TOPIC:

Someone help my sanity come back and tell me that completely rewiring my bike is a bad idea that would take way more than 12 hours on a saturday.

on the other hand, if you think I'm not being silly then go ahead and give me any advice you have on such an undertaking.

my reasoning was this: I have a ground short right now that was caused my dropping the bike after spending 6 hours cleaning carbs yesterday. I figure that all the wiring in the bike is 30 years old at this point and that all the connectors are dirty and also old. Seems like I might as well replace everything.

Bad idea right?

Depends on your bike-wrenching smarts more than anything. You should probably get a full kit of connector and will need to buy a bunch of different wire colors as using a single color will make life hard if you need to trouble-shoot in the future. This project will probably be more than 12 hours and I suggest you stick with OEM wire colors as much as possible which will present challenges in itself. Kaw uses black/yellow for ground. I doubt you will find black/yellow so if yo settle for black wire, keep in mind that black is also used for posotive voltages on your bike kike the solenoid trigger wire and the ignition cit-out interlock switch wire...

If you have the time and patience then yeah rewiring would be great. I went the other route and pulled my loom out and stripped it of all the wrapping. Then I inspected, cleaned, repaired and then rewrapped the loom. I had a second wire loom to obtain new pieces from so the wiring would still match the circuit diagram in the FSM. I would recommend that you solder the splices and use heat shrink wrap over them before wrapping the loom. I haven't had any issues with my wiring since but as with all things it is only as good as the prep work you put into it so clean the connectors well and don't get in a hurry.

Here is a photo of the finished job.

a good system for rewiring is to lay the harness out on a large sheet of wood and then secure it to the wood. Then one by one remove an old wire and replace it with a new one. Good luck on the project oh and if you want to help keep the inside of the connectors clean use dielectric grease inside them and it will keep dirt and moisture out.

Z1E sells OEM connector kits and I would replace some of the connectors even if refurbishing a used harness, Look at the large white connector that connects the harness to the headlight mini-harness. It is half fried. They all are. Wiring is too small gauge in this part of the harness and heat melts this connector... almmost every time. These connectors (and wires) need replacing. Any connector that shows any sign of melting is connected by wires that have bad insulation or at least it will be hard and cracked. It is a good idea to replace both wires and connectors when you find this situation. Make sure the connector kit includes the tool for installing the metal contacts in the connector shell.