Post by richard on May 22, 2012 22:36:16 GMT -5
I have a little more than 2000 miles on my 71 XS650 since the rebuild, so I decided to do a little maintenance to it that I’ve been putting off. I put in new clutch friction disks because they were under the wear limit, set the valves, changed the oil, cleaned the oil filter screens, and installed some finned covers I made for the head to help with cooling. The points were starting to pit on one side, so I decided to put on one of Pamco Petes electronic ignitions too. I bought the ignition about six months ago, but at the time I had just installed new mechanical points so I figured I would try Pete’s ignition the next time my points needed changing.
Well the time had come. I made a 4 inch long L-bracket out of sheet metal and drilled 4 holes in to match the holes in the frame and the new coil that came with the kit. The next day, I removed my old coils and installed the new trigger, the dual fire coil and a new set of plugs. I saved my old ignition, wrapped it up and put it in a box. Then I soldered barrel connecters on the wires from of the new ignition and used heat shrink to cover the soldered joints. I covered the wiring with some silicone heat shielding I bought from Summit Racing a while back and zip tied it in place. In the back of my mind I didn’t want to be the guy jiggling wires to make his bike run, so I did it right and checked the resistance of everything as I went. Total time for the whole installation was about 4 ½ hours not including making the bracket the day before. I’m a picky guy, so I took my time.
Once it was installed, it took me three adjustments to set the timing dead on. Then I checked the advance mark at 3200 rpm which looked good. Afterwards, I rode it up and down the block and let it idle in the garage while I looked everything over. At that I was out of time for that day.
The next morning I fired up the bike and rode it at speed, then came back and rode it around town. All I can say is, boy what a difference! I thought it ran well before and I thought I had both points firing dead on, but this electronic ignition makes like a world of difference. In fact the bike seems to run smoother with less vibration. Before once in a great while, one of the points would skip or miss at idle so I set the idle at 1200 once it was warmed up to prevent it from killing the engine. Now it idles clean hot or cold and I haven’t heard it miss since at any speed. I like the stock look, but in this case I’ll make an exception. The inexpensive kit Pete makes is well worth it in my opinion.
Well the time had come. I made a 4 inch long L-bracket out of sheet metal and drilled 4 holes in to match the holes in the frame and the new coil that came with the kit. The next day, I removed my old coils and installed the new trigger, the dual fire coil and a new set of plugs. I saved my old ignition, wrapped it up and put it in a box. Then I soldered barrel connecters on the wires from of the new ignition and used heat shrink to cover the soldered joints. I covered the wiring with some silicone heat shielding I bought from Summit Racing a while back and zip tied it in place. In the back of my mind I didn’t want to be the guy jiggling wires to make his bike run, so I did it right and checked the resistance of everything as I went. Total time for the whole installation was about 4 ½ hours not including making the bracket the day before. I’m a picky guy, so I took my time.
Once it was installed, it took me three adjustments to set the timing dead on. Then I checked the advance mark at 3200 rpm which looked good. Afterwards, I rode it up and down the block and let it idle in the garage while I looked everything over. At that I was out of time for that day.
The next morning I fired up the bike and rode it at speed, then came back and rode it around town. All I can say is, boy what a difference! I thought it ran well before and I thought I had both points firing dead on, but this electronic ignition makes like a world of difference. In fact the bike seems to run smoother with less vibration. Before once in a great while, one of the points would skip or miss at idle so I set the idle at 1200 once it was warmed up to prevent it from killing the engine. Now it idles clean hot or cold and I haven’t heard it miss since at any speed. I like the stock look, but in this case I’ll make an exception. The inexpensive kit Pete makes is well worth it in my opinion.