... condensers ...

[Eli69]

Why not just go stock and be done with it - no guess work and you get what works the first time.

It would be nice to be able to pick up parts at a local store if they had something that worked. I think that's the idea. No waiting for shipping. I'm certainly curious.

[storm 64]

This reminds me of the time I walked in Auto Zone. The guy asked if he could help me. I told him I needed headlight bulbs for a Yamaha FJR. He told me we don't have anything like that... Haha, while checking out I told the guy I bet you even have the oil filter and spark plugs for my motorcycle! 😉

[RandyRex]

Why not just go stock and be done with it - no guess work and you get what works the first time.

I'm finding it hard to track down parts for mine. I keep seeing "we don't have that type" just took 2+ weeks and 2 vendors, complete with returns and refunds from E-bay, just to get some points ... Now, if I can toodle my little happy ass into AutoZone and avoid any more wasted time, I'd prefer that. In this case, what works is between 0.16 - 0.20 uF. Besides, condensers for mine, from an online store, cost $15 a pop. Auto ones can be as low as $5. And, if possible, are just around the corner?

[RandyRex]

That's exactly it. The web makes you wait 1-2 weeks to even open a package to ensure correctness. I'm getting older and winter is coming ...

It would be nice to be able to pick up parts at a local store if they had something that worked. I think that's the idea. No waiting for shipping. I'm certainly curious.

https://www.autozone.com/ignition-tu.../129429_0_1029 .. eyeballing these, at the moment, external config will work, haven't yet isolated the uF info, will have to wait until tonight, work calls ...

[RandyRex]

This reminds me of the time I walked in Auto Zone. The guy asked if he could help me. I told him I needed headlight bulbs for a Yamaha FJR. He told me we don't have anything like that... Haha, while checking out I told the guy I bet you even have the oil filter and spark plugs for my motorcycle! 

yeah, exactly like that. I'll bet there are many things that will interchange just fine. I bought my plugs there, a month ago. I can see an endless list of possibilities: O-rings, filters, lights, all kinds of generic chances, etc. And after discovering that the condensers aren't very complicated affairs ...

[Nessism]

Now, if I can toodle my little happy ass into AutoZone and avoid any more wasted time, I'd prefer that. In this case, what works is between 0.16 - 0.20 uF. Besides, condensers for mine, from an online store, cost $15 a pop. Auto ones can be as low as $5. And, if possible, are just around the corner?

If you come up with something appropriate you will be doing the GSR brethren a service. Hopefully someone at AutoZone will cooperate and dig through stock and pull out a selection of condensers for you to choose from. A google search showed that a Bosch VW cap is about .22uF, and a Blue Streak DR60 is in a similar range. I'm sure what you want is available, but finding the right size and capacitance is going to be the fun part.

[RandyRex]

If you come up with something appropriate you will be doing the GSR brethren a service. Hopefully someone at AutoZone will cooperate and dig through stock and pull out a selection of condensers for you to choose from. A google search showed that a Bosch VW cap is about .22uF, and a Blue Streak DR60 is in a similar range. I'm sure what you want is available, but finding the right size and capacitance is going to be the fun part.

Agreed, on all counts. I'd love to find a useful hack and share it, rest assured I will. I found a couple yesterday, but they were literally twice the physical size, so it seems VWs might be the golden goose . One discovery I already made is that one can bridge the twin caps, if one fails, I've been running mine for a week, like that, and she hasn't acted up once. In fact, I had to bodge my timing yesterday, and (must've lucked into a sweet spot) and even with the bridged capacitors, I was impressed with how nicely it was running, had to keep backing down from 80+mph (and, it's the onset of Labor Day weekend) but as I discover the right condenser, I'll share it. Thanks for the tip about VW & Bosch. I think the small 4s will be the ones, I even started wondering if riding lawnmowers would have the right size and uF thingies ... I'll post.

[RandyRex]

I think it's time to consider calling my bike "Phileas Fogg". I'm sure some of you will get that ... lol

[RandyRex]

OK guys n dolls, I took the cowards way out ... ordered them from z1. All the car ones I saw were oversized, so I just got lazy and did it fast. Sorry.

