Complete Wireharness rebuild?

Who's done it? Do's and don'ts? What pitfalls to avoid? Where are easy upgrades made along the way?

Some advise:

If possible, remove your old harness/loom in one piece & lay it out on piece of plywood covered in either white paint, or paper.

Then using small finishing nails, arrange the harness as close to natural as you can, so a duplicate can be made.

List on the board what wire goes to what, or have a note book for this information. Unless you can use colored wire for a new harness, you might have to use white heatshrink tubing with information written on the tubing for individual circuit identification.

Having the shop manual with the wiring diagram will help a lot. Most Kawasaki's have splices where one or more circuit is joined together. For best results, have a selection of several sizes of heatshrinkable splices. These prevent moisture from getting into the wire connections, causing corrosion and failure. You'll need a heat gun to shrink down the insulation covering after the splice is crinped.

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.

Some needed tools:

Wire insulation strippers.
Wire splice crimpers.
A 25 watt soldering iron for the handlebar switch connections.
Some rosin core solder.
A small container of rosin flux for soldering.
A damp sponge to wipe the soldering iron tip with.
Rubbing Alcohol or Acetone to remove the flux residue after soldering.
A cut down 1/2" paint brush, or acid brush to scrub the solder joints by scrubbing with Alcohol/Acetone.

If you need more tools listed, just ask....

I'll expand on soldering repair/assembly:

Read this for a primer on hand soldering: technologyinterface.nmsu.edu/fall97/electronics/solder.html

Repairing Motorcycle Soldered Connections on the older bikes.

When repairing soldered wires on motorcycle switches or light bulbs sockets, have the following on hand:

1. A 25 Watt soldering iron or one that the wattage can be adjusted.

2. Rosin core solder of 60/40 type. SN60 or SN63 is preferred.

3. Rosin flux or soldering paste (Never use solder or soldering paste designed for plumbing work, as it contains an acid that will corrode the electrical joint, ruining it).

4. 91% rubbing Alcohol, or 70%. The lower percentage will clean up flux residue, but not as good as the higher percentage stuff. Acetone does a good job of removing excess solder flux too.

5. A cut down ½” paint brush, or acid brush for scrubbing the repaired solder joint.

6. Clean rags or paper towels

7. A damp sponge to keep the soldering iron tip clean.

8. Some “Solder Wick” a braided bare copper wire designed to collect heated excess solder, aiding in joint preperation, available at electronic supply stores.

9. Some wooden toothpicks.

10. Small Hemostats or clip on heatsinks.

A. Before soldering, “Tin” the soldering iron tip by plugging it in or turning the iron on, allowing it to get to operating temperature(2-3 minutes).

B. Unroll about 3” of solder from the roll of rosin core solder & then using a clean rag or paper towel moistened with Alcohol, wipe the unrolled solder, removing the finger print oils that will create a poor solder joint.

C. Apply a small amount of solder to the now heated soldering iron tip, wiping the excess off with the wet sponge, keeping a thin layer on the soldering iron.

D. The soldering iron is now ready for use, but before applying the heated tip to a wire, wipe the tip on the damp sponge, this removes any oxidized solder and makes for a much better connection.

E. If the joint to be repaired is grey in color or appears “Crumbled”, apply some rosin soldering paste or flux to the joint with a small toothpick or screwdriver, and then apply the soldering iron tip for a few seconds.

G. The fluxed joint should clean up, allowing for a better connection. If no luck, use the solder wick to remove all traces of the old solder by apply in it between the soldering iron tip and the bad joint.

H. Hemostats and clip on heatsinks will be used to prevent the wire insulation from burning, overheating & pulling away from the connection.

I. Apply a small amount of flux to the joint to be repaired & then a very short duration of heated soldering iron tip & solder(like a few seconds or so).


J. Clean off the repaired joint with the brush & rubbing Alcohol or Acetone, the newly repaired joint should appear clean and bright, almost as if it were polished, with no voids or holes.

K. When repairing the bad or "Cold Solder Joints" (as the Electronics industry calls them), it takes really no special skills, just patience, and a place to work(along with the mentioned tools. You've got to be sober, and not stoned, as the soldering tool can be at 700 F, possibly giving the impaired bike owner severe burns.

L. If you have fine muscle control problems, have a friend do the soldering for you. Moving a wire before the electrical joint has properly set up, can create "Cold Joints" too. If possible, practice on the bench top with some scrap wires before attempting repairs on the bike.

M. This information comes from years of missile test cable and equipment assembly, when I worked at General Dynamics/Convair Division in San Diego California, on the BGM-109 Tomahawk and later on the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile. This was from 1983-1993. The company had a week long soldering school, where you learned to solder meeting “Mil-Spec” standards.

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

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

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

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

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

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.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d76.html
(Wire Insulation Strippers)

www.idealindustries.com/products/wire_pr...ools/stripmaster.jsp (Wire Insulation Strippers)

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

I replaced everything. It was quite easy. My bike was missing the center juction block or 4 plug block. I got all items under $200 It was one of the best things I could have done.

I'm about to do a full rebuild of my harness, with some mods to reflect what I've done. I got the new emgo switchblocks for a KZ900 from Z1E. I'll cut the ends and put bullets on since thats how the KZ650 works. Besides that they're pretty much identical.

For connectors I went to www.vintageconnections.com . He has the original type bullets and connector blocks, reasonable prices too. I got enough to do two harnesses, a good wire stripper and the crimper tool for under $200 shipped to Canada.

For wire I went to www.riwire.com . Very reasonably priced and they have any colour you could need, so the new harness I make will be an exact replacement, and my wiring diagram will be accurate. I think its very important to have it done with colour coded wires.

I figure one harness will cost about $150 plus whatever labour I put in. Thats not bad for a harness which will be better than factory. I'm going to solder all the splices and terminals, they didn't do that at the factory. They also didn't use heat shrink.

I'll do a thread on it when I go at it next weekend.

T_Dub wrote: I'll do a thread on it when I go at it next weekend.

Please do, with a few photos. My harness isn't THAT bad yet, but like so many others, it IS 30 some odd years old, and I am not entirely confident that my voltage losses aren't somehow effecting the performance of the bike.

It would be very nice to do have a new one, with upgraded wiring in all the right places, and know that all the connecetions are well made, crimped, soddered, and shrink wrapped where appropriate.

Thanks already for posting the links to the parts providers. I know I had read somewhere about vintage connections, but the riwire is a great one to know. So far, I've been using whatever I've had at hand, or what Crappy tire was selling to repair everything. Getting tired of having to label circuits!! :pinch: