Electronic ignition... how to match oem to aftermarket...?

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I am in the hunt for a new electronic ignition. However my knowledge of this system is almost nothing. First of all I have been having a difficult time matching an OEM with an aftermarket item. Second, I have a black box on the side of my bike (CDI?) but some of the aftermarket parts I have seen didn't seem to include this. So is an electronic ignition just one part or several items I have to order seperatley?

Thank you,
intercessor

[Flatline_Racing]

It is an electronic ignition, but not CDI. If you want to replace your ignition I would look at the Dyna S. It is an easy install, you stock coils will be compatible.

[Don Lobacz]

You don't match an aftermarket ignition on these old bikes, you replace the whole thing (box and pickup plate). The Dyna S has the "box" on the pickup plate, so it is a very clean installation. You bypass the old wiring harness connections too. It will come with complete instructions.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to mention I have a 1985 Gs300L twin. Would the Dyna S work is this situation? Looked like most of them were for 4 cylinders...

[earlfor]

Yes it would. There may be a Dyna S made specifically for your bike, I havent checked. Being an 85 model, I suspect you bike does not have a mechanical advance. The Dyna S requires one. The mechanical advance is an easy retrofit from any GS model that used one. That should be any year up to and including 1980. As far as I know, the base plates were all the same diameter for the various models, so you will have no problem there if a Dyna is not specifically made for your bike. The only problem may be (if you have to adapt a Dyna made for another model) that the rotor height is too high to allow fitting of the ignition/case cover. In that event, covers on the 80-83 models were aprox 3/8" deeper than other years. (at least that is what I found when I did the same "creative" conversion) Not all covers though have the same spacing on the 3 mount bolt holes. I found 80-83 hole spacing is the same as the 85 year spacing. Others may work. If a cover is needed and cannot be found, a spacer can be made from HDPP (high density polypropolene) easily enough and longer screws purchased. On a four cylinder engine, the left crank trigger triggers the left coil which fires cylinders 1 and 4, and the right crank trigger triggers the right coil which fires cylinders 2 and 3. On your bike the left trigger is going to trigger the left coil to fire cyl 1 and the right crank trigger will trigger the right coil to fire cyl 2. There is no difference in how the system works between 2 and 4 cylinder engines.

A Dyna S is a stand alone system. You will need to remove all components of your stock electronic ignition and make new installation connections for the Dyna.

Earl

I forgot to mention I have a 1985 Gs300L twin. Would the Dyna S work is this situation? Looked like most of them were for 4 cylinders...

[Don Lobacz]

Why are you looking for a new ignition? Are you getting no spark?

[Anonymous]

My bike likes to fire on one cyclinder at low rpm's. Once the bike gets to a certain rpm range (I have no tach) determined via speed the other cylinder kicks in. This usually happens although sometimes the bike runs fine. I have had the bike looked at, carbs cleaned, technician claimed that "left cyclinder is loosing spark voltage" when this happens. He also said that the ignition signal coil resistance was good and that he swapped the sig. gen. leads to the main coils and the spark plug wires and that the mis-fire followed the sig. gen leads which would rule out bad ignition coils... I don't know what to think.
Good ignition coils, sig. gen coils with good resistance, clean carb. on a bike that starts good.... aghhhh HELPpppppppp :?

[earlfor]

It sounds like your ignitor box is getting ready to become history. Instead of waiting for the day you will be stranded alongside the road, I would go ahead an get the Dyna.

Earl

My bike likes to fire on one cyclinder at low rpm's. Once the bike gets to a certain rpm range (I have no tach) determined via speed the other cylinder kicks in. This usually happens although sometimes the bike runs fine. I have had the bike looked at, carbs cleaned, technician claimed that "left cyclinder is loosing spark voltage" when this happens. He also said that the ignition signal coil resistance was good and that he swapped the sig. gen. leads to the main coils and the spark plug wires and that the mis-fire followed the sig. gen leads which would rule out bad ignition coils... I don't know what to think.
Good ignition coils, sig. gen coils with good resistance, clean carb. on a bike that starts good.... aghhhh HELPpppppppp :?

[Anonymous]

Curious, people have said that this bike needs an electronic ignition for CDI and without CDI... Is an "Ignitor Box" a CDI unit? This bike does have a black box next to the rectifier. Do the aftermarket elec. ignitions not require this box? Perhaps there is an article that describes how all of this works with a retro-fit?

Please pardon my ignorance,
intercessor

[earlfor]

First, none of the GS line was manufactured with CDI (capacitive discharge Ignition) sysrems. These types of ignitions are commonly used on two stroke magneto type systems. All GS models were manufactured with electronic ignitions.

You need a non CDI electronic ignition system.

Electronic components have become much smaller in the past 20 years.
The original (now 20 year old) ignition system consisted of a crankshaft trigger and ignitor box/discharge circuit. The new Dyna consists of the same things. The difference is both parts are now contained in the tiny housings on the baseplate on the crankshaft, They are both trigger and ignitor. The components are about 1/100 the size they were 20 years ago.
You cannot use the 20 year old ignitor box with any replacement electronic ignition system.

Earl

Curious, people have said that this bike needs an electronic ignition for CDI and without CDI... Is an "Ignitor Box" a CDI unit? This bike does have a black box next to the rectifier. Do the aftermarket elec. ignitions not require this box? Perhaps there is an article that describes how all of this works with a retro-fit?

Please pardon my ignorance,
intercessor

[Anonymous]

Are there any products that don't require a "mechanical advance"? Honestly I have no idea what that would entail. Also, I read some article that briefly stated that Dynatech S was not a "set it and forget it" type system?

Thank you again for your help,
intercessor

[Anonymous]

In my case the Dyna-S has been a "set it and forget it" system. I had an Ignitor blow out a coupel of months ago. Rather than trying to find one on ebay I replaced the system with a Dyna-S. It took me a good long evening to install. I timed the ignition staticaly as per the manual and so far about 300 miles of riding later the system is still working great. I should dynamically time the system at some point but I havent bothered with it yet.

[Anonymous]

Did you have to add a mechanical advance to your bike? was it a pain in the keester.?

[earlfor]

Once you have the old points plate out and are ready to install the Dyna plate, adding a mechanical advance literally takes 3 seconds. It is impossible to install it incorrectly.

Earl

Did you have to add a mechanical advance to your bike? was it a pain in the keester.?

[Anonymous]

Doesn't sound to bad. Except that I would have to find a mechanical advance now...Maybe a purley electronic system would be better. I have been trying to get ahold of Dynatech but they never answer the phone. Lets see how well e-mail works.

Thanks for your help again,
intercessor