Electronic Ignition replacement for 1978 T3 850 ??

[Pancake]

How many of us have been stranded by points. I have had 3 or 4  dyna coils go bad and one black box.

Well, er, never. But I want some of the mojo that Sparrowhawk claims his bike now has with this new C5 system. I like the logic of the multi spark and more efficient combustion it seems to provide. I just don't like the price! Call me cheap but while my bike works well enough as it is that is good money that I'd rather spend on a pair of bigger carbs or a lightened flywheel. Or more realistically pay household bills with!

[Tom]

I've retro-graded a couple of MG's to points because the MotoPlat ignitions went out and the Dyna ignition set-ups that had a QC manufacturing problems.  Anyone can correct me....that problem should have been fixed by now.  I carry points/plate in case my Dyna in the '80 SP 1000NT goes bad. 

[Furbo]

I've retro-graded a couple of MG's to points because the MotoPlat ignitions went out and the Dyna ignition set-ups that had a QC manufacturing problems.  Anyone can correct me....that problem should have been fixed by now.  I carry points/plate in case my Dyna in the '80 SP 1000NT goes bad. 

I retrofitted my '90 SPIII with a points dizzy when the LH Motoplatt box went south with the plan of fitting a Dyna.  But the points just worked, and it was easy to set them at the same time I did the valves (once a year in Feb wether it needed it or not!) so never bothered.

That said, after a mere 27yrs one of the Marelli coils went bad while I was on a business trip in Germany.  I limped into a German junk yard, pulled another far older coil off a VW Bug, strapped it to the frame with zip ties, and went on my merry way back to Italy.

[RoMoMoTo]

I've put 25,000 trouble-free miles on my CX100 with points. It starts at the merest touch of the button, idles well, runs up to however close to the redline my mood warrants. That said, Sparrowhawk's enthusiastic report piques my interest. Five hundred smackers is a lot of money to replace something that already works, though. I'd love to see some documented objective comparison of the same engine with dual points set up vs. retrofitted with C5's Powerarc ignition viz. HP, torque and fuel economy numbers.

[redrider90]

I've put 25,000 trouble-free miles on my CX100 with points. It starts at the merest touch of the button, idles well, runs up to however close to the redline my mood warrants. That said, Sparrowhawk's enthusiastic report piques my interest. Five hundred smackers is a lot of money to replace something that already works, though. I'd love to see some documented objective comparison of the same engine with dual points set up vs. retrofitted with C5's Powerarc ignition viz. HP, torque and fuel economy numbers.

I agree. Let's come back to this convert in 10,000 miles and read all about it.

[sparrowhawwk]

Just a little update on my Convert hack hauler with the C5 ignition.  Still working as it should after almost 9,000 miles.  Yes it cost some $ but like the $500 dollar upgrade to the Enduralast alternator it is doing what I expected with no trouble.  A lot of the initial ping issues I had have since been linked to other issues that I'm currently working on.  Valve guides being one of them.

Just to be clear, I had no problem with just the stock points ignition.  I was just looking for less maintenance and an easier way to set the timing accurately.  The increase in performance was just a welcome surprise.

[Tom]

Loads of discussion on the adding of a Dyna ignition system.  A smart person will carry the breaker points plate with them as back-up.  They did have some qc problems for a little while.  One of the friends went through 3 boxes on his Cali III.  I'm still on the original box but carry the points plate with me.