Advice on repairing the harness.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I have the harness off my 83 gs750es and im looking for ways to improve it and problems i should watch out for. A lot of the wires look like they’re worse for wear and Im contemplating creating an entirely new harness using new wire and weather tight connectors. I could just copy the stock harness but from what Ive read here and looking at the schematic it seems like there’s some room for improvement. Just wondering if you guys with experience could hit some of the important points for me to get me started in the right direction?

[Nessism]

You might be better off by removing the harness, cleaning all the terminals, then rewrapping with some non-adhesive harness wrap. Remove the unnecessary "stator loop" though the hand control while you are at it. Getting the tarnish off the terminals is the hard part. Deoxit sort of works but the best way is to remove the brass terminals from the plastic connector and physically scrubbing all the tarnish off using a stainless steel wire brush or similar, followed by reinserting the terminals back where they belong. Some light media blasting with soda maybe? At any rate, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and I doubt trying would advance you beyond some simple cleanup.

[EDGECRUSHER]

At any rate, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and I doubt trying would advance you beyond some simple cleanup.

Well that is why I have hesitated to remake it. However, there are several places where the insulation is brittle and cracking and weak looking spots where the wire looks like it may be coming apart inside the insulation. In years past I had done exactly what you suggest but I think it's past just refurbushing- at least some of it. Maybe I'll just take it down to separate wires and replace those that look iffy. I wish I didn't have to put in new connectors but I do. FOr example, the plug for the rectifier from the stator is missing one half and until now I had male spades plugged into the connector. My rectifier isn't stock, it's off another bike which may have been why I did that at one time.
I'll have to look into the "stator loop" you're referring to. That doesn't ring a bell in my memory.
I read about adding a relay in the ignition circuit to avoid a voltage drop in the switch. My ignition switch has that common thing where you have to rock the key to get it to turn. My 98 GSXR is the same way. Worn keys maybe, but I don't trust the switch inside to make good contact. I think I've pretty much talked myself into remaking the harness I just wish I could reuse the stock connectors. They aren't the big blocky things I have to replace them with. It's hard to find a connector with exactly the number of terminals you need for every plug. Another thing is the wrap used to hold the harness together. I've read quite a few places where people describe all the different things they used to do and the pros and cons to them all. I'd like this to be the last time I have to do anything with the harness and be confident none of my problems come from it. Good thing is I'm in no hurry.

[Nessism]

http://www.vintageconnections.com/

Read up on the "stator loop". That will solve the connection problem you reference for the "rectifier" (your bike doesn't actually have a rectifier, it uses a combined regulator/rectifier unit.)

[trippivot]

go for it! great way to make it very custom and stream lined. I yank that huge bunch of shaggy sticky wires and reuse some of the hard plastic plug bodies.

You have many choices for connectors and some new tools will necessary . some mounting/rearranging possible .. creativity necessary .. probably 20 hours total I have into the last one I did to 83 1100 ES - some of the non necessary dash warning lights I repurposed to shift lights .. couple tricky hidden switches.. no auto cancelling signals-- All the choppers and dragbikes I've done the wiring had to be created totally to your amount of electric doo-dads.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Well I've done some reading and it doesn't appear that the 83 GSES has the stator loop. three yellow wires come out of the genny and go directly into the R/R and that is exactly how it is in my bike. So no worries there. Thanks for the suggestions.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Jumper elimination?

So I'm planning my harness rebuild and I thought it'd be a good to lay out the separate circuits so I can make sense of the diagram and maybe eliminate some of those unnecessary dead ends. There's this one loop on the parking light/horn/ brake light circuit that I'm considering eliminating and making it splice in the harness. Here's a pic of it. Let me know your thoughts on why they would do this rather than just splicing inside the harness. God knows there's plenty of splices of in the harness already.
IMG_2133.jpg