gs450 igniter swap....?

[lilcbra]

Since finding an igniter for a decent price (in my opinion of it anyway...) is pretty hard to find, and I don't want to pay the prices for an after market piece such as a Boyer-Bransden, has anyone tried swapping another from another bike? If so, what bike and how did you wire it? I would be interested in Pete's HEI build, but I am no electrician and my time is kind of at a premium right now, so something that just plugs in with minimal effort would be great. BTW, my bike is an 81 gs450t, the igniter is part #32900-47020. I have been trying to find cross reference information to no avail, and later models, such as the 83 gs450's use a single block female plug connection-could go that route if I find one for a decent price-just don't know which wires go where. Like I said, just trying to find one for a decent price-I have a hard time buying an untested one off the internet for $100-just don't know what you will get....

[pete]

Since finding an igniter for a decent price (in my opinion of it anyway...) is pretty hard to find, and I don't want to pay the prices for an after market piece such as a Boyer-Bransden, has anyone tried swapping another from another bike? If so, what bike and how did you wire it? I would be interested in Pete's HEI build, but I am no electrician and my time is kind of at a premium right now, so something that just plugs in with minimal effort would be great. BTW, my bike is an 81 gs450t, the igniter is part #32900-47020. I have been trying to find cross reference information to no avail, and later models, such as the 83 gs450's use a single block female plug connection-could go that route if I find one for a decent price-just don't know which wires go where. Like I said, just trying to find one for a decent price-I have a hard time buying an untested one off the internet for $100-just don't know what you will get....

It looks like no other GS ignitors will work, but I don't know about other brands. I'm not sure about the later 450's, but if the signal generator is a different part number, then there's a good chance they won't work either.

So far, the thing that's making the HEI version difficult is that the GS1000G it was originally done with has a different pickup coil setup to the 450's, and it looks like that's the big difference as the Kawasaki ones are also different again. The impedance in the pickup coils is largely different which is the main issue I think.

However, if you do find one that works, definitely let us all know!

Also, while I'm desperate to get my ignition sorted and hear it start for the first time in years, I don't have a lot of time to work on it, so it's taking a while. Once the HEI setup is sorted, it should be very easy to make one up.

[pete]

Any 1980-1982 GS450 igniter will work. 1981 GS250T and 1980 GS550L are the same too.

We have a bunch of blown igniters if you want them LOL!

I should've clarified that the 4 cylinders won't work... oh well.

The 550L works? My reverse part lookup must've been screwed up... oh well.

[pete]

That is weird... I usually use Bike Bandit for the reverse lookup but didn't this time, just went by memory... teach me for relying on my memory

[chef1366]

Does this bike have an electronic advance or the advance that sits at the end of the crank behind the ignition.
Either way use an igniter that is right for your advance style,
Why couldn't you use a four cylinder? Wired up right it will work properly.
The crank trigger goes by the coil at the ignition and sends a signal to the igniter then igniter to coils. All these GS igniters will work the same as long as you trigger the correct coil at the right time.

[pete]

It's mechanical advance on these guys, and also the resistance on the coils of the 450's seems to be way less than the bigger bikes (60 to 80 ohms as opposed to 200 to 300 ohms).