New wire harness?

[Guest]

Hello again all!
In my quest to be the one to ask the dumbest question of the day, I pose this one:
I'm contemplating replacing the wire harness on my 83 GS1100ES over the off season, in searching for one online I find that the "actual" harness for my bike doesn't seem to be available.
I have however seen the harness available for the GS1100EZ on more than one web site.
Here in lies my question (s):
Is there a substantive difference in the two harnesses? Is one interchangeable with the other? Could it be adapted with relative ease? ETC ........................ any help is appreciated as always.
Thanks
Rod

[garagepunkfan]

i bought a shabby ES harness off the Bay two years ago to harvest wire for my GS1100ED harness restoration...a LOT of differences up front. basically everything plugs and unplugs somewhat separately in the headlight bucket on the EZ/ED harness. the ES harness has a large multi-pin connector that must mate to a front sub-harness of some sort (which i never had, so i could not say for sure). it could probably be made to work if you unwrapped the front portion of the harness and terminated the harness in the appropriate spot and added the large connector. you would have to identify the connector type and get replacement terminals from Cycle Terminal or Eastern Beaver

[posplayr]

The gs1100ez harness that is avaliable converts easily to the gs1100ed with mods to the TSCU plug. On the other hand there are massive differences going to the gs1100esd. As noted they are related to fairing and electronic instrumentation but beyond that they seem to have been done by a completely different designer.

[rodgs1100es]

Thanks once again for the input, always appreciated.

[garagepunkfan]

wow, that looks way worse than the harness i scavenged from. i still have the remains, pm me if you want the large connector

[rodgs1100es]

wow, that looks way worse than the harness i scavenged from. i still have the remains, pm me if you want the large connector

Thanks for the offer but sadly this little part of the mess is in the front of the bike under the fairing, if I'm going to go to the trouble of cutting, adding connectors and such, I might just as well repair what I have.
I was hoping to find an easy answer like a new harness but alas, it's not to be!
It's been a long time, I'd forgotten how much work owning a vintage vehicle can be.
I found yet another issue to deal with today non electrical, more $$$, I was in the dealership and damn near rolled out with a near new bike and then I found this one, YEAH!
Kidding I really like it, just have to get the big bugs sorted and all will be fine.
Thanks again all, the help is always appreciated very much

[Gregory]

FYI - I saw a thread on this forum a month or two ago where someone here was thinking about making harnesses. I cant remember for what bike, but at least there is a forum member that is proficient with this stuff.