tail light swap

i recently eliminated the rear fender on my 1977 kz 650, and after looking at it i realized i dont like the stock tail light. It just looks like a big box. I have always liked the oval taillights on the 1973 to 1975 Z1 900's, can i use the tail light from the 900 on the 650,will it plug into the wires for the 650 tailight

Probably... the wires on all Kaws have pretty much the same color codes. RED = the running light, BLUE = the brake light, BLACK/YELLOW = Ground.

wiredgeorge wrote:

Probably... the wires on all Kaws have pretty much the same color codes. RED = the running light, BLUE = the brake light, BLACK/YELLOW = Ground.

Good to know George, i want to pickup a different taillight also and wasnt sure which one to look for. Will keep my searches to kwaka tail lights and see how it goes

No need to keep to Kaw tail lights. An aftermarket light will work fine... ALL tail lights use bulbs with two filaments and the two filaments mean two power (hot) wires coming off the bulb holder(s). All you have to do is look inside the bulb holder. The contact that lights the LARGER filament is the brake light and would hook to the BLUE wire on your Kaw wiring harness. The smaller filament is the running light and will hook to the RED wire on your harness. MOST aftermarket lights have no ground wire. Hook a wire to a mounting screw on the light somewhere and then run it to where it connects to the BLACK/YELLOW wire on your harness. If in doubt, you can test a new light by not connecting it to the bike. Just move to where you are near the battery. If it has THREE wires, two will be hot and one will be ground. If it has TWO wires two will be not with NO ground wire installed. Hook up a ground wire as I noted above. Anyway, test your new light by connecting the ground wire from the light to the frame somewhere to provide a ground. Then touch each of the other two wires to your battery positive anode. Either the small filament will light or large. Mark these appropriately as running or brake respectively and then bolt your light in place and connect the wires that you have just discovered the function for to the wiring harness.

Any comment on what changes of the lights will do to the system overall? More draw, less draw. Do problems occur from changing out the system that was designed to be as it is?

Qdude wrote:

Any comment on what changes of the lights will do to the system overall? More draw, less draw. Do problems occur from changing out the system that was designed to be as it is?

It's the bulb and wiring and corroding connections that will change any draw on the system, so if you clean your connections well, and stay with the regular 1156 and 1157 type bulbs in your tail/brake light and blinkers you should be OK.

If you go modern and use the LED bulbs I don't think they draw as much power, so that's still good.

You can change your headlight bulb from the old sealed beam that had like 35-45 watts to a modern H4 Halogen 55w/60w upgrade, and still be ok with stock wiring, as long as connections are clean and tight. I personally would not add more than that, like the 80w/100w halogen unless you double check the wiring condition and probably still need to use a relay system to power it.

Kent, Your advice is correct but keep in mind that MOST aftermarket turn signals and tail lights are much smaller or lower in profile than stock fixtures and don't use 1156/1157 style bulbs as they are just too large. Many will use smaller and proprietary sized bulbs. I use these bulbs in my tail light and turn signals. The bulbs are smaller and the wattage is similar to or less than 1156/1157 bulbs. Also, if you use more expensive LEDs, they draw even less power than any of the incandescent bulbs discussed. The bottom line is to not worry too much about changing tail lights or turn signals as far as over all draw. Kent's advice re the headlight is pretty much spot on. The headlight circuit is 10A BUT the wiring isn't all that stout. I suggest if you want to run a higher wattage bulb than a 55w/60w, to use a separate circuit on a relay with a bit heavier gauge wiring (about 14 ga). The main concern would be the hi/lo switch and red/yellow and red/black high and low beam wires that run from the switch to the bulb holder harness. These are fairly long wires and not very heavy. I have run 80W high beam bulbs on these wires with no subsequent damage but can't vouch for higher wattage bulb applications.

1156 bulbs are single element.One contact at bottom of bulb.