Dyna S Worth it on '80 850G?

[Road_Trip]

I've been working on resurrecting my '80 850G. I started with the harness since the bike has been in lay up for the last year. I found quite a few bad splices/lack of solder or otherwise sloppy areas in there. I've addressed all of these but I'm thinking I should go ahead and do the Dyna S upgrade and have a known good wiring path for the ignition (coil relay mod would be part of this as well). Is this mod worth doing on a bike that already has an electronic ignition or should I just re-build the harness? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Nessism]

I use the original ignition unless it doesn't work. The components are quite reliable.

 

[Road_Trip]

That actually sounds like a pretty good idea. I'm about to buy a new battery and go through the stator papers just to be sure I didn't miss anything. Any tips on how to check the ignition system components? Thanks.

 

[Steel Toed Tank]

I don't mean to disagree with Nessism, he is one of the most knowledgeable members on here without a doubt. And he is most likely right.

But with wires it might be different.
Mine look good, but if you bend them at all with the bike running you get shocked. Micro cracks all up and down the plug wires on mine seem to be letting spark through, but not enough to keep it from seemingly running right.

Most people who install the dyna green 3 ohm ignition coils are surprised by the difference in power and improvement in gas mileage they get.
I'm aiming for them, but since my stock stuff otherwise passed all the applicable resistance tests, for now I just electrical taped all the wires. (not $0.99 electrical tape, get the good stuff).

Do a search, see what you find!



Tank

 

[Road_Trip]

It was actually because of the wiring that I was thinking of the replacement. I am weighing re-building that section of the harness entirely or just removing it and going with the Dyna S system on fresh wires. I'm pretty lucky as I don't get shocked moving the wires, but the P.O. did some repairs that weren't quite up to par. I've spent the last two days in the garage going from battery to headlight and gone through a fair amount of solder, heat shrink, tape and primary wires. I won't be running the bike again until after the new parts come in (air box boots, fuel line and vacuum line) and I still have to get a battery and go through the stator papers. I'm mostly worried about reliability but if the stock system goes bad, Dyna S goes in.

 

[BigD_83]

Hey Tank,

I think Road_Trip is deliberating between the stock electronic ignition (pickups) and the Dyna S module. http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/products/sportbikes/dyna_s/

I don't think he is necessarily looking at replacing the coils.

RT...do you have a factory service manual? The ignition system checks are outlined in pretty fair detail, but there may be some small tricks specific to the 850G

 

[Road_Trip]

Big D,
I downloaded the service manual from BikeCliff's site; very useful. Unfortunately, it shows me having points. I'll probably be ordering one up pretty soon. Most likely the coils will stay stock; I'm much more worried about losses in the hacked up harness from the ignition. I'm tearing into the wiring around R/R and ignitor tomorrow, so we'll see what there is to find there. I figured I'd see what the community thought about the stock ignition on an 80 as well as seeing if there was anything more to gain with the Dyna S unit. So far, it's looking like stock is an ok choice.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Big D,
I downloaded the service manual from BikeCliff's site; very useful. Unfortunately, it shows me having points.

The 1980 model has electronic ignition, not points. You are either looking at the wrong section of the manual (see the 1980 "GT" section), or your '79 model was first registered in 1980.

Thank you for your indulgence,


BassCliff

 

[Guest]

The wire insulation gets brittle from heat near a bad connection. There is no need to replace any of the wiring, just cut it back a little to where you find supple insulation and replace the connectors using proper connectors and crimping tools. http://www.vintageconnections.com/

 

[850GT_Rider]

I've been working on resurrecting my '80 850G. I started with the harness since the bike has been in lay up for the last year. I found quite a few bad splices/lack of solder or otherwise sloppy areas in there. I've addressed all of these but I'm thinking I should go ahead and do the Dyna S upgrade and have a known good wiring path for the ignition (coil relay mod would be part of this as well). Is this mod worth doing on a bike that already has an electronic ignition or should I just re-build the harness? Thanks in advance for the help!

If'n you add your location to your profile, you might find some GSR locals willing to lend a hand.

 

[Darin Jordan]

I also have a 1980 850G... I haven't replaced the coils yet or the ignition, but I did take the time to do the coil-relay mod, as well as go in and clean up the wiring. Don't forget to clean up the "Run/Off" switch on the right grip!! THAT was the source for some pretty major resistance. Took the switch apart, cleaned up all the metal surfaces, and wiped it down with some dielectric grease. Resistance dropped considerably! Of course... this isn't much of an issue once the relay mod is done, but it did help to eliminate a potential failure point.

My stock ignition seems to be working fine, but having had experience with "good running" cars becoming "GREAT running" cars after installing an MSD ignition on them, I will also be aiming for a Dyna-S ignition here in the near future.

