Here's the next step in my bar changing experience from stock to Wild 1 518s on an '08 RKC for those interestested. The first part is posted here:

https://www.hdforums.com/m_3540994/tm.htm

So after I got he bars off the bike, which was relatively straight forward, I went on to change out the switches to chrome switch housings and chrome caps. Despite some scary threads on the subject, I actually found this to be relatively straight forward. I used the shop manual and instructions for both kits and made my way through it.

Chrome Housings: Pretty simple to swap. Just make sure to pay attention to where all the wires are run before disassembly. Especially take note as to where the bundles face in the housing (the bundle that runs to the bike and the bundle for the upper switch assembly), as messing this up can result in pinched wires.

Chrome Caps: Again, this wasn't actually too tough. It is nerve wracking to pry off the old caps and place the new ones on, as it takes some force. Make sure on rocker switches to pay attention to the position of the switch before taking it off. When putting the new one on, make sure you get it in the same position (on / off). The biggest trouble spot I hit on this was with teh cruise control switches. They are a simple push-on type, but are not cast quite big enough to fit on the post where the old switches reside. I had to really, really push hard to get them on. I'm hoping no damage was done to the switches as I didn't twist them at all, but man. Really hard to push them on.

Running Wires: Here's where I am right now. I purchased an extension kit from NAMZ at the recommendation of the Wild 1 guys. My advice: DO NOT go this route, The kit worked great, spliced everything together and heat shrunk everything. Felt really good about the job. But...when it came to running the wires, the splice point ended up being RIGHT at the exit point from the bars. It was really difficult to get the bundle through on one side, and impossible on the other as the splice bundle was blocking the exit point. At least on the '08, you also have to deal with running both the switch harness and the TGS wire bundle through and out. Especially with the splice bundle in there, it was (for me at least) impossible. After I accidentally popped the plug off the end of the TGS harness, I gave up and brought it into the shop for them to hard wire and run through the bars. I was out of time and patience, and at that point figured it was better to let a pro do it.

So now I'm waiting to get the bars back. I'm definitely new to wrenching, but I have to say. Swapping out these bars and running internal wires, at least on an '08 with the TGS, really seemed difficult especially with the extension kit. I think it would have been much simpler if I had decided to simply extend the stock wires by soldering. Seems harder, but probably would have made running the wires much easier.

So...that's where I'm at now. Crossing my fingers and hoping that when I get hte bars back and everything put back on the bike that everything works as it should. Hope I didn't weaken anything when pulling the bundles through the bars!

- Andy

(And damn...why did I have to do this on the first beautiful week of Sunshine in Seattle???)