‘78 xs650 ignition switch problems

VonKnoxBerg

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Okay so here goes I am new to motorcycles and garage mechanics. My first real project and I’ve run into some electrical problems. I have removed the tach/speedo/light cluster from the bike with only cutting one ground wire, the rest were just unplugged. However my issue now is I have no electric start. Was there a wire or connector in the cluster harness that I need to rewire?
 
If this were the case wouldn’t my light switch in the right hand switch housing also not work?
 
If this were the case wouldn’t my light switch in the right hand switch housing also not work?
The light switch just passes power along to the lights.... doesn't need a ground. The starter button does.
Touch a piece of wire from the handlebars to the frame and see if it starts.
 
Will do and will reply as soon as I try it. Thanks guys. Sorry for the probably obvious question. Super new to all of this. Just trying to make something instead of buy it.
 
Does your horn work? I know that's over in the left control but it's the other item that needs that ground. On your model, the left control gets it's ground from a wire run into the headlight bucket. It passes that ground in through the handlebars over to the right control for the start button.
 
Something else you may notice eventually that is unique to the '78 models is your headlight on-off switch is only going to work with the key on, motor not running. As soon as you start the bike, there's a headlight safety relay that will kick in and turn the headlight on, bypassing the handlebar switch. Even if the switch is off, the headlight is still going to come on.
 
Update horn works and headlight toggle switch in my left control works. Engine ignition still nothing
 
Hopefully last and final update. Found the issue apparently when the aftermarket (painted) handlebars we’re out on they put a ground wire to ground the right controls. This for some reason was severed when I took out the cluster. Maybe the ground was spliced into the information cluster and needed to be cut upon removal I can’t remember.

ps appreciate all the fast reply’s and help from you guys. Probably wouldn’t have thought it to be a ground problem otherwise
 
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