handlebar switch gear - 1981 KZ650

While the photos were indeed groovy as such, need more. They made several variations of these, need front facing, as you would see them and connector block colors. They changed to Green in the last iteration. And shoving black silicone in the port?? They had a bracket that did that for you, blanked-off the opening, ha.  

asphalt900 wrote:

While the photos were indeed groovy as such, need more. They made several variations of these, need front facing, as you would see them and connector block colors. They changed to Green in the last iteration. And shoving black silicone in the port?? They had a bracket that did that for you, blanked-off the opening, ha.  

Here are a couple of new photos. I can see that the light switch has been blocked off. It's a simple run/off switch plus a starter button.    
   

So I'm guessing that the law changed back then such that the headlight needed to be on all the time, so they deleted the switch and hardwired it to be on all the time, is that right? 

Thank-You Dirk! You took the time, i will too. Yes, they started keeping the USA versions of production dating back to 1978 actually. While Yamaha and Honda followed the same mandate DOT they went about it differently. Yamaha had a sensor and module off the Alternator, Honda had a Flip/Flop switch built into the Start button. Kawasaki did nothing to reduce the additional load incurred by lighting constant ON. Thusly, decent battery required. While the Main Wiring Harness supports either constant ON or ownership selective all difference is within the sheath exiting the RH Switch. Your type of lower half casting doesn't even have a cast post for the ON/OFF/ON knob to be attached. The earlier ones did and the upper half is different with recesses for painting in the functions. Here's some examples of differences for your viewing. Don't be concerned about "wrecking" stuff by removing those screws, just have a decent #2 JIS driver bit attached to a 1/4" socket and rachet. Anything You fudge, i have replacements for. Just donate to THIS site and i'll fix you-up, Clay       

asphalt900 wrote:

Thank-You Dirk! You took the time, i will too. Yes, they started keeping the USA versions of production dating back to 1978 actually. While Yamaha and Honda followed the same mandate DOT they went about it differently. Yamaha had a sensor and module off the Alternator, Honda had a Flip/Flop switch built into the Start button. Kawasaki did nothing to reduce the additional load incurred by lighting constant ON. Thusly, decent battery required. While the Main Wiring Harness supports either constant ON or ownership selective all difference is within the sheath exiting the RH Switch. Your type of lower half casting doesn't even have a cast post for the ON/OFF/ON knob to be attached. The earlier ones did and the upper half is different with recesses for painting in the functions. Here's some examples of differences for your viewing. Don't be concerned about "wrecking" stuff by removing those screws, just have a decent #2 JIS driver bit attached to a 1/4" socket and rachet. Anything You fudge, i have replacements for. Just donate to THIS site and i'll fix you-up, Clay

Thanks so much for that. So, if the KZ650 alternator is not up to the task of recharging the battery with the headlight on, would it make sense to replace my switch with one that has the off switch for the lights? I'm thinking of for testing purposes, etc. 

Hi, what ever direction you go with this, the blue and blue/white , in the repro switch are the switch legs for the light switch, others are for kill switch and starter, I wanted switch lighting, and it is less load when starting, H1vin posted link to my old pics (thank you), of completed plugs, only thing different is kill switch is turned 90 degrees, I had an old control, but gave it away, whatever is easiest for you,  

jwfels wrote:

Hi, what ever direction you go with this, the blue and blue/white , in the repro switch are the switch legs for the light switch, others are for kill switch and starter, I wanted switch lighting, and it is less load when starting, H1vin posted link to my old pics (thank you), of completed plugs, only thing different is kill switch is turned 90 degrees, I had an old control, but gave it away, whatever is easiest for you,  

OK, great, thanks. I'm not sure I want to do a full restoration on the RH and LH switches for this bike, so I may just buy an aftermarket one for the KZ900/Z1 and adapt it to the existing wiring harness. 

Of Course, just don't do what JWFELS did and toss your old set! Those "repops" hopefully will work out for you but realize their use/attachment detracts from total machine value $$. Restore when you have time at that point. Overall, you surely probably don't follow prices on the Kawasaki lineup resale values?? But application of the aftermarket bits are driving down the market prices for any machine they are used on. Let it be known... 

asphalt900 wrote:

Of Course, just don't do what JWFELS did and toss your old set! Those "repops" hopefully will work out for you but realize their use/attachment detracts from total machine value $$. Restore when you have time at that point. Overall, you surely probably don't follow prices on the Kawasaki lineup resale values?? But application of the aftermarket bits are driving down the market prices for any machine they are used on. Let it be known... 

Oh well, this bike will never be worth a lot. I'm not keeping it stock. I got it for free, but really don't want a chopper style bike. So, I'm modifying it to be more like a normal bike. But, thanks for the reminder. 

dirk11wright wrote:

asphalt900 wrote:

Of Course, just don't do what JWFELS did and toss your old set! Those "repops" hopefully will work out for you but realize their use/attachment detracts from total machine value $$. Restore when you have time at that point. Overall, you surely probably don't follow prices on the Kawasaki lineup resale values?? But application of the aftermarket bits are driving down the market prices for any machine they are used on. Let it be known... 

Oh well, this bike will never be worth a lot. I'm not keeping it stock. I got it for free, but really don't want a chopper style bike. So, I'm modifying it to be more like a normal bike. But, thanks for the reminder. 

Welcome to the dark side