JDD

ok found the wires on the left side, i was looking on the wrong side LOL

Where are these switches on the brake lever you speak of, the front break only has the master cylinder and no wires

Does this do the same thing? I tried one of these and it did not work. I did the start in gear mod by grounding a couple of wires and finally got spark it ran and drove but electric shift did not work, but as soon as i stopped it lost spark and im back a ground zero, be at this for several months getting really ! at this thing and want to burn it LOL

does this work for a 98 honda 450 es?

On 4/25/2022 at 7:20 PM, retro said:

This is a popular mod that everyone likes, so I end up doing one or two of them every year on early Honda's that I work on for friends & neighbors. We likely have posted this info already in various threads here... but I'm gonna add some pics to this thread anyway to help show what @jeepwm69 have explained above... and I'll include the additional step that all of the early FE/TE models require.

 

This is the pinout diagram for the standard 5-terminal automotive relay that you'll need. Don't be concerned with the amperage rating of your relay, any of the 5-terminal types will work.

 

 

Here is a diagram provided by @Melatvshowing how the Lg/R wire must be snipped near the display and how that snipped Lg/R wire must be connected to relay terminals #87a and #30:

 

does this work for a 98 honda foreman 450 es?

 

 

• Ground a length of wire to the frame and connect the other end to one of the switches on brake lever
• Wire coming off of other side of that switch on brake lever connects to relay #85 terminal (and optionally jumper that same wire from relay #85 terminal to relay #87 terminal - which provides a single ground relay wiring shortcut)
• Switched positive voltage goes to relay #86 terminal - You can get switched battery voltage from the accessory circuit White/Black wire, the Pink ignition switch wire or the Black/Brown lighting circuit wire that goes to the display.
• Relay #87 terminal must be grounded - either wired to a bolt on the frame or jumpered over to relay terminal #85 as mentioned above
• Snip the Light Green/Red wire going to neutral light in the display harness
• Run a wire from relay #87A terminal to the snipped end of the wire that goes to the neutral light in the display
• Run a wire from relay #30 terminal to the remaining end of the wire that you snipped where it comes out of the harness (See Melatv's diagram above - ignore the ground reference in that diagram, we have changed things up a bit since...)

That's all for FM/TM models but if your Honda is an FE or TE model (ES), an additional wiring step is required to prevent the shift ECM from faulting and shutting down when the brake lever is pulled, while in any gear except neutral. What happens is the LG/R neutral wire that goes to the shift ECM gets grounded when the brake lever is pulled... and if the transmission is in any other gear except for neutral, the ECM shuts down because the ECM is receiving two gear shift signals - one from the gear shift switch signalling the proper gear - and one signalling the ECM that the transmission has been shifted into neutral, as well. The ECM shuts down and refuses to shift when that happens.

 

So here is a workaround fix for that problem:

One more wire from the relay #87a terminal must be run to the ECU harness and connected to the Lg/R wire as shown, after cutting that wire near the ECM connector.

 

 

As shown leave the harness side of the Lg/R wire disconnected after snipping it. Seal the orphaned wire end up with adhesive-lined shrink tubing to insulate and protect the wire from oxygen and/or water exposure.

 

You can find a good used master cylinder that includes the micro switches and the rubber boot at powersportsnation.com for about $21 shipped at the time of this posting (I just ordered another one this weekend for my hunting buddy's new to him 350 Rancher). The '04-'07 Rancher 400AT (TRX400FA), the '03-'05 650 Rincon and the '05-'11 TRX500 Foreman models share the same master cylinder with the switches that you need. OEM sub-harnesses for the switches are available used as well. Have fun!