Sheep

Hi mate,yes i have checked the battery on a couple of occasions and each time they showed around 14.5v when running,12.7 at rest.....I have ordered another ignitor unit from Grumpy so i am hoping it solves the issue..... I wouldn't mind dumping the whole lot and fitting something better lol....

If I had hair I would be pulling it out by now.......... Ok,update.....sorry.....tonight I fitted my new pilot jets to my carbs before refitting them.I have received some spare coils for diagnosis from Katamangler,..THANK YOU SIR,..but i wanted to put the carbs back to standard settings now before checking my ignition problems just to rule those out and to save taking the carbs off later. Anyway,....i quickly swapped the Dyna coils over again and found the suspect coil from 1&4 worked fine on 2&3 so i know the problem is on the 1&4 side.I fitted the spare coils but i still had the same issue...2&3 fired fine,1&4 did not....they all sparked out of the head whether it be Dyna or Suzuki.The middle downpipes were fookin hot,the outer two were mildly warm....FFS, I assumed it must be the power feed to that coil feeding 1&4.I traced the wires and found no breaks.The multi-meter showed very little resistance.The pick ups have been changed earlier this year and even my spare set worked fine.The only thing i have not changed is the amplifier/ignitor unit.I tried doing the test as shown in the Haynes manual were it states putting the meter probes on particular wires in the ignitor unit (pick ups unplugged) with the spark plugs for 3 and 4 in their leads and rested on a suitable earth on the motor,ignition on.Touching one terminal will make one plug spark and when you remove the probe the other plug should spark too..i could not get this to work.The only way they would spark is when i pushed the connector block for the pick ups back onto the ignitor unit.It wasn't always sparking though.It didn't seem to matter if i wiggled the block or not. Oh and one more thing...the coil for 2/3 is the only coil that 'energises' when the ignition is turned on....you can tell this by loosening the mounting bolts to that coils and watching it 'jump' as you flick the ignition switch on and off...The other coil has never done this..... Do you think my ignitor unit is playing up???...Its the only thing i haven't changed!!!... By the way,my rotor on the crank would not cause any issues would it?

Hi Johnr...Thanks for the reply.i have mounted the coils under the frame rail on small bobbins welded to the rail.The original mounting when i bought the bike was a shoddy affair under the tank. Although the tank is snug to the coils the ht leads miss the head.I have looked for tracking from the coils.The only time it has is when i have removed the leads from the coil and then it jumps to the mounting bolt.

You mean recommended voltage??....Im not sure what the book says but most of my bikes have shown on average 14.7v at idle...That's not to say every bike is the same mind you. Someone better educated than me will probably give you more insight...What bike is it (Katana perhaps lol)

Yes,RS 36's....it came with 40's but i swapped them for the correct ones (surprisingly the last owner used it like this).I assumed they had the correct jets in.I knew the mains were wrong,i should have checked the pilots before i fitted them. Until i try the other coils i am not going to blame anything else lol.

Cheers mate...i will have a gander at that. Luckily Katanamangler the Great has offered to lend me a spare set of coils to eliminate/highlight any issue i may have with them. However,tonight i have made a discovery....I have,over the last few days,cleaned contacts,soldered wires,test continuity,copperslipped mounting bolts etc etc and while daydreaming at work i thought i would take the carbs off to give them a once over.My thought process led me to this because i know that too much fuel could wash a spark away and no matter how many times you clean the plug it would never fire.My plugs have been getting wet on 1&4 but before i whipped the carbs off i checked #1 plug for a spark and i got a good blue regular spark.Seems i am getting somewhere...But i still won't rule the coils at just yet...i will see what happens with the test coils. Looking at the carbs,they were synched well,they had no contamination and everything was tight.I did have 132 mains in so i the put recommended 130's in there.The floats were spot on 17mm too. What i did find,just before putting the bowls back on,was that the pilot jets are all 20's and not the proper 17.5's !!!!...No wonder the thing has been running rich..and i do not have enough thread to wind in the mixture screw to make up for this...So,while waiting for the coils i am going to order some correct jets.. This is turning out to be a right bollock ache.

