From points to electronic ignition coils question

[Super]

So my boys and I are working on a project 78 GS550E bike this winter. It was in pretty rough shape but we've got it running pretty good now. Not the best to look at though. We are thinking of switching from points to an electronic ignition setup. We plan on getting one from Dynatek.

From what I've gathered from postings here, a points system uses 5ohm coils and an electronic system uses 3 ohm coils. My question is...can I upgrade to an electric ignition setup and instead of having to buy brand new 3 ohm coils, can we just swap in a pair of coils from, say, an 82 GS750 parts bike I have laying around here at the house?

We're not looking to completely restore this bike and have lots of stuff to do to it. We were hoping to make this upgrade without having to spend another $130 for the coils after spending $133 for the electronic ignition.

Thanks

[OldVet66]

You can but the bike will run a lot better with the Dyna green coils and Dyna wires. The benefit from that investment is just about better than anything else you can do. A set of the coils are $130.00 and $17.00 for the wires at Z1.

[Super]

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if going to an electronic ignition and using those coils from the 82 GS750 would be better than the stock points and coils I have on there now.

If I was to go the full dyna set up...$133 for ignition, $130 coils and $17 for wires I'm looking at $280 plus shipping. That puts a big dent in the total budget. I was hoping to better the bike's running by just adding the newer ignition and swapping some 3 ohm coils I already have and save the $147 for other things.

[trippivot]

You'll be fine as long as there is 12 volts going to the stock coils. ( do the relay mod )

The only difference is the green coils will allow you to rev your engine above 8K rpms better --

this is the skinny = less resistance = less saturation time = higher RPM's ..

just for an example 5 ohm coils cannot re-spark as quickly as 3 ohm coils. and some of us run blue 0.7 coils to rev to 13K rpm's

are you going to run your bike at 10K rpm's? if not then don't worry about a thing , what you have will work perfectly.

[Super]

Thanks trippivot...that was the answer I was hoping for. And especially for the explanation between 5ohm coils and 3ohm coils. I don't have any plans to be hitting 10K rpm's any time soon but wanted to upgrade a bit and thought this would be worth doing if I could keep the cost down. Thanks again!

[salty_monk]

I have used stock 5ohm's with the Dyna for a few thousand miles now, no issues. You can also swap stock 3ohm coils in, that'll work too.

I had Green coils on my old bike as one stocker got a wire stuck in it... no difference either way (green or stock) that I could tell.

[Super]

Thanks salty monk. I wonder if anyone can tell me if going to the electronic ignition and swapping in the 3ohm coils will be better, performance wise, than the stock points and 5ohm coil OEM that's in there now? When I say performance, I don't mean a great improvement, but a noticable difference maybe?

[salty_monk]

The electronic ignition can make for easier starting (Note I said "can" as points in good shape will do the same) & never need any adjustment (so you can have a more consistent "bigger spark" although GS points don't tend to go out of adjustment very quickly...).

On our bikes that's about it... if it's a race bike then there might be other benefits at very high revs

[Super]

Okay...thanks again salty monk. Appreciate your help.