Replacing Coils. Help needed!

[Guest]

I've recently bought a very sorry 1982 GS550, my first project bike. I'm a beginner and bought it to learn. The ht leads from the coils are very perished and one has even detached itself so I assume replacement coils are needed. My question is is, does model year matter. There are some new replacement ones on Ebay for a 1984 engine. I assume they'll be fine on mine? Sorry to ask what must be a very obvious question, but I think it may be the first of many! Thanks, Pete

[greg78gs750]

the ht leads can, in fact, be replaced, if money is an issue. A few threads here on the subject if you poke around. When I did it on my 75 i kinda scraped away some of the epoxy or whatever helps hold them in, then pulled until the wire came out. A few left some remnants down in the hole, I used a drill bit to extract most of it (be careful, there is a metal spike down in the hole that you don't want to damage). A dental pick or similar pokey implement fished out the remainder. Then just push/wiggle new wires in, be sure to get them far enough in to engage the spike. I think I used some rtv or something to glue them in there. Easy peasy. Of course, you can get new coils, buuut...the they don't fail that often, so depending on budget new wires might be a good option.

[Grimly]

Should be a straight swap assuming there's nothing changed in the coil mounting hole position between the years / models.
Electrically, the 82 550 is electronic ignition as far as I know, the 84 certainly was.

[potlid]

That's exactly the type of advice I was after - I'll have go this week. Many thanks!

[potlid]

That's great. Many thanks for the advice.

[Steve]

If you have the chance, check the primary resistance. Specs call for 3-5 ohms.

I can speak from experience that the very lovely yellow Accel coils that came on my wife's bike had the wrong resistance and kept blowing the ignitor(s).

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