instrument connector colour change

[02GF74]

I notice that on some instrument panels one of the two connectors is either black or red (the other remains clear plastic cover). Is there any significance to this? Either it can represent the age of the model or due to location where the bike was sold.
There is no pattern to the fitment as either can appear on black facias or on black instrument surrounds.
A red connector:

And black one:

 

[one2dmax]

You cannot interchange 85-89 gauge clusters with 90-07 clusters (which have different color connectors to identify) without rewiring them. I don't remember if the color on the main harness was also changed to match.

 

[02GF74]

Thanks for that - that does surprise me, my manual's wiring diagrams show the wires to the connectors are the same (the instrument panels have the same dials/lamps so why wouldn't they be?).

Is it the connector shape that is different?

 

[one2dmax]

They will physically plug together. The wiring and grounding schemes are different because they went from analog to digital and changed functionality of the many of the circuits. You can swap the harness portion from the gauge cluster and the gauges themselves are ok to swap.