To go back to one of your original questions, however... YES, I think the coil-relay mod is WELL worth the time/effort. Hard to put a price on reliability!!

 

[Road_Trip]

Thanks for all the input!
@BassCliff- I always thought that my bike was just an 850G; had no idea it was a GT. Pays to keep scrolling on the bookmarks.... Thank you for the massive amounts of info you compiled. You've made an amazing resource! Heck, YOU are an amazing resource!

@OldVet66- Unfortunately, I won't be the first one "fixing" the brittle insulation problem...there are some bad hacks and I'm thinking about re-doing the wire runs all together while incorporating suggested mods. For now, it looks like just the coil relay mod would be prudent. The PO was more dangerous than age to the wire harness.

@850GT Rider-I'm fixing the location in profile now; however, I'm working on this at odd hours the days I work from home and late at night. Aside from that, everyone here has done their time repairing PO's fixes lol. I will probably send out an invite, fire up the grill and put some brew on ice when the bike is close. Gotta celebrate the first time she fires back up! BTW, you live in some great riding territory! Do you ever get around to Black Water Falls area?

@Darin Jordan-You made three great points there! I hadn't even really considered the kill switch itself as I personally don't use it....however, it IS there. MSD ignitions are awesome...Dyna S is the MSD for GS's. Finally, I'll get the bike running good before upgrading parts--best not to use an upgrade to "fix" an existing problem.

Thanks again to everyone! I should be in garage working on the switch and wire cut-backs/replacements within the hour!

 

[Steve]

I downloaded the service manual from BikeCliff's site; very useful. Unfortunately, it shows me having points.

You were probably looking in the '79 section, on pdf page 241 (page 12-2 of the manual).

Try looking at page 316 of the pdf (page 14-45 of the manual).

.

 

[Road_Trip]

Thanks Steve; I did find it. Feel like an idiot since it was right there....

I did the relay mod and cleaned up the wiring quite a bit (got a project thread going). Long story short, I did a before and after test of the spark (use a piece of metal and put it near a ground point..). Looks like the spark is considerably better after the mod. I didn't look for a voltage drop (have a bad battery) post-work, but I did get a baseline pre-work. I was losing around 4.5 volts between the battery and coils. I'll test them again after work. I have the battery on trickle charge now so it should be in the same condition as the pre-work test. Unfortunately, I changed so many things that I won't know what did the trick, but I'm freshening the bike up anyway and wiring was a major part of the plan.

 

[salty_monk]

Ignitor boxes can go bad, they are 30+ years old after all... signal generators rarely do it seems.

I would carry a Dyna S as a spare if I was going on a big trip around the state or something. On my Skunk I fitted a Dyna S to replace points but still when riding it down Baja last year I took the old points set down there with me just in case.... All depends on availability of spare parts. (I also took a spare stator, coil, couple of plug wires, plugs & fuse block too - I know where the possible weak points are on my bike... )

I also took control cables. Again it really just depends where you might end up sitting on the side of the road. I took tubes & patches, tyre irons etc too. I don't take any of that stuff if I'm within range of my AAA cover to home (135 miles)....

By the way - Tape a 3" piece of wire with a male spade on each end somewhere on the bike. That way if your relay goes out you can "hotwire" it to either coils 12v always hot (unplug when stopped so don't burn out coils) or use the 12v switched trigger wire & have it like stock (weak spark possibility with this one).

Dan

 

[Nessism]

I converted a 1000GL wire harness to work in my first 1000S. The instrument panel connections were totally different, and parts were laid out in different locations. The job was quite straight forward once you strip off all the harness tape and can see what you are dealing with. I hear people complain about hacked harnesses all the time but trust me, fixing harnesses is pretty simple unless it's melted down or what have you, once you get past the mental inertia.

One of the key things to do when cleaning up your harness is to remove the terminals from the plastic connectors and clean them and pinch the female terminal closed. I used diluted muratic acid to clean the terminals but there are various other methods.

Good luck

 

[Road_Trip]

@ Salted Monk: So, I do believe this settles it; I will be purchasing a Dyna S in the near future and installing it before the first long ride. The suggestion of the ignitor box cinched it for me; for the money spent, you might as well. Great suggestion for the jumper; I will be doing that immediately! Very well played, Sir!

@ Nessism: I agree, the harness isn't so bad; it's the pucker factor when you see the stripped insulation and mostly broken wires--"I rode it like this?!" For the terminals, I wish I would have thought of muriatic acid in the first place. I did pull back the connector covers and used degreaser/contact cleaner/compressed air to clean them out; worked well functionally, but I didn't get the "shiny brass" look. I'll be measuring the voltage drop on the bike tonight and seeing what kind of improvement there is.

Thanks to all for the great ideas; I'm going to be a lot more confident when I take my classic out next time!