TOPIC:

I'm getting a 78 KZ1000 and it has been sitting for a while and I was wondering am i better off with buying a new wireing harness at over $300. or do to the fact that I am preaty good not great but good with the wireing should I take out the old harness and rebuild it?
I have seen other links were another member has done it is it that hard and will I need any thing ells to compleat the harness?

I did my own harness for my bike and used all new connectors and wire (keeping the old harness laid out for reference) and it took me about a week or two working on it after work at nights. I think it ended up costing about $75 for the wire and the connectors and the fuse box switch. I also made sure to have a couple different versions of the electric wiring diagrams to make sure I knew what I was doing. It wasn't that bas as long as you keep everything color coded and marked and laid out neatly.

Is your wiring shot? Are you having electrical problems with the existing wiring?
My bike is two years older than yours, and she's got all of her original wiring. Just because it's old may not necessarily mean that it should be replaced.

Well here is a picture of the bike I think I sould replace the old wire on it just by the look of it.

Ummmmm....
Sorry Wagonmaster.
Your point is well taken.
Burns my a$$ when I see a Kaw that's been abused by the PO.

The problem is, even if the bike is well taken care of, there are spots where the wiring gets a lot of stress, most notably where the harness goes from frame to headlight.

Buying a good used harness has the same problems. A brand new harness would be fine, but $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

The wires may look fine on the outside, but the problem is on the inside. Through repeated bending, the copper breaks before the insulation. The only sign may be what appears to be a small insignificant bump in the wire. The bump may indicate internal breakage of the copper strands. It's hard to find all of the bumps without totally dissassembling the harness. By then, you may as well replace the wires.

It's definitely something you wouldn't want to do as a beginner unless you have a ton of time to study it. However, if you're pretty experienced and understand the way the ignition and charging system works, it should be pretty easy.

You can get rid of a lot of things if you want, as well, like the reserve lighting unit, as long as you somewhat understand their functions.

But either way, if the bike is ratty or nice, I wouldn't replace the harness if you're not having any problems (how often does THAT condition last, though ).

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/07/21 15:16

Where are you finding a harness for $300. I would buy one in a second at that price! All the after market places I have seen don't make them for 77-78.

make a inquiry at MRCYCLEPARTS.COM just try I use this site a lot.

has the stock wiring harness been butchered up?if it hasnt been hacked to pieces how about just cleaning it up really good and just replacing whats bad?thats part of the fun of working on these bikes is figuring out whats good and whats bad .

If you go to AmericanClassix.com and they have the harnesses.

If there is stress at the neck, just pull off the tank and adjust it down the frame. Bottomline, its your cash and time involved. Personally, I would just start replacing connectors that look bad. I kinda got that "Don't fix it if it's not broke" mentality.

The ol' 1000 does need some TLC doesn't she? You'll get her there. Pretty sad to her looking like that though. Good Luck.