where to start

Pete, Almost all Kawasaki stock coils measure 4.5 Ohms from bikes originally fitted with IC Igniter ignitions or points igntions. If you have a manual for your bike, it will tell you what the acceptable range is for primary impedence and 4.5 Ohms is within that range. As I already suggested, your coils have two sets of windings and you should measure the secondary impedence as well to ascertain if the secondary windings are shorted. Once you determine both primary and secondary are not shorted and are within nominal limits of accepability, then the coils will likely work. They might not work as well as "high performance coils" but they will work fine. Their purpose is to produce a spark. If your spark isn't hot, it is FAR more likely due to poor plug wires, plug caps or poor voltage at your coils. Oh yeah, I work on bikes for a living so if you get some free advice and would feel better paying for it, I will send you my address and you can forward a check. Double check what I tell you using a Kaw Factory Service Manual or Clymers. I merely suggest you try diagnosing your problem before spending money on parts... helps target the money better and if you are anything like me, there is always a limited amount of money to spend on bike parts. Good luck.

I just checked the Factory Service Manual for the 78-80 650's, and it gives the following for the resistance.

Primary winding 3.2 - 4.8 ohms
Secondary winding 10.4k - 15.6k ohms

Any 3 ohm coils that physically fit will work fine.

Post edited by: steell, at: 2007/01/03 19:32

Welcome and congrats on getting one of Kawi's best KZs.

Hope you find the problem spot. I'd skip the new coils for now and concentrate on checking connections, and voltage at the coils, as suggested.

Every KZ I've seen with an IC igniter has 2.5 ohm coils. The points bikes use 4 ohm coils.

3-ohm coils will work ok with either type ignition.

Points have longer dwell than the IC ignitions, so they can use 4-ohm coils. The IC ignitions use a slightly shorter dwell so use faster charging coils.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2007/01/04 03:01

It's always a good idea to check all the bike's ground connections. Over the years, these little buggars can cause a lot of electrical issues.

Now back to your program.

another reason i wanted to get the new coils is because my plug wires just fell apart when i was checking them out and i belive that thay are part of the coil

Pete, I have owned a couple of old bikes over the years. When I buy one, first thing I do is toss the ignition, coils, associated wiring and plug wires and caps and just replace the lot. Sometimes the old stuff doesn't look bad and actually functions but I guess I don't like troubleshooting ignition issues so just replace the stuff with new stuff. I use a Dyna S, Dyna wires/caps and Dyna 3.0 Ohm green two-out coils.

There are ways to fix your wires with the stock coils but if you have sufficient funds, just replace the ignition stuff I mentioned and you won't be posting in this topic area much. bwhahaha Also, read the "Coil Repowering" article on my company's web site. See the link in my signture.

george you have been the biggest help
thanks alot

by caps do you mean the caps on the spark plug
by the way mine doesnt have the caps is this bad

pete poling wrote:

....then pulled cover off and found a new points set up but the points were set a like .030 insted of .012-.016 so i fixed that and still no spark,....again thanks for any help

Because most modern engines don't use them Pete, lots of people don't even know what a set of points is, nor do they know the proper way to check/maintain them. New points or not, if engine has sat for a while, the contacts could be oxidized. This results in the points not closing, as far as ignition is concerned even though they will appear to close mechanically. Did you happen to use fine emory cloth ( while the points were "closed" ) and then clean the points contacts while you were in there?
All the other good advice about the coils and other ignition components still applies.
Just trying to help you eliminate one more problem.

Dump the points and get a Dyna ignition and the green coils. You will have to make your own plug wires but it's not a big deal. Then do the coil wire upgrade. it sounds scary but it's easy and helps a ton. You can find a kit for it at Auto Zone that has everything you need for the upgrade.

pete poling wrote:

i just got my first bike a 79 kz650
i belive it coil issues so what do you guys think about the different coils out there, accel, dyna, andrews
and where would i get good quality coil mabye a website or two to find parts for my bike
im pretty clueless
thanks for any help

Oh, by the way Pete, I just picked up a '78 KZ-1000 and I don't even know exactly what I have yet.
When I have time, I have been reading along on this forum since being directed here from a site called craigslist.
I hope your knew ride turns into a fire breathing dragon for you, but not till you have a few, hell no, a whole _L O T_ of experience on your seat.