Ignition switch replacement for a KZ1000 J1 (1981).

It's a KZ1000 J1 (1981) I have owned for 38 years. Needs a new ignition switch. Kawasaki importer "Cradley Kawasaki" tells me the Part number is 27005-5019 and it was only fitted to this bike. CMSNL.com list it but they currently can't get it. It's about $180 USD priced in Euros from the Netherlands. I am in the UK. It is a 6 wire. I don't know if it has the built in resistor. Just about to remove it and investigate. Anyone know where I can get a pattern one which is compatible. An exact match for this bike / part number would be preferred. I guess a used one would be a solution but as the bike vibes so much I think they all get pretty shook up so wear out reasonably quickly, new has got to be the best way I think. The gate keeping the rain out is sticking open and the side light position has to be wriggled to get the light to come on, but more seriously I suspect that it is affecting the slow running at around town speeds. I will be shorting out the connectors that are switch when in the on position and then will test ride it to see if that cures the low revs problem. Thus eliminating the switch if the problem persists. But clearly the switch on its last legs whatever. I guess there maybe specialist repairers in the world and $180 would go a long way to paying for that. But I would prefer a new replacement. I have just spent £3,500 plus on the bike so a switch will be just a small additional push towards bankruptcy! LOL! So if anyone know where I can get a switch from please let me know. Any help very welcome. Thanks everyone. - PS. Refreshing to find an owners club that does not charge these days and everyone is helpful and polite with no sniping.

Welcome to KZRider
Im sure folks will chime in with answers / suggestions .
FYI Correct that we dont charge to be a member . But do ask for a small donation to help keep our site active. See the home page..
It is a voluntary thing , but a lot of members do contribute as the advice given has saved them large sums of cash and time
Enjoy
Dave

Welcome to a great forum.

Before you pull the ignition, disconnect the battery, take the headlight out of the bucket. Jus two small screws. Suggest rags on the fender. Locate the ignition harness and disconnect . Posts picture of the connector and the pin layout. If you can identify colors corilated to the pins that will help bunches before you get to destructive

Dear Mikaw,
Thanks for the welcome and the prompt response. I will make a donation in mo. Like to pay my way and support a great cause.
Thanks for the suggestions. Can I just try what I said in the initial post to short the pins out of the switch at the ongoing connector which are connected when the switch is in the on position, then try riding the bike. I have spend most of my career in telecoms dealing with electrics so can find my way around all this. If I by pass the switch and the running problem is still there I can live with the switches minor faults. It takes the pressure off of replacing it. Then I can get on with the running problem. I am going to France on it in early September so having spent days getting it running right(Nearly) I want to focus on that. I really do want a replacement switch if possible. One aspect of this is the vibration from the engine when running. It may well cause problems in the switch not seen in a static situation. The manual has a table which show clearly the connections when the switch is on so with that I'll do my test. Any suggestion as to a supplier who who might offer a replacement switch? Please standby and I'll get back with what I find out. Thanks Bob.

Before I’d start “shorting” out a live system. If it were me and like you have a Schematic. I would pull the ignition out of the system and start testing circuits to determine resistance/ohms. Keep in mind that a corroded connection will present low ohms until loaded or having a draw imposed. I’m not comfortable poking around a live system making unusual cross connections. Bad can happen.

What symptoms is the bike presenting?

It’s been suggested in this forum before, that you can go from battery positive to the coils, Hotwire if you prefer and ride the bike to determine effect. If you search online for “ wired George coil relay fix” you will find a permanent Hotwire for the coils. I have done it and several others with great results.

