Run without stator?

'79 KZ650 B3

Sent the stator off to Rick's to have it rebuilt. It'll be at least a week to get it back, maybe more.

In the meantime, will it hurt anything to run the bike so I can work on some tuning issues?

Won't hurt a thing, just have to keep the battery charged so it will run. Battery goes flat, you push.

You can run it as long as you have a cover. Lots of oil loss with out one. (I think)
You will be running a positive discharge so your battery will be discharging the
hole time it is running.(you need a good battery) not a haff charged one.
You also need to gap your plugs down to 17 to 20 With no battery the spark
will not jump as far.
Recharge the bat, after 10 to 15 min. of running time. When a battery gets down
to 11.5 volts the motor will start to miss and sputter.
If you cant turn off all your lights unplug them or you will only get about
5min. out of your battery.

FastKaw1, you've never rode a KZ without a charging system have you.

With a five year old battery, that would only charge to 10 volts, and no charging system, I rode my KZ750 for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The turn signal flasher actually quit working long before the bike started missing out, and I have electronic ignition

And even after the turn signal flasher stopped working, I still rode it seven miles back to the house

Road Racers have been running total loss electrics for years, starting long before the latest high tech batteries were invented.

steell:
1st. excuse me for trying to help the guy out!
2nd. You have no idea what I ride, when I ride, how I ride... I would think that with
a little over 2100 passes on a bike with a positive discharge ignition I would have
some idea how it all works. Now, I can make about 15 passes with a total elapse
running time of about 5min. Thats a little over 1hr. But there is TIME between
rounds for the battery to recover. (not on a charger) At the end of the day the
battery will be down to 12 volts, maybe 11.7. When the battery go's to 11.5 or less
ILL go from a 9.70 pass to a 10.15 pass all because I lose a 1/2 volt and 1500 rpm.
Guess what, I lose that round.
Thats why I told seanof what I thought was his best way to to run his bike with
no stator...

If you wont to ride with a battery with only 10 volts and take a chance an COOKING
you ignition system thats your choice. I would not make that choice nor would I
tell someone to do it. If it worked for you COOL.

Did you ever wonder why a road races were seldom over 25 laps? Lets see, the race
started with, say 25 bikes and finished with 8. 15 of the 25 went out with
ignition trouble, to much resistance. Happens all the time and happens to this day all from a lack of voltage.
I think thats enough reason to not let your battery get below 12 volts.

You know, I don't calm to be a expert on any thing, there are always better ways
to do things. Thats why this board is for the most part a GREAT TOOL.
I have not been on this board for a long time and I don't post a lot because I would
hate to give someone bad advice. But telling someone he doesn't know what he
is talking about is not what this board is all about!

i'm sure making passes eats more battery juice then putt putting around the neighborhood (higher engine revs, engine wind up for launch, etc ). although i agree with regapping potentially saving a little juice. In the end the bike is fine without a charging system so long as the battery is kept semi-healthy otherwise you're getting a workout. Play nice :blink:

FastKaw1, whoa!! Slow down there buddy!

I wasn't attacking you, merely making an observation.

Not sure how you are going to "cook" a points ignition system (79 KZ650), and I have no idea what a "positive discharge ignition" is, maybe the reverse of a "Negative Discharge Ignition" (I just made that one up)?

Original poster wanted to know if it was ok to work on some tuning issues, I must have missed the part about him wanting to race.

By the way, I sincerely apologize, I should have realized that "your" opinion is the final say, I'm totally embarrassed that I had the temerity to disagree with it.

I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Actually, a stock ignition uses less power at higher RPMs. At higher RPMs, the coil(s) don't reach full current so they use less power. Even though it seems counter intuitive, it's true. Regardless of RPM, the coil is on half the time and off half the time (KZ points dwell is about 50% duty cycle). Coils don't reach full current instantly. They take time for the current to build up. At idle, because the on-time and off-time is so long, the coil reaches full current and just burns away power as heat (while it is on). At high RPMs, the coil never has time to reach full current, so even though it's still on half the time, it's never at full current, so it wastes less power.

Run a bike on the battery alone and you will see the voltage of the battery climb a few tenths when you rev the bike. That is because it is using less current to run the ignition as it revs up.

I would guess an hour or two is about right, for running on a good battery with full lights and accessories. Remember, though, those batteries are not meant to go deep-cycle, so you are doing damage by running it to full discharge.

Also, if the point is to do some tuning, wait until the charging system is working. As the battery gets weaker, it may start to foul. It'll throw you off. You won't be able to get consistent runs and you won't know if its ignition or fuel.