Source for KZ650 wiring harness?

'79 KZ650 B3 (otherwise known as "that @#$%!!! KZ650)

Been trying to run down charging/wiring problems forever. The guy who is working on it says the wiring harness on the bike is in terrible shape, and would prefer to have another one.

I found one for a '78 KZ650B. Would that work? Are there better sources?

Thanks

It will probably be real close maybe a few wires or so different. Get the wiring diagram from both bikes and compare the differences......I grafted a KZ400 harness on to my Z1 and it was real close. I was gonna use it untill I could get a new one but that was three years ago.

Tried here? www.kz650.info/

I have a diagram for my bike. I guess I'll need the serial # of the bike I get the harness from to get the right diagram? What's a good source for a wiring diagram?

MFolks wrote:

Tried here? www.kz650.info/

Oh, I see the wiring diagrams there. Thanks.

Any ideas on a good source for a harness?

I looked a LOT to find a reproduction harness for my 77b1 and was never able to source anything new. I ended up getting a really clean harness from a 79D2 (SR) and spent a few hours getting the sections that weren't a direct swap cut, soldered, and shrink wrapped to make a clean harness that was plug and play for my 77. The 77 has a one year only charging system, which is where most of my wiring work had to happen. Other than that you might end up with some extra wires in the hand control plugs or from your controls to that part of the loom (depending on if the bikes both have the hazard flashers or not). Pretty well any clean harness from any of the 650s will work with minimal effort.

I would think the '78 harness would be an exact fit. The only difference I can think of is that you may have a pair of wires going to the left hand pod for the lights on/off switch that was deleted later in '78/'79 to meet DOT regulations.

As Axton says, there is a big difference in the charging area between the '77 and '78 models. The later models are simpler wiring wise but perhaps not as robust (don't boost start from a running car or pickup, etc.).

N0NB wrote:

I would think the '78 harness would be an exact fit. The only difference I can think of is that you may have a pair of wires going to the left hand pod for the lights on/off switch that was deleted later in '78/'79 to meet DOT regulations.

As Axton says, there is a big difference in the charging area between the '77 and '78 models. The later models are simpler wiring wise but perhaps not as robust (don't boost start from a running car or pickup, etc.).

Groan .... It was jumping that @#$%!!! KZ650 off from a pickup truck the day I bought it that started this two+ year-long nightmarish odyssy of electrical misery!

Was it running? If not, then you're probably okay. If it was running and the bike doesn't charge when you get it going, then you'll be in the market for the regulator/rectifier unit.

N0NB wrote:

Was it running? If not, then you're probably okay. If it was running and the bike doesn't charge when you get it going, then you'll be in the market for the regulator/rectifier unit.

It was running, and I've been through 4 regulator/rectifiers (the last brand new), and 3 stators (the last newly rewound) and more cussing and hair pulling than you can shake a stick at. I've never ridden it more than 400 miles without being left beside the road (thank God for AAA) with a dead battery (been through 3 of those, the last 2 brand new).

Clealy, there is a drain greater than the charging system's ability to charge. The last time it left me walking, I was riding at night. The headlight was aimed too low. When I adjusted it upwards, the lights immediately lost 1/3-1/2 their brightness, and it started running like crap. Soon afterwards, I was on the phone with Otis, the guy at AAA who has come to know me so well, telling them where to come get me and that @#$%!!! KZ650.

The guy who is working on my bike is a retired railroad electrical engineer who does amazing frame-off restorations on bikes. He knows his stuff. He checked it, and it's only putting 7 volts to the headlight. He is unable to locate the problem, and says the wiring harness is in bad shape, so he wants me to see about another one. I think there is a problem with the handlebar switches, as well. Sometimes the horn works; sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the blinkers and emergency flashers work; sometimes they don't.

All I know is I want this to be over!

Pull the wires from inside the bars, pain in the @$$ but the only way to find any shorts that might be happening in there. And your guy is right, either tear into that harness and find the bad spots, or get a used one that's in great shape. I NEVER trust the internal condition of a wiring harness before putting it on though. Pull the wires out of the loom and make sure you don't have any broken, frayed, burned, roasted, melted, or slagged wires in there. Trust me, you DON'T want a wire fire to break out under your gas tank right in the middle of all that wiring...as me how I know that!!!!

OK, how do you know that?