Coil Upgrade

[Guest]

This is my first GS1100G. I've had Honda CB900's before. A weak point on the CB's are their coils. Most CB owners make an easy and inexpensive coil upgrade by replacing the stock coils with those from the early 90 CBR coils. This provides an instant ignition upgrade. I was wondering if there is such a coil upgrade on the GS1100?

[Steve]

While it might work, most of us have never tried it.

Our usual upgrade is to Dyna coils, usually the green ones.

But, if your coils are still working, why bother?
We usually only change when the original ones fail.

.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

For your reference:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDetails.aspx?itemDescription=Dyna+Dual+Output+3.0+Ohm+Coils+%28pair%29+DC1-1&item=DYDC1-1

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Steel Toed Tank]

The best upgrade you can make is to make sure the maximum amount of voltage is getting from the battery to the coils.
Voltage loss on an old bike can be a killer.

One method is to instal a relay to the coils, but this really isn't necessary if you have all your contact points clean and corrosion free.

[Macmatic]

This is my first GS1100G. I've had Honda CB900's before. A weak point on the CB's are their coils. Most CB owners make an easy and inexpensive coil upgrade by replacing the stock coils with those from the early 90 CBR coils. This provides an instant ignition upgrade. I was wondering if there is such a coil upgrade on the GS1100?

I have coils off a late '90s Katana on my '83 GS750EF and they work great. I'd already done the "coil mod" which I'd recommend but the newer coils also seems to make it a little more lively. This was at least four years ago so the details are sketchy now but I was very happy with both mods, the coil mod and new(er) coils.

That said, Dyna coils are a sure bet AFAIK.

/\/\ac

[redstedman]

Yes, of course it has been done. I put bandit coils on my ES & they work great. You can buy Bandit coils for half the price of dyna or accel . Just like you did on your honda. Plug & play w/ the exception of fabbing a little dif mount. But I do have a few sets of dyna coils & accel coils I'll sell you.

BTW, all the coils back then sucked & after they get 30 yrs old they crack & fail.
+1 on the coil mod

[retcol]

PM sent to redstedman about coils

[dorkburger]

Quick note on coils. i thought i had a bad one last year. One plug was unexplainably black. i checked primary and secondary resistance thru the coils. The secondary tested bad as measured from plug cap to plug cap. After further prodding, i discovered that i had a bad plug cap. the rubber seals at the plug shrunk over the years allowing in moisture. The caps are able to be taken apart (carefully, as there are small parts inside) They all had corrosion. They were were cleaned, but 1 still measured very high resistance as compared to the others. A new cap later and my plug was back to normal without buying a coil. This leads to another topic.. Things not mentioned in the manual. It states that if resistance is out of spec, to replace the coils....no mention of plug caps or wires.

[koolaid_kid]

That is why we are here.

[retcol]

Excellent post. I have chased ignition problems and bought unnecessary parts only to find it was a bad cap. It happens. Old wires and caps deterioate over time on the inside but can look good on the outside.

[redstedman]

Hi Retcol, did you get my pm?