83 or 86 wiring harness?

[Great White]

OK, some are probably aware that I recently bought a "cherry" 1983 Venture (standard model).

 

I've also picked up the remains of an 86 Venture Royale (somewhat less than affectionately refereed to as "The Pile").

 

My plan is to put the CLASS and the Venture cruise on the 83.

 

The 86 is electrically complete, all that was missing when I bought it was the engine and final drive (already parted out).

 

I know they are similar, but there are enough significant differences between the two years to not make it a simple swap of parts. There will need to be some electrical "trickery" whichever way I go (I'm more than equal to that task ).

 

So I have two options:

 

1. take the required circuits/components out of the 86 harness and graft them on to the 83; or

2. Transfer the 86 harness/components complete to the 83.

 

Option 1, splicing/adapting:

 

Pros -

Retain the original harness as is.

Easily returned to stock

No unforeseen running problems as the bike is running fine as is.

 

Cons-

Additional work tracing down the wiring and making a stand alone harness

Splicing in components required for venture cruise such as instrument cluster (for speed sensor), etc. Also not liking the thought of cutting connectors off the OE harness

lots of wiring diagram work to mate 86 parts to the 83 harness

 

Option 2, Swap on 86 harness:

 

Pros-

have the complete electrical system off the 86 already

very little wiring diagram work required

components needed will plug right in (IE: handlebar switches, instrument cluster, CLASS components, etc)

Ability to use the more common 41R boxes instead of the 1 year 26H in event of breakdown

 

Cons-

Will need to do some repair and overhaul on the 86 harness (little bit butchered by careless P.O.'s)

harder to go back to stock

Unknown quality/condition of parts (P.O. said it ran fine before stripping the engine out, but he wasn't exactly "honest" all around)

Will need to buy a gear position sensor

Vacuum advance scheme is different between 83 and 86

 

 

Did I miss anything?

 

I know this is ultimately my decision on which way to go, but what would you suggest?

 

I'm also back and forth between using the 83 rear shock or the 86. There are some differences between the 1983 standard and 1986 CLASS rear shock, but my 31,000 km 1983 shock is in much better shape than the 99,000 KM 1986 shock. They're both air assist, is there any reason why I can't just plumb the CLASS air lines to the 1983 shock?

 

 

[Marcarl]

One thing that is different is the computer display,, for the rest you'll have to wait for real answers.

[flyday58]

Very little plugged right in when I bought the 41R harness and put in on the 83. Don't remember everything without referring to eBay, but left and right handlebar switches, taillight harness, ignition switch, flasher relay and gear pos indicator were a few. Also the harness wouldn't plug in to the 83 instrument cluster.

[Great White]

Very little plugged right in when I bought the 41R harness and put in on the 83. Don't remember everything without referring to eBay, but left and right handlebar switches, taillight harness, ignition switch, flasher relay and gear pos indicator were a few. Also the harness wouldn't plug in to the 83 instrument cluster.

 

Luckily, I have all that stuff (and more) already.

 

Benefit of buying most of a bike for parts....