Wiring harness splice

Greetings from a first time poster. Nice, helpful site. I have my first Kawasaki, a 1980 KZ1000G that has been switched to carbs from the original fuel injection (not by me). While getting it back on the road, I ran into numerous wiring issues, and eventually installed a 1978 reproduction harness and an older style left switch gear. Also, a new 6 wire ignition switch. Many things hooked up, but, alas, many did not.

I have operational horn, neutral switch light, brake lights (f & r). I have no starter, spark or headlight (all of which were basically operational before hand). I am having trouble getting the 10 A circuits to the proper points on the harness. They show continuity but no voltage to the bullet connectors.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has seen this sort of thing before.

Welcome to KZR, and hopefully you and your bike will find the info needed.
I would Go to "Filebase" and look for a wiring diagram from the 78 model harness you purchased. It will have the circuits and connectors, termination points, etc. It is in the upper right corner of the page header.
Hopefully that will solve most of your problem.

Some information about heatshrink splices,heat guns,crimping tools & harness tape:

www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d4...PV9agCFQpm7AodClsxWg
(Butt Connectors or Splices)

cableorganizer.com/krimpa-seal/
(Butt Connectors or Splices)

whiteproducts.com/splices.shtml
(Butt Connectors or Splices)

www.sherco-auto.com/krimpaseal.htm
(Crimpable Butt & Heat Shrink Splices)

www.shrinktek.com/docs/ProductTemplate.aspx?product_id=Splices (Heat Shrinkable Butt Connectors or Splices)

www.stanleysupplyservices.com/product-group.aspx?id=1563 (Heat Gun)

www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d193.html
(Heat Gun)

www.buyheatshrink.com/HeatGuns/heatguns.htm
(Heat Gun)

www.silverstatewire.com/1826.html
(Heat Gun)

www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_termination
(The Good, Bad, & Ugly Wire Crimpers)

www.dormanproducts.com/p-13830-85274.aspx
(None Adhesive Harness Tape, Usually Found At Auto Parts Stores)


The heatshrinkable splices are the best to use on a motorcycle, as they are water resistant after being crimped and shrunk down. Some may be found at auto parts stores made by 3M.

Wire Termination Insulation & Sizes

Terminal Insulation Color Wire Sizes
RED

---

22-18 gauge wire
BLUE

---

16-14 gauge wire
YELLOW

---

12-10 gauge wire

The ring terminal holes comes in many sizes, from #4 up to 1/2" in most cases, it's a matter of finding the tightest fitting hole to fit the fastener for the termination.

American Wire Gauge(AWG) is backwards to what many people think; that is 22 gauge is many times smaller than 10 gauge even though the number is bigger.

Thanks very much for the link to the harness diagram. Having it in color is certainly helpful! I will update once I can get power to the rest of the bike.

Thank you for the information on the electrical sources. It sounds like you have definitely been through a few of these!

I've actually had experiance building wire harness for missile test equipment, during employment at General Dynamics/Convair division in San Diego Ca. I use the heatshrinkable splices when doing any electrical work on my bike, along with regular heatshrinktubing.

I had to solder to Mil-Spec on some of the projects, and learned how to build up cables from wires on spools.

You probably have the cleanest, most bullet-proof harness in the KZ universe! It would be cool to see the type of soldering required to provide the accuracy needed for that kind of test equipment.

My biggest change on this bike is going to auto-style blade fuses (one of which I managed to blow last night as I looked for power to the ignition switch!) and using heatshrink at the new connections. I did get a few more lights operational last night after fuse replacement, so progress is being made. Thanks again for the helpful information.

The training school that General Dynamics/Convair had in San Diego ran a week, covering all types and kinds of electrical connections. Since a majority of the wires and cables used there were Teflon insulated, burning and having the insulation move when heated, was not a problem.

Here's some video's on using heatshrink products:





When splicing low temperature wiring found on most motorcycles, be careful in not overheating and burning the insulation, letting in moisture, possible degrading the conductor by corrosive action.

Hello again. I wanted to update on progress. I will be trying for fire in the holes tonight, which is quite exciting. I had two problems that were giving me difficulties. One was fixed by getting switched power from a brown wire in the harness. I was told that the brown circuit is a switched power line, and I found one in the front of the harness (in the headlight nacelle, so it should be pretty well protected from the elements) and ran it down to the yellow/red off of the kill switch.

The other problem was the starter solenoid cable that is yellow/red (from the '80) ended up going into the black/yellow (on the '78 harness) and I wasn't making that connection (mentally or physically). So, I got the wiring tidied up and put back together: tonight will tell the tale. (I was informed that a Kerker pipe at 11:00 pm would not be socially responsible...)

Thanks again for the help and the links!

Black with Yellow stripe is usually part of the ground circuits all through the bike,to verify this, get some way to measure electrical continuity to the Negative(-) battery terminal/post as it should be the same.

On the "g" model the Fuel injection harness is actually taped to the regular harness. If you remove the tape you will be left with all the harness you need. Seriously. Sounds too easy but it is true. Roy