Alternative pickups for Kz mechanical-advance ignitions.

I_Tig_in_piece wrote: While doing my daily search for pickups..came across this on eBay..anyone wanna go in on it?? (Lol...just kidding. but if you did PM me. )

Dang. That lot is a lot. Maybe someone was doing something like you are. I wonder if he ever found one he could use.

Eventually, I'm hoping a variable Hall-effect sensor will be available that can be used instead of reluctance pickups. Reluctance pickups are more reliable in the long run, but hall effect pickups are way cheaper.

On the XS650.com site great research has gone into using ignition module from GN250's They are super cheap and readily available. Various pickups have been used successfully from stock pickups from 80- XS650's to non stock pickups. Sure, it would take 2 boxes but at under $20 a box that's still super cheap. Search "Gonzo box". I'm running one myself. The auto advance would have to be locked closed because it does have an e-advance programmed in. I'm wondering if a layer or 2 of heat shrink would work.

That sounds nice. But we are really trying to find a universally available, and inexpensive pickup in this thread. We already have igniter options for less than $20.

So I’ve got some good news and not exactly bad news but more of a “ugh” situation’ish?
Good news...the mopar pu from an older electronic dizzy works! It ohm’d at 316, but bike started right up with the starter and half choke. Gotta vac sync my carbs and then I’ll let it idle and see if the problem continues.

Not so good news...it was a bitch to get this pu mounted squared to the rotor cause of its design. The pole is actually about an 1/8” taller in reference to the rotor. I was gonna try to have it mounted evenly with the rotor but the windings case would’ve came into contact with the the spring line on the advancer. On the pickup itself there was an L shape tab to allow adjustment in a dizzy, I had to remove that and make my own to be tacked vertically onto the plate mounted inside the kz rotor housing. I’ll get some pics up of the process for mounting. I also want to make it adjustable for rotor slop. The current mount is a rough draft, I’ll definitely refine its design and have the final 1-2 options plasma cut. I shall return..

Oh and how do I post a video?

>>> Oh and how do I post a video?
Make a utube video and post link.

Yeah, I noticed the 1/8" height but I thought you could make a stepped-down timing plate. But if the advancer needs that clearance under the existing timing plate, I guess you can't lower it.

The rivets sandwiching the magnet to the two plates should be aluminum or brass so they don't short the magnetic fields. (That's also why the Kz had brass screws on the inline-four magnet assemblies.

Nice job getting it to fire up.

loudhvx wrote: The rivets sandwiching the magnet to the two plates should be aluminum or brass so they don't short the magnetic fields. (That's also why the Kz had brass screws on the inline-four magnet assemblies.

Nice job getting it to fire up.

In regards to that magnet and it’s original orientation as any one would get it, would I need to change the orientation of the magnet if I had it situated as follows..
Fabricated mounting plate-magnet-pole/coil plate
Original orientation..
Pole/coil plate-magnet-mounting plate.
It would help making a mount easier mostly for adjustment sake, otherwise slotting the new mounting plate holes to allow adjustment can be a second best.

I'm not 100% sure I understand your question.

I can say, though, the bracket (aka plate) that mounts the pickup to the timing plate must be on the opposite side of the magnet as the plate that is the pole piece. They can be swapped to either side of the magnet, but they can't be the same plate. By that I mean the plate that mounts to the timing plate can't also be the pole-piece plate.

No worries, I didn’t know if my description was understandable really myself. But you answered it perfectly. I was just wondering cause some magnet info from one of your write ups, I remembered something about the magnet N&S poles needing to face a certain direction in order for it to work or get the strongest signal from it or something along those lines?

Yes. The magnet polarity matters, but if you swap the magnet polarity, all you have to do is swap the wire polarity.

But if you swap the plate locations, meaning if you take the pole plate and move it from back to front, and take the mount plate and move it from front to back, you can just flip the magnet so the magnetic polarity will stay the same and thus the wiring polarity will stay the same.

Ooooohhhh!!..soooo much anger with mobile phone networks right now...Seriously been trying to post an update for you guys the past week, aside from getting interrupted mid way through typing out my post, my convincing pal “sidetracked” steps in. That tends to happen to me a lot more now the past 5years. Oh yeah, see! Side tracked?! when I finished typing out my reply to the topic, kinda lengthy with pics, hit submit,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,then error message saying network not responding!!? and my post is lost...FFS!!! isn’t the first time either. Ok sorry, had to let that out..

Still haven’t gotten to really test ride my bike yet other than a 2 mile ride up the down the street. No problems, bike ran smooth, even noticed that it seems to start a lot easier. Hopefully in the next couple days, I’ll sneak away from the shop before the sun goes down and ride my bike home.
So as of right now, the working PU is the same as the Mopar one you posted Lou. It’s far from simply bolting in, but we all knew this from the start. Had to fab up a whole new mounting plate and another attachment plate for the PU to have it mounted correctly. I didnt take any pics of that...yet. This Mopar one Ohm’d to 316.
And then there’s these...

Stock one on the left. ATV “big red” (Ohm’d to 39) in the middle. Yup the middle plate is backwards, just noticed. Polaris Sportsman 400 (Ohm’d to 138) on the right. You can see how the Polaris one needed to be mounted just for testing sake.
I swear to took a pic of the mopar pu mounted by the rotor, but my phone says otherwise? I’ll get a pic of that and how it needed to be modified to mount correctly.

Thanks for the update. I havent been on much lately myself... Too much work...too little time.

Those plates look good. How are you fabbing those? Waterjet, laser, cnc, cutout by hand?

Glad to hear its working so far.