Really.....two of my 'test' plugs are the old ones which came with the bike.They still fire well.The second lot were Eblag,the third from a local shop but knowing his stock rotation they could be years old. My workmate once bought a set of 8 for his V8..he said not one of them worked properly!!!!!..NGK's too.

Ok...i welded on bosses to mount the coils to the frame.Maybe there isn't a good earth between the engine and frame and battery and frame too ???

Ahhh bollocks.......it was good while it lasted. It seems a defo problem with coil 1/4 because today i tried another ht lead and plug which i know to be good and it didn't spark at first.I did get it to spark out of the head and onto the casing but there was no pattern to it...Coil 2/3 keeps on going like a duracell battery....Just out of curiosity what sort of earths do Efe's normally have as standard.The reason i ask is i only have the black and white return from the loom to the battery and a cable from the engine to the battery.Should there be any more from factory even though i may fit extras anyway.

Have you tried silicone grease/spray....its great for rubbery things

That's the trouble when you try a host of things....if you do fix the issue you wont be sure exactly which one did the trick....i may be happy if it is fixed,or at least better,but i would still like to know how for future issues if any. I did check for voltage from the battery too and i got a good 12.7 at rest with a 14.7 when running...i only checked it because i thought it was 'bubbling' inside quite a lot.!!

Ok so tonight i went into the shed and did the following.. I checked the wiring from the pick ups with a meter and visually..all ok.I did move the pick ups a tiny amount their mounting holes would let me towards the rotor,not sure if it will make any difference.I cleaned the connector blocks and soldered all the terminals too. I then removed the Superseal connectors to the coils and hard wired them back to the loom. I removed the coils and cleaned inside the ht holes.Coil 1/4 was noticeably less shiny than the other one.I also re-crimped and shaped the brass crimps on the leads so they would go all the way into the coil which i don't think they did before. I then started the bike and it immediately ran on 2/3/4....with some irregular popping from the exhaust and an occasional orange flame when revved up.I checked #1 and the plug was wet...i tried another plug,it too became wet,no spark perhaps.I pulled it out,earthed it and it did spark...not a fat blue one but it was definitely continuous whereas it used to be intermittent.I picked up a known dry plug which came with the bike when i bought it and tried that.Now we have all four firing...no pops or flames....this is where i left it as i was getting gassed in th shed lol So,perhaps it is sorted...i am not jumping the gun until i try it tomorrow at a more sociably time of day...i will keep you posted

Cheers Dezza....i did check the clearances before i put her on the road.The motor has a few miles on her,maybe a few that haven't been logged too but i am planning to go bigger bore next winter,funds allowing.... Last night i soldered the connectors going into the CDI from the pick up.I would go out today but ive done a long day at work so maybe i will check the pick up wires and re-do the coil feed wires tommorow.... Loving the avatar nightrider

Just had a thought....when i tidied up the loom and removed various unwanted wires i fitted many 'Superseal' connectors at various location to give it a better look and to aid future maintenance.Both coils have their own respective connectors so i can remove the coils for whatever reason simply and quickly but would these be a cause for concern??? I am thinking maybe i should solder them directly to the loom as they once were..maybe i am clutching at straws (or wires)..

Cheers guys,i will give the loom a going over.If i remember rightly the connector you mention Blubber/Dezza used to be a little green until i gave it a little clean up..maybe it needs looking at again.It can't hurt.... Do those readings i took seem ok then?

