Chopper wiring diagram for 2008 Sportster ?

[Earlsplace]

Hi I'm building a bike and I was wondering if there was a simplified wiring diagram around for a 2008 Sportster I'm build a chopper from one. Thanks in advance

[Robhall]

It really depends on what if any stock components you're going to keep. If there's no handlebar controls and you've just got a key switch somewhere, headlight, taillight, and ignition it's very simple. If you're keeping all the stock switches, lighting, horn, ect it gets a bit more complicated.

[TriNortchopz]

Seen this thread:

Evo Sporty Rewire (Reduced to Essentials Only)

One of the common questions I hear quite a bit is "How do I get rid of all the bullshit wiring on my Evo Sportster"?

It's really not rocket science, especially on earlier ones but it can be intimidating to hack up the bundle of perfectly operating wires just for the sake of getting the bare-bones aesthetic.

For this thread we are using BF Josh's 2002 Sportster "S" model with dual plug heads.
Other models and years will vary, but the concept will be the same.
If you asked ten people how to do it, you'd probably get twenty answers, this ain't gospel, it's just the way I did it. And it worked, has way less snarl of an unsightly harness, especially now that more of the bike is exposed with a flat bottomed tank, fiberglass tail section, etc.

On Josh's stock bike there were no fancy sensors or other "nanny" switches that needed to be looped or disabled.
This may be the case on later model bikes.
We ditched the VOES petcock for an old Pingle one, and capped any open vacuum connections on carb or manifold with high quality rubber caps...

An extremely helpful thing is a factory wiring diagram.
I was lucky enough to get one from a guy in PDF form. I blew it up and printed it out onto eight pages, taped them together and hung it on the wall where I was working for reference.
Once I thought I was sure about what was going where, I highlighted the wires I was keeping and you can see how many that left for the trash.
I did my FXR the same way and a 90's era sporty without one and it was way easier to have a real diagram to reference."

http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12086

[KeithLasCruces]

That's really helpful for an earlier model carbed sporty but Earlsplace was asking about an '08 which is EFI. I'm in the same boat with my '09 and would also like to see a successful simplification of that mess of a harness.

[farmall]

Do similarly but if you're keeping EFI then that's a fair bit of wire and components you have to retain. There's nothing exotic about it but it will be tedious. You can begin by skinning the stock harness then removing what you want gone. Afterwards you can adjust wire lengths as desired then re-wrap the harness.

Begin by fully understanding the stock schematic and all component functions then remove what is not strictly necessary. xlforum may have someone that's already done it so ask there too.

Decide where for example you may want to use heat shrink or perhaps one of the textured tapes used on automobile harnesses. Buy a good soldering iron, quality crimpers etc. Wiring requires few tools so use good ones not auto store crap.