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Oh, I'm perfectly happy with the headlight functioning however it's supposed to. I'd just like to know what "supposed to" IS! In other news...

Ah. Much better.

On the plus side, as you can see, the fairing is gone. And it looks like it should- a relatively "small" bike (compared to the ones today) with a giant brick of a motor plopped in the middle.

The downside? Now that I can see all the wiring in its molested glory, I see the uphill battle in front of me. Wires cut. Spliced in. Those blue wire splicers clipped on to wires WITH NO EXTRA WIRES SPLICED OFF OF THEM.

Also, I found MORE copper tubing! The reason I got this bike was because this fairing type used the stock blinkers and headlight/headlight bucket in the fairing. Well, looks like I have to replace the (hard to find) bucket anyway- the light mounting screw holes are broke, the rear end is punched out (by the PO), AND two holes were drilled in the top to (unnecessarily) screw it into the fairing headlight adjuster. With COPPER TUBING SPACERS! (I swear, I could scrap all the copper on this bike and get my money back).

Thankfully, all this is surmountable. I've got a service manual with a full wiring diagram, and most off the wiring seems to be "additions" rather than "deletions". We'll be okay, I just have to take a minute to wrap my head around what wire colors do what.

exactly my plan with the oil pressure lamp

Lucien - Would it simplify things by buying a second hand wiring loom?
I'm glad your so fired with enthusiasm for the bike. If you take your time to do everything needed, you'll have a fine machine at the end of it. I'm jealous!

I thought about it, but I may be okay. I was able to eliminate the three-position switch because it was just piggy-backed off the fuse box. Not sure why I did, because I'll probably have to get a new fuse box anyway. On the plus side, I managed to fix the butchered right controls AND get it running!

It doesn't idle for crap on choke, and doesn't idle at ALL without it. Over 2000 rpm it really revs good, although I'm still getting some popping from both the airbox and exhaust. The PO relayed something about a dirty butterfly in one of the carbs, but we'll see. I've got some new gas and seafoam into the carbs and engine, and we'll see how much that clears up.

Pretty excited, though. Absolutely in LOVE with the sound, too. It sounds gnarly....

You can delete a LOT of the wiring on one of these if you are careful.My 78 had had a small fire before I found it,so I bought a factory manual,pulled out entire wiring harness,laid it out on a picnic table,sliced it open and went to work.Got rid of secondary ign switch,emergency headlight contraption,turn signals,and anything crispy.Worked out to be a plastic milk crate packed full,maybe 10 lbs of wire & stuff.The fairing bikes have an extra 8 or 10 inches of wiring up to the headlight,be prepared to shorten it on a naked bike.I'm definitely not an electrical wizard,I hate the stuff.and have had 0 wiring problems since then. 5 years or so.just take your time,solder and heatshrink everything,and trace every wire you fiddle with before you cut it and it'll be fine. Also,since you have work there anyway use your original coil power from the ign switches to trigger a relay,and run a fat 10 ga wire from the battery to the coils.a lot of volt drop thru the key switch and then the handlebar switch,and 30 years has not improved it.Made a huge difference in mine.I went with Nology coils,so no resistor. Sounds like you really scored,took me a year before mine made a sound. Check the diaphrams in the carbs,clean the gunk out of em,dont trust the stock cam chain tensioner,and Enjoy your first burnout!

and take off those ugly front fork boots