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Wiring harness connection to battery tray (with pics)

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Yuppie_88 (Luke):
Hello everyone, I'm new here  :)

I've recently purchased my first CB750 K4, a US import from a dealer. I've done some basic restos in the past, mainly on smaller engines (DT50, CB125, YZ125) but I would consider myself a newbie wanting to learn really.

Anyway, the bike was running at the dealership after being hot-wired and setup on a dummy fuel line. Having got it home I started to investigate the wiring a little further and found that the fuse box and the safety unit were missing, the live battery cable was also corroded (see pics). Replacement parts are on their way.

My only concern is, it looks as though there has been some heat in the wiring at some point - the harness tape looks like it's melted in some places. I can't see any bare copper wires showing, the wire insulation looks ok. That being said I'm still a little concerned about hooking up a battery to it - fire extinguisher at the ready!

A couple of hypnosis I've pondered (this is where I would appreciate your expert input)...

1. Maybe someone at some point, has hooked the battery up the wrong way round, hence the melted tape and the looks of the starter ground wire.
2. There has been some external heat in this area (unrelated to the wiring), hence there isn't any bare copper wire showing (seems unlikely to me though).
3. There is a dodgy ground somewhere in the harness. There is evidence that someone might have been playing about with the indicator electrics and headlight.   

Any thoughts or observations are appreciated

Yuppie_88 (Luke):
Pics

McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
I might be out on a limb here but in the past I used to change the polarity on cars pre- alternator days to enable the fitting of positive earth radios. No wiring was melted we used to just reverse the coil wires. Engine still ran without reversing the coil wires. I suspect alternators are different.

More likely poor earth somewhere. If you haven't done so might be worth unwinding some loom insulation to check if there are any of the loom internal joints that are damaged.

When I did a first start up on my 400 after a 13 year standstill I disconnected all the indicators, horn front lights, bar switches so fired her up with just the ignition circuit, alternator, regulator and rectifier in place. Might be worth considering something similar.

Bryanj:
That melting is probably caused by high resistance on the earth lead at engine end meaning starter current flows via the small earth lead bolted under the seat, used to see it a lot in the 70's and now if paint/powder coat not removed where earth lead bolts and engine case touches frame

Mike_Berkshire:
I think I have exactly this problem on my CB550 project Yuppie_88

The earth wire that runs from the connector block by the fuses to the tab washer earthed by the coils has melted insulation along its entire length and the spade in the connector block has melted the plastic around it.

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