest on at the same time, they were fighting for the electricity and not running at full power. So, after prowling on ebay for months for a 50 amp alternator, I finally snagged one in September. I installed it tonite to aleviate my power shortage, plus i'm going to purchase the wife an electric vest or jacket tomorrow. I ran into some trouble getting the alternator to fit. It just wouldn't slide in all the way. After a bit, I figured it was the nut that was holding the wheel on. It was hitting the receiving end on the bike. I removed the washer under the bolt, put some lock-tite on the bolt and put the nut back on, alone without the washer. Bingo! It was in there like a fat kid on a Ho-Ho!
After I got the alternator in I figured while I'm at it I might as well install that hazard warning switch I bought in the summer. The reason I bought it was to be able to adjust the brightness of my Kisantech signalMinder with running lights feature. I removed the tank. I searched around for about 5 minutes for the socket that the instuctions (yes, I broke down and read the instructions!) say it plugs into and finally found it tucked way under the wiring harness on the left side.
Now this might be an informative piece of information for you K75 and maybe old K100 owners. When I bought the bike I read the Clymer manual and learned of the "High Altitude Loop". This is a circuit that is under your left side cover tied to the frame.
Excerpt from:
THE BMW WORLD
AN INTRODUCTION FOR NEW BMW OWNERS OR POTENTIAL OWNERS
Copyright 1991 D. Eilers.
High-altitude Operation
The K bikes have a small socket in the wiring harness which accepts a plug containing a resistor. The resistor "fools" the computer into thinking less air is flowing past the airflow sensor by purposely "miscalibrating" the sensor. This effectively leans-out the mixture -- exactly what you want for high altitude operation. The plug costs about $6 and should be used if you go much above about 4,000 feet for best performance. The plug does make a difference -- my K bike would not idle in the Colorado Rockies without it, but ran fine with it. Some people who frequently ride the mountains wire the plug through an accessory switch (available from BMW) to make the change to high- altitude mode as easy as the flick of a switch. The newer "Motronic" engine computer introduced on the 1990 K-1 model eliminates this need by using a barometric sensor to automatically adjust for any changes in altitude. Motronic is now also on the 1991 K100RS.
So, I plugged the resistor into the harness and split the loop of wire coming out of it. I soldered a 16" piece of double wire to a rocker switch from radio shack
that I attached through a hole I drilled in the black plastic cover on the bottom of my left fairing just next to the throttle body. The switch is hidden from view down there, but you can reach it while riding. During the summer while riding in the Sierras it was a pain in the butt pulling over and installing the loop. Not anymore.
Next project: Installing the Fuel Plus.
