Installing/making a diode kit for the VTX 1800c

Preface
These are directions to install a Kuryakyn diode "kit" (Kuryakyn part# 4709) on a VTX 1800 "C" model (R model does not require this). This is available from HDL for about $6 and is designed to cure problems the "C" model has regarding LED blinkers. Let me apologize now, this write up was done long after I'd added my diode in an effort to help someone else having problems, so the pics are only of parts of the work as I wasn't tearing my entire wire harness open again to snap some pics. I hope this still helps, because the directions Kury provided SUCK.

This project affects parts of the electrical system on your bike so if you should decide to undertake this task you will need the tools and know-how to solder these wires together and seal them with heatshrink and/or electrical tape. If you are unsure of what you are doing this project could result in damage to your bikes electrical system. Any similar work performed on your vehicle is done at your own risk. With that said, this is not a very difficult task if you have basic electronics skills, you just need to be careful and take your time.

EDIT:
Since I originally did this mod I have been able to put together the necessary information to make your own diode setup (thanks to help from HKV of the VTXOA) with parts from Radio Shack. You will need two 3 Amp diodes (Radio Shack part #276-1143)

All you do is wire them up as described below (in the original write-up). To help you understand I have this schematic (also courtesy of HKV and a little photoshop magic by me).

Preparation/supplies
In order to do this you will need the tools necessary to pull off your dash panel where the "idiot lights" are. You will also need a soldering iron, solder, the diode "kit", and I STRONGLY recommend getting some heatshrink tubing to seal everything back up nicely.

Removing the dash
To start out you'll need to find the wire harness that runs under your dash panel with all the idiot lights.

To get at it pull the dash off by taking off the 3 screws in the pic. Be careful not to lose the almost invisible nylon washers that come off with these screws! Once the screws are out you'll have to take off your gas cap to pull the dash off.

NOTE: Leave the gas cap on until you get all the screws out and away from
the dash - it is very common for people to drop the screws IN the gas tank during this step!
With the gas cap removed you can slide the dash forward to get it off the little tab it sits on at the front of the tank. At this point I recommend removing these 2 screws here:

And this one here:

To get the idiot lights removed from the dash panel and make working on this less bulky and a bit easier.

Wiring the diode
Now that you've got the dash off we can concentrate on the wiring. There will be electrical tape wrapped around the harness to hold the black sheath on, peel that back (I don't recommend cutting it off because of the wires!) and slide back the black plastic sheathing on the wire harness.

By pulling back the sheathing I was able to get to the wires I needed and I had enough room to work with - plus when I was done I could slide the sheathing right back up over the wires I worked on it'd look like nothing was done. I used a spring clamp to hold the sheathing back out of my way once I had pulled it back.
Once I had the wires where I could work on them I found the green, orange and light blue wires in the harness and separated them from the others so I could work with them. Once you get that done you'll need to cut the orange and blue wires, but leave yourself enough slack to work with them since you'll need to strip and solder these on both sides of the cut. Now that you have these cut, strip back the orange wire coming FROM the idiot lights and splice it into the green wire in the harness. This green wire is your bikes ground and you're tying this wire into that ground. Once you solder the orange wire into the green either heatshrink the connection or wrap it up tight with electrical tape. Now you have 3 wires left, 2 coming from the bike (orange and light blue) and the light blue wire coming from the idiot lights.
The diode has 1 blue wire and 2 red wires. You want to solder and heatshrink the 2 red wires from the diode to the orange and light blue wire coming from the bike. When you're done with this step you will have one orange wire coming from the bike soldered/heatshrunk to a red lead from the diode and one blue wire coming from the bike soldered/heatshrunk to the other red lead from the diode. Once this is done you only have the blue wire from the diode and light blue wire coming from the idiot lights. You want to solder/heatshrink these 2 wires together and you are done.
This is what you should have when completed:

At this point it might be wise to test your blinkers to make sure they work properly. If they work, then you just need to clean up the wire harness, make sure all your connections are solid and sealed up well and slide the black plastic sheathing back over the entire harness. Wrap a little electrical tape around the end of the sheath just like what you took off when you started. Then reverse the steps above to put your dash back together and on the bike.

Remember to leave the gas cap on when working with the
screws for the dash so that you don't drop the screws IN the gas tank!