[DaveO430]

I came up with an idea to replace the ignition coils with something more available and with stronger spark. I have a bucket full of 1100 coils and almost every one is cracked.
Here is what I did.


I got a coil pack off a 97 Dodge neon.

I first connected it to my test bikes ignitors and with the plug wires that came with the coils I attached some AC platinums for a Chevy truck to see if it would fire, it did.





Next I fashioned a bracket from some light 3/4" angle iron.

Excuse the welds, I was trying to use my MIG with a fan blowing on me.

The Neon coil is about the same physical size as the OE coils.

Since this is an experiment I used crimp on connectors to connect to an original coil harness. Connected the yellow (1&2) to the set that would be on the front, blue (3&4) to the rear set.

The center wire in the coil connector is the + (black/yellow) the wires on each side of it go to the coil on it's respective side. So the wiring could not be simpler.

I then took the coil ends off the wires from the coils and crimped them on the wires I already had on the bike leaving the resistor caps in place.

Sorry about the blurry picture.




Here it is mounted in the original location. It took a little modification of the bracket to get it located just right.

The engine started instantly and seemed to idle better and not take as much choke to keep it running as it usually does.


Went for a short ride and it did run some better, I need to play with the spark plug gap to see if I can gain some more improvement but I am happy with the results so far.

 

[dan filipi]

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Awesome Dave.

Do you know if the primary resistance of these coils is safe for the ignitors?
Great cheap solution if they are!

 

[sandiegobrass]

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Nice Dave... I've often thought that there would be something like that.. you've actually done it.. and I know you used a used set, but what is also attractive (to me), is that it is something that you can buy new.. might be expensive (don't know) but it is going to be available for a loooong time.. lots of those Neons out there..

 

[DaveO430]

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sandiegobrass wrote:

Nice Dave... I've often thought that there would be something like that.. you've actually done it.. and I know you used a used set, but what is also attractive (to me), is that it is something that you can buy new.. might be expensive (don't know) but it is going to be available for a loooong time.. lots of those Neons out there..

Actually you can buy aftermarket MSD or ACCEL coils for that for $80 or less and I saw another brand for $55, a stock set is about $35 so it is not an expensive mod.

dan filipi, the primary resistance is quite a bit higher than the stock coils, I measured it but didn't take note but as I remember it was about 5 ohms so should be easier on the igniters.

 

[William_86]

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Awesome Dave if you could do some tests to compare the performance increment would be great

 

[DaveO430]

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William_86 wrote:

Awesome Dave if you could do some tests to compare the performance increment would be great

A dyno would be great but I just have to go by seat of the pants.Have not had time to work with it any more yet.

 

[sandiegobrass]

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Dave (or others)...

give you all something to think about.. the OEM coils are very low resistance (~0.5 ohm) and there is a ballast resistor in series with the power to the coils... yes, I believe on all GL1100 years.. on early years I believe that the ballast is internal to the spark units so you don't see it and later, at least in '83 maybe some in '82 this was not used and an external ballast was used(that you can see).. in both cases it was probably about 3 or 4 ohms... so now we get to the point

It would seem that this ballast resistor would not be necessary with the 5 ohm Neon coils.. yes the Neon coils fire, but maybe there would be ahotter spark if powered without the ballast resistor which gives another 3 ohms for a total of 8 or so.....

If anyone is playing around with these, it would be interesting to test that theory.. and If I ever get back in research mode I will.. but maybe others will get there first.. If it was an '83, I'd try by shorting the ballast.. if it was an earlier model, i'd power it from the fuse block where the ignition power is..

Nice Job.. looking forward to more..

Jim

 

[DaveO430]

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I did consider this Jim. I first tried the neon coils on an 80 model (my test bike), I did not start the engine, only connected the coils to check for spark and it did work. I installed them on my 82 which did have the external ballast resistor but I did not use it with the neon coils. I am thinking the spark would be stronger with the later spark units (ignitors as I call them) without the internal resistor but it may not make much if any difference. It will work with either and the spark did look stronger than the stock coils on the 80 model also.
I am curious if this will work with points ignition i.e. GL1000s. I do know GM HEI coils can be made to work with points by using a GM ignition module switched by breaker points. I intend to get another set of coils to experiment with. Don't have a 1000 but I can improvise.

 

[CaptainMidnight85]

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I'm gonna give it a try. I'm still using points. I'm in the middle of doing another manifold up, so it will be after that gets squared away. That's probably another two weeks from being done, maybe a bit longer. I still have to getthe coil too. I thought about this project of yours earlier today. Again, a great find for many of us.

 

[mustangcar]

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the Gm cavalier coils/with stock ignitershave been used with great success

 

[Bertbart]

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I went to "Pull-A-Part" Saturday and bought a Dodge Neon coil pack for $12.00. Picked up some new plug wires. Made the bracket installed the coil pack...wired it up and it runs excellent. Starts quick and seems to warm up quicker. Many thanks for your idea. I saved a boatload of bucks with this conversion. Now for some new points and a timing set and I believe that all my ignition problems will be solved.

 

[DaveO430]

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Bertbart wrote:

I went to "Pull-A-Part" Saturday and bought a Dodge Neon coil pack for $12.00. Picked up some new plug wires. Made the bracket installed the coil pack...wired it up and it runs excellent. Starts quick and seems to warm up quicker. Many thanks for your idea. I saved a boatload of bucks with this conversion. Now for some new points and a timing set and I believe that all my ignition problems will be solved.

Open the plug gap to .035" , it should give a little performance improvement.
Good to hear it will work with a points ignition. I suspected it would but had nothing to test it on.

 

[Bertbart]

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Dave0430, I will open them up today. Thanks for all you have given me. I'll keep an eye on the points to see if they last or burn up quickly. May be a Dyna in my future as funds permit. (That means if I can squirl away some bucks the wife doesn't know about)LOL

 

[DaveO430]

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Bertbart wrote:

Dave0430, I will open them up today. Thanks for all you have given me. I'll keep an eye on the points to see if they last or burn up quickly. May be a Dyna in my future as funds permit. (That means if I can squirl away some bucks the wife doesn't know about)LOL

I bet you are going to find the points will last almost forever with the higher primary resistance of these coils.

 

[Bertbart]

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I believe that I will have to re-install the ceramic resistor as my wires are heating up to the kill switch. Scootsx2 is helping me with the wiring. I'm waiting on an answer from him.

 

[DaveO430]

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I didn't think of that, the dwell time may be too long with the points causing too much load on the wiring.

 

[DaveO430]

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Chromo wrote:

Found any easy way to bypass a CDI box on an 86 1200 yet?
I need to fire my coils and get some spark.

You could probably wire in 2 early GM electronic ignition modules to the pulse generators.

Cancel that thought, won't work on a 1200 since the module controls the timing.

 

[CaptainMidnight85]

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Bertbart wrote:

I believe that I will have to re-install the ceramic resistor as my wires are heating up to the kill switch. Scootsx2 is helping me with the wiring. I'm waiting on an answer from him.

So, ...what happened?

 

[MajicMrEd]

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Any one know if this will work on the 1200's 84 - 85 in particular. Be nice if it did

 

[DaveO430]

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MajicMrEd wrote:

Any one know if this will work on the 1200's 84 - 85 in particular. Be nice if it did

Yes, it should work. The 1200 coils are the same as 82-83 1100s.