Should this work

78 kz650c2

Someone on another forum said the blue red was my oil pressure switch. Got a dead battery thinkin that would function the same as a capacitor for testin(dead batt. was free) Not getting any visable spark from the plugs even after I hooked up my car battery.

Anyone in the midlands of SC willing to give me a hand getting this bike running. The pay is good(as much PBR as you can drink) Or if you know a half decent shop somewhere here abouts. I've tried d&d a couple times and its just been iffy.

Yes, superficially, that drawing shows a workable schematic. However, you need to make sure the points plate (distributor)is wired correctly. (The blue wire is oil pressure sensor.) Also, where are you tying your grounds? The black wire on the reg/rec should go to the battery negative and they both should go to a good clean bolt on the motor to provide the points a good ground.

You'll need a voltmeter to do some troubleshooting. An old discharged battery can work unless it is shorted out internally or unless it has a dried out cell. Measure the voltage on the battery before you turn on the switch. It should be at least 11.5v in order to work as a capacitor. Then measure it after you turn on the switch. If it's far below 10v, then the battery may be too far gone or there is a chance the reg/rec is bad and is dragging down the voltage.

You can jump off a car battery but make sure the car is NOT running.

This diagram show the points and coils physically.
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I'm using the engine ground wire that originally went to the battery. I'll try cleanin the ground bolt. Think my coils might be done along with my spark plug wires. What is the cheapest coils and wires I can get. Are coils specific or can I just get some generic coil and wire at a parts store. NO helpful metric shop anywhere close to me so its either order online and wait or make it work from a Harley part or car part.

Invest in a voltmeter to help with your troubleshooting. Even a $5 is better than nothing!

Figure out if the yellow/red wire to the coils has 12V on it (or whatever voltage the battery is at). If not, it may be getting interrupted in the switches (kill switch, bad connections).

If it does, then you need to be sure the points are functioning properly. Do you have the proper procedure for setting the points and gaps? So long as the points are fully opening and fully closing (regardless of timing) and you have 12V at the coils, there should be spark.

You can check the coils with your new $5 voltmeter by looking for 4-6ohms on the input of the coils and 12-15kohm on the output wires. Remove the spark plug caps to make this check.

Check your spark plug caps too, if they are Resistor caps they will be 5kohm.

Alright I bought the cheapest voltmeter I could find at 20 bucks and I definantly have the points set correct and am getting 12v to the coils. Now its an analog meter and hard to tell about the ohms at the coils. The coils have some cracks in them and I'm startin to suspect them as the problem. Where can I find some cheap coils and prolly some cheap jets

a quick test is to have the plugs out in the open and inserted into the plug caps. you said you have power at coils . great. now manually open and close the points to see if the two plugs spark every time you open the point cam. if not turn the engine over til the other set of points are closed and open and close them to check that you are working with the right set.

if you do this test and no spark ever happens I check all wire connections if they are all good

a bad condenser will cause this problem.

a grounded point cam will do it too
check the bake light is in good condition at the pivot point. the wires need to be isolated from any metal cover or base plate.

if you have cracked coils like you say that would definitly be the place to start you wont be able to fix anything until the problem has been rectified do you have any kind of bike wrecking yard around go there with your multimeter and look coils that match your factory coils and check the primary resistance to make sure it is good so that you arent buying some one else's junk. start there first always fix the obvious problems first.

I just ordered a dyna elec ignition from z1 ent, because I didn't get ANY reading through the old coils and I hear you get better performance from the newer system anyway. Imma try and follow the other posts instructions on install and I guess I'll end up using a mini battery instead of a capacitor. RIGHT?

yes that is a good idea as the dyna ignition needs at least a minimuim of around 11 volts to fire properly. and a capaciter can be pretty flaky sometimes. you remember the old saying k.i.s.s keep it simple stupid that not only works in life but in motorcycles as well this is the year 2008 not 1968 as some people would like to believe it is

Yes, that Dyna will probably use too much current for the capacitor. A kaw electronic ignition, however, uses less than the points system, and is a good match with a capacitor.