Installation Record

One way to experience the drama emanating from the installation of this ignition system is to follow the "Progress Reports" to the developer, as they were being produced. All are included verbatim, for your reading pleasure:

09.04.99    "All components fit well. The instructions are useful; I am following them step by step. I am photo-documenting every major step along the way.

I have found a perfect mounting location for the control module (CM) - piggy back on the rear face of the horn. The CM fits precisely into the space left between the frame and the horn. Air flow should be excellent since the horn is exposed to the headwind and has a wide air gap all around. An air gap is left even with the CM mounted (Velcro) to the rear face of the horn. If additional air flow is desired, longer horn mounting bolts can be used, along with spacers, to position the horn a bit more away from the frame.

The stock look is completely unaltered as is and would hardly be affected even if 1/4" spacers are placed between the horn and the frame. The way everything fits together now - if you can find a heatsink with taller fins - at least 1/4" in height taller than present can be fitted without any clearance problems. With this placement R&R of the CM becomes an easy task of removing the two horn bolts. The entire harness will reside underneath the tank in the coil area. Finally, one of the horn bolts provides good and local ground for clean wiring.

I ran out of shrink tubing so I had to stop for the night; will resume tomorrow. Meanwhile I am debating whether to connect the power lead (red) to the black wire feeding the coils - this would mean around the "+" terminal on one of the coils, or whether to route the red wire into the headlight bucket and find a switched 12V there. I am leaning toward the latter. What would you recommend?"

09.05.99    "I have completed the installation. Had to use generic red bolt lock
compound to secure the rotor to the shaft. Hope it proves sufficient. I used tile nippers with straight jaws - perfect crimp tool for the lock clamp. I used the bolt lock adhesive on the inner surface of the rotor clamp, just in case. I ran out of time to actually start the bike up, but that will be tomorrow's business.

I found switched 12V in the H/L bucket. It even came with an empty bullet socket so I was able to make a factory like connection. I am toying with the idea of installing the ignition kill switch into the H/L, somewhere in line with the original H/L switch. This could provide a factory look, or close to it. For now, the connection is hard wired so I'll have to be careful not to leave the ignition on when the motor is not running.

Questions:

a) I did not remove nor unwire the condenser. Is this OK? [Note: The answer is - Disconnect The Condenser!]
b) Can the blue and yellow leads be connected directly to the negative terminal on the coils? (For now, I've left the original harness intact and have connected the yellow and blue to their respective counterparts of the old harness). [Note: The answer is - Yes]

Hope to write to you with a bike performance evaluation tomorrow evening."

09.05.99    "After doing several other preventive maintenance tasks on the wiring
harness and cables exposed by the removal of the gas tank, I reassembled
everything. I still have the condenser connected since I did not receive your last email before I left for the day.

I checked for spark by manually kicking the motor over with the spark plugs (out of the head) attached to the SP wires. Nice clean spark on the right; somewhat weaker on the left. The spark plugs are clean and have about 500 miles on them. I suspect that one of the coils is going bad. The one on the left was swapped over from the right in mid May of this year; the repair log has a complete discussion of this.

In any event, the bike started up within several kicks on the pedal. It immediately began to do something I've never before seen it do - idle at about 500 RPM without dying. I noticed that the idle is cleaner and smoother.

After warming up, I checked the timing at around 1000 RPM and was very happy to discover that the left and right cylinders are perfectly synchronized (I know it is by design, but it still felt great to finally see this on my running bike)! I adjusted the timing to about 1 or 2 degrees advanced of the "T" mark.

Took the bike out for a spin and discovered that at very low RPM, the bike appears to have a flat spot. This might be due to some power being sapped by the condenser. The flat spot is evident only when off a complete standstill at very low speed. High RPM timing test affirms that the setting is not over advanced.

Now for the really good news: The engine has certainly woken up. It feels about 15% livelier. I like the improved throttle response in all driving ranges. The clean ignition is evident throughout the motor's operation. A nice and significant improvement is in the torque. I can go deeper on a given gear and pull further in it. In other words, I can stay in gear through more of the speed range without lugging the motor or making it over-rev. This significantly expands the range of riding possibilities with improved speed to torque to RPM to sound range. Experienced riders of these machines will love it!

Now that I know better, I will disconnect the condenser. After my trip to Canada, I will rewire the harness to remove the old yellow/blue and connect the CM directly to the coils. I suspect that some of the low end flat spot will go away when the condenser is off."

09.09.99    "I have gone back and rewired things a bit. In essence I have
disconnected the condenser harness altogether and connected the yellow and blue leads from CM directly to the coils (using the original bullet connectors). The difference is dramatic. The low RPM flat spot/hesitation is gone and the bike feels even more robust than before.

I took the bike out for an almost all out nighttime sprint. It felt fantastic; 40 blissful miles. Quite frankly, this is not a bike that feels like it needs better coils (although I am sure they will add some pep). I noticed another positive improvement - reduced buzzyness at high speeds. I attribute this to a reduction in vibration formerly attributable to the timing variance between the two cylinders.

All in all I am very satisfied with your product. I am sure the long trip will reaffirm all positive impressions."

09.13.99    "I've been out most of the weekend. Had a chance to put just
under 200 miles on the CP77. Covered back roads and a one hour highway run. The bike ran fantastic with lots of power. Rode two up, up to 70 MPH, ignition performed extremely well."

In the course of this installation I have taken many photographs. A picture is worth a thousand words, as the proverb goes. The "Installation Photos" link is just below.

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