new to me 1978 KZ 1000

No Ohms reading across the plug leads on the same coil would suggest the secondary winding is faulty (I assume the secondary reading or 1&4 coil is 14.58Kohms) when you say you checked "continuity" what do you mean by this ? what were you testing and how ? (the resistance measurements you have taken are confirming continuity)

Sound like your first coil is fine although the secondary reading is 14,580 ohms, or 14.58 Kilo ohms.  The other coil primary is OK.  The secondary indicates a bad connection on the plug wires or possibly a shorted wire internally.  Double check your plug wires and try again.  If still no reading similar to #1 then you will need a new coil.

Thanks Guys
Cyl 1&4 coil has a 14.58k ohms on secondary windings.
"Continuity" as per Kawy manual pg 203
" check for continuity between each ign. coil red/yellow lead and one spark plug lead and the coil core.
If there is any reading, the coil is shorted."  I didn't get a reading. So I assumed no short.
I don't know what they mean by "Coil Core".
The bike ran last fall, but had carb problems.
Can a coil go bad just sitting in the shop. I only had the points mounting plate off, to replace the advance bolt.
For Cyl. 1&4 coil with ohm readings in range.  I should get a spark if I ground the plug to the engine??
As for checking plug wires. Do you mean check for cracks, bulges, voids etc?

The coils should be fine when the bike is just sitting there unless the ignition is on for an extended period and current is flowing to a coil.

What I meant was to make sure all of the connections to and from the coil are good.  The coil may not be getting power, or it may not be getting to the plugs.  If you know your connections are good then the coil should work unless it's fooked. 

Treetall wrote:

Thanks Guys
Cyl 1&4 coil has a 14.58k ohms on secondary windings.
"Continuity" as per Kawy manual pg 203
" check for continuity between each ign. coil red/yellow lead and one spark plug lead and the coil core.
If there is any reading, the coil is shorted."  I didn't get a reading. So I assumed no short.
I don't know what they mean by "Coil Core".
The bike ran last fall, but had carb problems.
Can a coil go bad just sitting in the shop. I only had the points mounting plate off, to replace the advance bolt.
For Cyl. 1&4 coil with ohm readings in range.  I should get a spark if I ground the plug to the engine??
As for checking plug wires. Do you mean check for cracks, bulges, voids etc?

You are correct that "no reading" means no "short" however no continuity between the HT out lets on the coil would suggest an "open circuit" (break- in the secondary winding)
If you swop over the green and black coil wires do you get a spark from the suspect coil ?

I haven't tried swopping the green and black wire yet.I think need to find where all my voltage drop is happening first. Here's what I found.
Key off   Battery   12.75 V
White wire @ key 12.75V
Key on        Battery 12.25 V
White wire @ key     11.40V
Brown wire @ key    11.25V
Brown wire @ kill sw 10.86V
YL/red wire @ kill sw 10.84V
YL/red wire @ Y con. close to coil     10.36V
So by the time the voltage gets to the coils , it's pretty weak!
I started cleaning connections and I'll also check the grounds. I noticed the positive side of the starter relay/solenoid is looking a little cruddy.
In the pictures. The kill switch looks goods!  Same with the back of the key switch.
What is the black box behind the solenoid, on the right side of the pic? 

To the right of the solenoid that is the rectifier. 
In addition to checking connections and condition of your wiring, you may want to add a "wired george" relay to the coil circuit.  Wookie had a good post explaining why and how to add it. See his post titled "Ignition by-pass relay - W" from april of 2022. I used the Hella relay suggested in the post, it has a fuse already which makes it easier to set up.

sf4t7 wrote:

To the right of the solenoid that is the rectifier. 
In addition to checking connections and condition of your wiring, you may want to add a "wired george" relay to the coil circuit.  Wookie had a good post explaining why and how to add it. See his post titled "Ignition by-pass relay - W" from april of 2022. I used the Hella relay suggested in the post, it has a fuse already which makes it easier to set up.

Thanks Scotty
I read about that some where here. But forgot about it. 
I will give it a shot!
 

Here is how I connected the new relay.  I made a bracket for the relay out of a sheet metal strip to the coil mount area.  Power to relay is wired from the starter solenoid battery terminal.  Ground to relay is wired to engine block ground connection.  New 4way connector is the output wire from the relay split to the 2 existing wires to power the coils that were previously connected to the red with yellow wire from the kill switch (the empty spot is for the dyna ignition power feed).  The existing 3way connector is now for the red with yellow wire from the kill switch connected to the trigger connection on the relay.                                                     

Nice work ! Im going to do this mod to .I want  yellow plug wire too do you know where i can buy them?

I got 7 mm solid core yellow plug wire, from tonsperformance.com.  I bought wire, terminals, and boots and made my own.  I recommend using the proper crimp tool for the terminals. Terminals and boots are inexpensive enough, highly suggest buying extra wire, terminals and boots to practice first.  I'm sure many others, Taylor wires for example, also can supply what you need.
3.5mm bullet connector assortment and crimping tool from cycleterminal.com.  He sells quality connectors, no chinese stuff.

I found these for sale ,but need only the plugwires so will check out Taylor .