Headlight Bucket Wiring on a Vintage Honda Motorcycle

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Intimidation is a big factor when working on a vintage Honda Motorcycle. In this video, we show how simple repairs can be on a vintage Honda by demystifying the infamous "Bird's Nest" of wires. Every Honda motorcycle from the late '60s to the late '70s has a major junction of wires that connect parts light handlebar switches, gauges, and turn signals to the main wiring harness. On some motorcycles, this happens inside the headlight bucket and on others under the gas tank, but the effect is the same. Staring are such a large clump of wires can be intimidating but by peeling back the layers and removing the headlight bucket, there are actually only a few bundles of wires. Follow along as we sort through the wires and call out commonly used Honda wire color codes and what they are used for.

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Need help with your vintage Honda? Attend the CMC Repair Academy and watch the full playlist of repair videos for your motorcycle:

   • CB175/CL175/SL175/CB200/CL200  
   • CB350/CL350/SL350  
   • CB360/CL360  
   • CB450/CL450/CB500t  
   • CB500K / CB550K / CB550F  
   • CB750K / CB750F  
   • CB350F / CB400F  
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Contents of this video:
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - What is the Bird's Nest?
01:49 - Why unplug everything?
03:38 - Removing the headlight bucket
03:52 - Facts about the Honda factory headlight buckets
04:50 - Identifying the groups of wires in the Bird's Nest
07:53 - Main Harness wires
11:52 - Left Handlebar switch wires
12:54 - Right Handlebar switch wires
16:00 - Speedometer wires
17:02 - Tachometer / Indicator Lights
18:29 - Front Brake light switch wires
19:27 - Turn Signal wires
20:45 - Identifying unused wiring connections
21:50 - Putting the headlight back together
22:59 - Precautions
23:31 - Summary
24:08 - Wrap up