[Steve]

Hate to say it, but it's been 13 days since you started this thread.

If you had ordered OEM points at that time, you would have them in-hand now.

Yeah, I get the idea of not spending any more than necessary, but if $20 (for two sets of points) is going to break the bank, you have gotten into the wrong hobby, or at least the wrong corner of it (vintage bikes).

.

[RandyRex]

Hate to say it, but it's been 13 days since you started this thread.

If you had ordered OEM points at that time, you would have them in-hand now.

Yeah, I get the idea of not spending any more than necessary, but if $20 (for two sets of points) is going to break the bank, you have gotten into the wrong hobby, or at least the wrong corner of it (vintage bikes).

.

It wasn't the $20, it was more about the ease of finding parts, sans delay ... However, I feel honor-bound to point out how much difficulty I had finding the right points. I'm no pauper, and have already sunk over $2K into this bike, with little to show for it, except bills and dyno printouts and 2 aborted long-distance trips, which (as a former truck driver) irked me. Now, I'm no longer driving and have decided to resume my role as master of my own vehicles, and if I can avoid internet nightmares by using a very generic part, why not? Incidentally, I already have the condensers in hand. Versatility is no indicator of poverty, sir. Additionally, vintage bikes are all I ride, this is the first prima-donna.

[bwringer]

This reminds me of the time I walked in Auto Zone. The guy asked if he could help me. I told him I needed headlight bulbs for a Yamaha FJR. He told me we don't have anything like that... Haha, while checking out I told the guy I bet you even have the oil filter and spark plugs for my motorcycle! ��

Sort of off the topic, but I have battled several "we ain't got no moder sickle parts!" morons.

One dipstick in a remote Napa in the wilds of Kentucky absolutely refused under any circumstances to sell me a 9003/H4 headlight bulb because "we don't got no moder sickle partz". I even tried to shift gears and tell him I needed a bulb for the 1997 Toyota RAV4 I just remembered, but he was too wily for my clever subterfuge.

He just KNEW I'd go out and stick that car bulb in my mooder sickle and... well, I don't know what he thought would happen. Mushroom cloud? Burn to the ground? Open a ravenous, blood-slick interdimensional portal? An earth-shattering kaboom? Cats and dogs sleeping together?

It's a mystery.

Same thing has happened any number of times when attempting to purchase spark plugs, oil filters, oil, and even gas. Once when I turned on a gas pump to put some 87 octane into my GS850 (as it is written in the manual, so shall it ever be done), the attendant came running over and slapped the shutoff. "Mah Daddy tolt me moder sickles'll blow UP less'n they use HIGH OCTANE!" It took a bit to convince him to turn it back on, and I had to promise to "take it easy" so I would at least get out of sight before I blew up.

[salty_monk]

You needed Greg next to you to run distraction on them thar hillbillies...

[850 Combat]

Its been close to a decade, but I got a free "blown up" '79 GS850. It turned out that it had a bad condenser and was way overfilled with oil. I ended up buying OEM condensers and points from Bike Bandit (back when they had OEM Suzuki parts). It was close to $100 for the OEM points and condensers. I didn't know there were alternatives. $100 was a long way toward a Dyna Electronic ignition. I found out later that there were aftermarket points available for about 30% of the cost of the OEM points.

They way I understand it, from Gordon Jennings book "Two Stroke Tuning", when the points are closed, the 12 volt power is in the low voltage side of the coil. When they open, the high voltage side electricity escapes to arc the plugs. This excites the low voltage side of the coil, sending power back, which will arc at the points causing the high tension to the spark plug to cease. The condenser is there to absorb this unwanted electricity to keep it from arcing at the the points. The way he wrote it, it was simple to have a basic understanding of it. There are electrical and electronic experts on this list. I'm not one of them.

[748cc]

I'd like to add that of all the auto parts chains I have access to, only Auto Zone carried the NGK plugs I needed as well as thee VHT silver paint that best matches Suzuki's original motor color... and that's the store chain I avoid for car parts!! Go figure :/