1983 Z1300 A5 with Sidecar

Ok, as some of you may already know I have removed the ignitions coils and here are the test results. Keep in mind that when I removed them I noticed the ballast/resister was still connected.
_{Jeez just last week I didn't even know what the ballast/resistor looked like.}

	TOP COIL	LHS COIL	RHS COIL
Primary	2.9	1.8	2.8
Secondary	11.46	14.07	11.89

Interestingly the coils have different part numbers on them. Two have ZC006 and one has ZC005 (LHS), so the difference in resistance is probably due to that. Anyway I am now a bit perplexed - It looks like alternate coils were installed and maybe the ballast should have been removed if and when installation happened?? I will go back and re-read the thread on the upgrades for Accel coils to refresh my memory, although I haven't found them here in Oz and it looks like they don't measure the same as they used to if I recall correctly. I can source coils here and the Primary resistance is 2.6 ohms and the secondary is 13.8k/ohms, they also have the same distance between holes.

I am wondering if they will be alright to install if I remove the ballast?
Using the numbers I have provided for the existing coils I am guessing I should replace all three coils?

Just being the Devil's advocate here, are you sure your Ohm meter is correct? Do you have a known 2 Ohm resistor you can check your meter against. Some of the less expensive meters could be off by .5 ohms easily. The difference between what you have and the target resistance range is only .5 ohms so I'd hate for you to go through and remove the ballast and then fry your ignitor.

We used to have a member on this site going by "Trikebldr" and he wrote the beginnings of a post about the infamous ballast resistor and why it's there. He seemed to be adamant about leaving it there to protect the ignitor. Haven't heard from him in a long time. Too bad, he was worth a wealth of knowledge.

Have you read the threads on the aw82 coils they are available from cb900's and a lot of other bikes here quite easy to get hold of.
I fitted them a while back very easy to do and they fit in the stock location have replaceable leads and the new end connectors are available at auto stores as well.

Eh. If the meter was bad, it would be bad for all three sets of coils. There's definitely something up there.

That being said, I'd look up the thread on this site about the AW82 (pretty sure) coil swap. They bolt right in, eliminate the ballast resistor, and (for at least 200 miles on my bike, anyway) work just fine. The price is cheap enough that it's worth swapping them all and starting from scratch, ESPECIALLY if you have a bunch of different coils.

Yep I have read that thread and I have it bookmarked. I have to revisit that thread now to understand it better. One of the coils does not have the replaceable leads which threw me off for a while

I do have doubts only because it is not an expensive one and I watched this youtube video some time ago.
Digital Multimeter Buying Guide for Beginners
Of course I purchased my unit before I saw this video . Thanks for the tip on the resistor I will grab one today and test this meter