1981 KZ1300 A3 make over

Would you say that the manual cam chain tensioner on this engine has been suitably adjusted- not too tight or loose?

Initially the bike looked a mess (and that rear section with the electrics in it looked truly horrible), but from what you found it seems like and excellent bike to bring back to stock without too many big bills! Great!

Good luck, I'll be monitoring your progress... again!

Paul

Stan: M.S.D. is an abbreviation for "Multiple Spark Discharge". It's the name of a company famous for aftermarket ignition parts. However, the ignition coil in your pictures appears to be a G.M. product. The spark-plug boots and wires are clearly an M.S.D. product.
None-the-less: You won't be disappointed with the performance of the G.M. coil. When you get this engine running you'll be shocked at how far the spark will jump. :woohoo:
Like mine, the Ballast Resistor must be used but in my opinion this is not a liability.
AND, at a fraction of the co$t of what most are paying for individual aftermarket coils !

scotch wrote: You won't be disappointed with the performance of the G.M. coil.

Scotch. Can you post more on this option (or a link if posted already).

www.kz1300.com/index.php/forum/electrica...location-change#5701

I have no doubt that the reluctance to do this is due to the need to shave off the reed-valve boxes from the top of the cam covers. Not a difficult job, but....
On the other hand. stan just posted some pictures of his newest acquisition which also uses a GM coil-pac and you'll note that the P.O. placed it between the frame members - where most of the harness plugs are normally positioned. In this example the coil-pac is sideways. Don't see how it was fastened to the frame.
GM coils-pacs can be bought NEW for as little as $50.00 if you shop around. Mine is from an '88 Pontiac. Ballast resistor required for this specific application but again - IT'S NOT AN ISSUE ! Wiring one into the harness is easy ! I've since cleaned-up the wiring significantly but the pictures give the basics. It might be of interest: I pulled mine from an auto salvage yard for less then $20.00. The vehicle had just about 160,000K on the odometer. Haven't had a single problem with it. On these vehicles the coil is mounted on top of the intake manifold which is hidden by a typical plastic manifold cover. So these coils can take heat.

Stan - Can you measure the coil resistance of yours - for the record?

Biltonjim - this crossed my mind indeed, and was thinking about getting back to it and backing off the tensioner a bit. It is pretty tight now. 0nt the bright side - it seemed to work. But yes, before installing the cover I will back off the tensioner 1/4, maybe 1/2 a turn - will see feeling the chain by hand.

Thank you Paul! I am already visualizing the complete bike. I will definitely not miss on doing a before and after comparison.

Scotch - thanks for the info. The coils definitely worked well when I did that 27 km bringing the bike home! And I love the space between the engine and the frame. It seems like whoever did the aftermarket changes to this bike knew his way around KZ1300. I'd love to hear from the original owner, and I hope I didn't scare him away by pointing out a few things which I found not to my taste and liking. Perhaps it was a quick mock up? Nah.. I doubt it. Not a high quality craftsmanship, but the guy definitely knew his way around including the electrical system.

Speaking of which - a couple pics of the other side of the coils. You can see the resistor. I have no idea yet about any particulars pertaining to this set up, as I'd like to sort out all the mechanical issues first (engine, brakes, etc.), then do as much as I can replacing the aftermarket parts with stock. At this point it will be the front end (headlight, controls, etc. ). Then - in a few short weeks I should be getting the brackets from Paul. They will go on the frame (I am planning on buying a small welding machine and doing the welding myself - it's never more than one inch at a time so I might be able to get away with it), and then I'd mount all the electronics in place. From that point I'd plan wire connections and would start reverse engineer what's there now.

To your question - I haven't seen anything coils related up close in an investigative way. I will measure the resistance when going back to the bike by the weekend or on Saturday or Sunday.
The mounting of these coils - just sitting there. Maybe some silicone hidden underneath? I was able to wiggle them a bit. But all the electronics were simply cramped inside the modified tail section - including the not attached to anything battery! There was some velcro but nothing attached. I guess velcro and silicone were the original owner's favorite assembly weapons.






A thing I noticed with these coils is they came with plug caps fitting spark plugs with those screw-on little 'things'. I have no idea how you call them.
And when pulling one boot another 'little something' came out. I haven't looked into it, so I'm still wondering if this can be just pushed inside or was it attached and broke off? If possible, I'd love to change all the boots to those I have on the other bike. These MSD are soooo tight! And short - it's hard to pull them out! Plus - I'd prefer them and the leads black, haha





Another bit about what's on the bike - the exhaust. It's a 6-1. It will stay for now, but at one point, when my stock exhaust (which I'm making from bits and pieces), will be complete and perfect, they will come off. Given I will make and weld the brackets for it - they were also cut off! And so was the mounting for the center stand... The exhaust will be probably the last thing I will do on this bike.

Anyone knows this exhaust? I think someone bought this company and I couldn't find anything KZ1300 related. Maybe it's an item from the past? Anyone familiar with this exhaust system for our bikes, and what are they valued? All I can say it actually sounds very nice and throaty.