The electronic ignitions [Ultima, Crane, etc] get power from the ignition coil. See step 7b in my word description. I did not include that in the word description because the 1979 came with points ignition. The EI has a wire run to itself from the coil.

 

I use simple crimp bullet connectors for my wireing. Slip heat shrink onto wire, strip off the plastic from the connector parts, insert wires, crimp carefully and thoroughly [which you cannot do with the plastic in place]; add a wee touch of solder, cover with the heat shrink.

I bought several wire colors at an auto parts store, and the fabric loom from a fasteners store. The loom is just a long empty tube that to run all the wires thru. A 1/4" ID loom will hold easily 4 wires. You may have to lube the last wire to go thru so it does not get stuck.

All wire can be 16 gauge except: 12 gauge from batt+ to 30 amp breaker, and 12 gauge from starter relay to starter solenoid. You can use 18 gauge instead of 16 for lights. I believe that the battery cables are about 8 gauge. They are not as heavy as car battery cables.

 

Thanks a ton Mick! I hadn't exactly planned on rewiring the bike, but I might as well. I definetly stand to learn a little about the electrical system, obviously... Running my own wires will also make it easier to hide them when they get routed to the non factory locations. I assume I can get the same physical size circuit breakers that is on the bike? I'm gonna use a plate to cover the hole under the spring seat, so I think that I may drill out the rivets for the old breaker holders on the fender and rivet them to the under side of the seat plate. I'll worry about that last though..
I thought that the braided cloth covered wires looked pretty slick, but that will substantially raise the cost.. so we'll see.
I think I may try to tackle this project in the next week or so.. (kids and work keep the hobbies at bay sometimes..) I'll give an update then..
Thanks again to everyone!

 

The curcuit breakers are a standard auto part. They do come in different shapes tho so if you want the same bring one along to show the counter guy.

 

Ok... so I started the rewire. I wanted to start easy, so I started with the headlight and the toggle switch. I got all the wires out of the bucket, and saw that the original sealed beam was powered by the 3 prong plug. I dug out the wiring diagram out of the manual.. seemed easy enough. The plug is grounded to the bucket, 2 white wires, (one for the high beam indicator and one for the high beam, from what I gathered from the diagram) and one yellow wire. Yellow was for the low beam. So I connected the wires to my switch. Orange wire for power from CB and battery and yellow wire from the plug to the OFF side of the switch. I assumed that this would power the the low beam regardless of switch position. And the 14 ga. white wire to the ON position on the switch. I am a serious rookie at wiring and electricity. So test my circuit I wire nutted my headlight to my 12v lawnmower hot lead. turned ignition on..Nothing. flipped the switch to High Beam, Nothing. Shouldnt this work? I've got 3 different ironhead wiring diagrams, it seems like this is the correct way to do it.
I got disgusted, and gave up on it, decided to wrap my pipes until I could post something here.. So the night wasn't a total loss! The Pipes look good for a first time wrap job, at least I think they do..
On a side note, I picked up a nice oil tank at a swap meet today, $18.. (the original one was dented and rusted..) I removed the old one, and realized that the new one didnt have 2 of the rubber mounted bolts for the battery tray. I tried to remove the ones from old one... can't get a wrench on the nut on the bottom.. Is there a trick to this?
Sorry for the newbie questions.. I am trying to learn as fast as I can!!