Dear Mikaw,
I more or less did as you have listed:
Checked switch operates as per the bike's manual and wire colours all correct. Zero resistance across switched contacts.
I then ran 12 volt through the switched wires to a headlight bulb and checked no voltage drop. To load test them.
Made up short insulated connectors of greater cross sectional area so as not to introduce added resistance.
With their bladed ends pushed into the spades on the out going female plug leaving the switch cable and thus the switch completely disconnected. So bypassed.
Took out every female connector individually from the plug body and re-tensioned them whilst doing this.
Rode 20 miles with the switch bypassed. - Same poor running problem "around town". OK cruising.
The hot wire idea is certainly worth a try, thanks, as it will eliminate a lot of the basic wiring and the switch from the situation.
It was badly missing on one cylinder when started from cold today and took a good while to pick up properly. This problem has crept in, in the last couple of days.
This will give me something to get my teeth into tomorrow when I run it with the tank off and identify which pot is playing up.
The bike in the last year has had a rebore with new pistons, the valves cut in and re-shimmed, new sliders and diaphragms in the carbs, new OEM air filter, new main and pilot jets, new inlet hoses and new hoses from the air box to the carbs, new plugs, new high tension leads, one coil replaced. The list gets longer if I turn to stuff other than the engine. I feel pretty sure the carburation is right now. Tomorrow will tell.
No one has come forward so far with a suggestion of where to try to get a new switch which is the main purpose of my posting. But glad to say the pressure is off having to replace it straight away.
It seems there is nothing too complicated about the switch and what and how it switches. So maybe I'll look at the 5 wire switch, which is widely available, as I think I can wire it up to match the original. I have heard of switches having resistors built in. Without which the engine won't start. Not too sure how that works but no sign of such complications with this one thankfully, so adapting a 5 wire one may not be a big problem.
Mikaw, thanks for your interest and concern. I have worked on and had accidents with very high current equipment so maybe I have got a bit blasé with a small low voltage bike system. I am very careful though rest assured more as I do not want to damage my trusty machine than anything. I often use low current fuse wire to make initial connections in case I have it wrong and am shorting out the power. Then put the real wiring in. Your suggestion of a cloth over the mudguard was welcome. Easy to rush on and drop a spanner causing damage.
Cheers Bob.
PS. Can you tell me where the donations page is. I can't find it in any of the drop downs on this site? I can be so blind at times.

Sounds like you’ve got a nice machine. As the usual saying goes”we like pictures” and one of Swest favorite lines “no pictures then it didn’t really happen”... thank you for the offer to donate. You will find that on the home page, click the KZR logo and scroll down, it will be on the right hand side. You will find a bunch of very informed members here. Our resident electric guru is Loudhvx. I’m sure he can help with wiring if a transplanted ignition is your only option. Sounds like your no slouch with a tester and wires. Let us know how things progress. I did the Wired George relay, it’s a good insurance move... you need to check the voltage at the positive primary coil connection. Need to be close to battery voltage, by the way what’s the battery condition. Should be about 12.6 static voltage and running anything around 4000 rpm you should Be reading 13.5 to 14.8

Dear Mikaw, thanks again for your reply. I will make a decent donation now. My pensions are respectable so I can afford to indulge in expensive bike refurbs with a little over for luxuries like food. I will post a picture but I am tooling up with pro polishing kit and when I have the running nailed down I will polish the life out of it and then post its picture. It has recently been resprayed and re-chromed and I have tidied up and sprayed all the small parts. I am having a garage enlargement as it is only just one British car wide so adding 60% more. This to accommodate my Velocette Venom 500cc Clubman 1965 when I have reassembled it alongside the Kwaker. Love them both! It is currently engine and gearbox total refurbed by R. F. Seymour's of Thame to Velocette spec, frame resprayed and almost 100% other parts new or very young. I'll hang a photo of that on too. Back to the Kwaker. It's a Yuasa about 9 months old, gel battery. Nearest I can now get to the original OEM Yuasa but so much better. Very highly regarded. I can say that as a professional (retired). The gel ones are such a step forward. Plus maintenance free. It sits with a clever electronically controlled float charger on it when the bike is not in use. I'd recommend this to all battery owners as a full battery in float is at its best for longevity. Must be one of these clever float chargers though or you will cook the battery. It keeps minimum phosphate sitting on the plates. In the interest of eliminating all possible causes I have it in mind to load test it and check out the charging as you have reminded me. Thanks again. Now I am retired it's great to throw as much time at it as it needs. I'm enjoying EVERY minute. I have only recently realised that I like working on them as much as riding them now time is not an issue. I am out in the lovely English sunshine on my drive feeling really good with a good run to see my friends in Ruaudin, Le Mans coming up. Life's great! I hope the same for you and all the club members. Let's just get passed this terrible Covid-19 virus. Will donate in a mo now I know where to look. I feel I have made a new friend or two. Will definitely post progress mainly that I have nailed the slow riding speed hesitancy and what was the cause. I will look up Loudhxv thanks, if I need help in the electric department. I am considering replacing / refurbing / making a new wiring harness. A bit of a job but it's sheathing is poor in places. Maybe inspect it and refurb it? If my Kwaker looks as good as yours when polished up, I'll be very satisfied. Happy riding. Speak again. Back to the glorious sunshine!
Cheers Bob.