Just popped into the shed to do a check with the multimeter before leaving for the day..I am not totally clued up on electrical test equipment but this is what i did... Meter set on 200 ohm setting Left coil,disconnected from loom and between low side,ignition off,i got a reading of 03.3 ohms Right coil,disconnected from loom and between low side,ignition off,i got a reading of 03.3 ohms Meter set on 20k ohms Left coil,between plug caps 1 & 4,ignition off,i got a reading of 18.4 Right coil,between plug caps 2 & 3,ignition off,i got a reading of 14.9 (With the meter set at anything less than 20k i couldn't get a reading)

Cheers Katanamangler,i may take you up on that....i will try to do a coil switcheroo today if i get time.....i will get the multimeter out too and check for resistance...i hate electrics lol

I have no spare coils to try ( unless i rob them off my other bike lol) but may get some anyway.....As for swapping them over,i tried that earlier on in the build (suspect carbs,cdi,pick-up yadda yadda) and it didn't make a lot of difference then but i will try it again to rule it out... Btw,i have replaced the pick ups with known good ones,new Taylor leads,god knows how many plugs lol....i understand cdi's work or they don't...the coils are the only thing i have not replaced. Just to give you some more info....it smokes (unburnt fuel?) when revved,pops from the exhaust every so often,very vibey frame/motor

Well,so much for getting bike of the month,the bloody thing is back in the shed lol... Anyhoo,since owning the bike and rebuilding it from a new frame up i have had this inconsistent problem with it misfiring on one or more cylinders...i have had it running well recently after doing 200 miles or so out and about playing with the carbs....i think i have got those pretty much close to good as far as a shed mechanic can get them but this bloody problem with it misfiring is doing my nut in.It has ran poorly on and off like this since i have rebuilt it but i thought all was ok now....The other day however i went to go out on it and when i started it on slight choke it struggled a little but it did start.I thought the choke had wetted spark plug #1 but i still went out.It was apparent it was running on 3 cylinders but it went pretty good for a triple.After a couple of miles it was apparent the plug wasn't going to play ball so i came home and parked it up.Last night i checked the carb synch again just in case..all good..Today i bought a new set of spark plugs and fitted them.They were DR8's however for ET's etc if i read it right but these were the type of plugs that have always been in this engine and not the quoted D9EA's.They never had any of these on their antiquated shelf. So,new plugs,new Taylor leads and Dyna coils,all should be good..nope.It ran on 2 cylinders one minute,1 the next.Nothing was consistent.I put plugs in that were old,nearly new and the new ones to see if anything changed...Could i have bought a set of duds???(The base of the ceramic was a little furry..its a local shop for local people)...Eventually i did get it running consistently on 2 and 3...aha...the coil i hear you shout..well,when i pulled off the leads to 1 and 4 they both jumped a long spark to the cam cover and when i returned them to the plugs the exhaust would give one little 'putt' but would not sound or run as i would have expected.At least it did not sound like a had giving the bike another cylinder to power it anyway!!!! I would be pissed if the coil/s were breaking down as they are one of the better bits i got with the bike when i bought it but since having the bike all the trick bits seem to be crap and i seem to be replacing them all with new bits one by one!!! Another thing,although the leads to 1 and 4 did jump a spark nothing happened to the engine note when i disconnected the wires feeding that coil I also noticed 1 and 4 carbs were not sucking as hard as the other two.I feared something bad but a compression check revealed 145psi across all four...at least that's good news.. Just to add...during the test i did blow a fuse..any thoughts...plugs which were not firing were getting wet with fuel,not soaked,just wet.Downpipes to 1 and 4 were getting almost too warm to touch,not cold,but the good cylinders were damn hot ;)....coils breaking or spark blowing out....hmmm Can anyone shed some light into why this EFE isn't playing ball?I would pull my hair out if i had any lol....

You can always get one of those ^^^^ with bsp take-offs for pressure/temp gauges too

Pop into the 'Vault' section and on page 3 you will see a chart on various fork/frame swaps...hope this helps

You do some nice fabrication there.

What effect would a closed throttle give,out of curiosity?

And i thought my shed looked 'busy' lol....

This sounds interesting seeing as the bigger/older frames and engines are getting scarcer.Could be a squeeze i would imagine.