Happy to hear you made it to the other side and got out of the working class... I’m not there yet, close... I agree working on these bikes is not work. Everyday I’m in amazement that every part of these bikes can be disassembled to be inspected and cleaned, from the tiny start button in the hand control to the main components of the engine... and for me because mine have always been garage kept. I have not yet come across a fastener that won’t come out... some are like us older guys and need a little coaxing, but they eventually give in... I think that’s the big draw for me to these machines 40ish years later and they still come apart and go together like the day they were new... KHI really built a quality product... Definitely keep us posted. AND!!! thank you so much for the donation...

I’m gonna jump on the soap box here and repeat what has been said several time... if every member could make a small donation it would benefit us all. One dollar from a million people is still a million dollars, but nobody hurts... thank you to those that have...

What is this "poor running problem" you are mentioning? Is the bike getting inconsistent acceleration and backfires, almost seeming as if it's a bucking bronco?

I think I have been hearing that sharp click of high tension leaking. No visible sparks so the leak(s) are not external so I have taken a punt at changing the last original coil. (Actually they are transformers, never understood why they misleadingly call them coils?). After removing the coils and inspecting the HT leads and caps which are about 2 years old I could see nothing untoward. I trimmed 2 to be sure they were seating well in the coil mouths and replace them all. After this the tick over ran at 600 revs. The lowest ever I have been able to get it down to. Best before about 900 revs. This leads me to being pretty sure there is an intermittent problem in the HT area which I disturbed by taking it all off and reseating it all. Also the needle valves which are pretty new, 5 years old, have never really settled down so I have bitten the bullet and spent £64 on 4 new seats and needles. Might as well renew all wearable parts whilst I'm at it.
To Setton:
The around town type riding problem is nothing like bangs and cough backs through the carbs. It just hesitates then snaps forward a bit. Just not happy and smooth as it should be. Like maybe an occasional missing cylinder or two. As you know the coils serve two pots each so an intermittent leak on one coil would be about right. I am hoping the work I have mentioned above to be done when the parts arrive should sort it out. The HT problem is I think the likeliest. Thanks for your interest. To go back to the start of my posting though, can you suggest who to try for an ignition switch replacement. Part number 27005-5019. 6 wire with no resistor . The UK importers say it was only fitted to this machine. Not even the J2 or J3 which in virtually every other way is identical. Thanks for everybody's help. I will get back with progress and success hopefully. The parts are due on Tuesday and setting up the carbs I find is at least a days elapse time. A tip on that is I cut a strip out of a tin can and at one end fold it over to make a slot / interface so it will push over the tab tightly on the float. This in effect extends the tab about 20 times. I then use a ruler at the tip of the tin extension to measure how much I have deflected the tab from its original position. The extension gives me 20 time the adjustment sensitivity if you see what I mean. Thus I can bend the tab and know easily to what degree it has moved on my 20 time exaggerated scale, it give you great fine tuning. It works well as it stops you over adjusting. Which I find is almost impossible normally. I also jig the 4 carb set on a workmate at the right angle. Very slightly leaning forward checked against the bike position with a rotating spirit level and fill them to check all the float levels. This way I am not messing about jamming them in and out of the inlet ports to remount them, which can't be doing the rubber ports any good. It's quicker and easier. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. Float levels checked again of course when finally fitted to the bike. Wish me luck as I don't find carb float height setting up easy. Cheers Bob.