Coils don't match???

Hello all,

Looking to tap into the vast knowledge around here and ask if my bike is what it is. I have what I believe is a 1981 KZ1000 police bike (all paper work history indicates this is an Oregon State Trooper bike), however, all the listings for my bike have coils at 3.5 inch mounting spacing and mine has 4 inch.

Normally guys don't complain about being to long but I'm fearing one of my 1-4 coil might be acting up. It idles fine, runs good for a while then has a bogging down effect like it's missing on one cylinder or fuel starvation. I've rebuilt everything in the fuel system and am confident it's not that.

My question is, if I have to get new coils (no point in getting just one) what coils to get if all the listings for my bike don't fit? I have looked at these but am not too sure. www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1711 but Z1 lists these for my bike. www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2857

Thanks for any help.

BTW, I've replaced the wires with Z1 NGK splicers and the proper wires. Still waiting to complete a long test ride, damn work.

I just bought the cheap 4 Ohm EMGO colis from Z1 and then jury rigged a mount bracket.

If you go with the popular Dyna ignition coils(and I think the Accel coils too) you'll have to slightly change the coil hook up wiring as I believe both brands have screw terminations instead of using what Kawasaki supplied, a 1/4" push on connection.

Cut off the electrical terminations, strip the insulation back about 3/16" and using a proper crimp tool, crimp on new ring terminals. Don't loose the supplied terminal screws as they are the correct length for a good tight connection. If they get misplaced, a 10-32 X 5/16" long screw will work, anything longer will bottom out before the screw gets tight.

I was thinking of going with the 4 ohm standard coils from Z1 with the 3.5 inch spacing and just drilling holes in the mounting rails. Will take the advice on the conectors for sure, thanks.

Being in Europe I'm not too familiar with the Police bikes, but I would suspect a 1981 C4 (as yours should be) has electronic ignition, right??

If so you don't want 4 ohm coils, but 2.2 ohm - primary coil resistance for electronic ignition should be about 1.8 - 2.8 ohms.

Dyna's 2.2 ohm coils:

www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1306

The bike does have electronic ignition with a ballast resistor. So would the Dyna's replace my current coils and ballast resistor?

Ok, I went out a bought a tester and found 3.6ohms(cold) and 3.4ohms(hot) on both coils. The pick up coils are both at 450ohms. Plug wires are at 14.7 and 15.2 Kohms and there is 11.88 volts getting to the coils. There seems to be some decent spark at the plugs.

I'm at a loss because everthing electrical checks out. I'm starting to think it might be the old carb boots (manifolds) but would they run fine cold and just start acting up once the bike is warm?

I should add this problem has gradually gotten worse over the past month.

The loss of power, sputtering, bogging down and just crappy running at temp is getting to me.

Ballast resistors(In my opinion) should be removed and wired around. The Dyna 3 ohm coils will probably be a good fit for this bike(ask Loudhvx about coils and ohms).

I was looking at them and will more than likely pull the trigger no matter what I found out. 30 year old coils will just not perform or last. As for Loudhvx most of my site searches led me to posts of his and have been a wealth of information.

Cuff wrote: ...1981 KZ1000 police bike...idles fine, runs good for a while then has a bogging down effect like it's missing on one cylinder....

Too tight valve clearances could cause these symptoms.

Good Fortune!

When I put the green 3 ohm coils on my bike I did two things:

1. I purchased some "Glyptol" (Glyptal?) a high temperature insulation brush on varnish to prevent the iron laminations of the coils from rusting.

2. Check carefully the mounting hardware and spacers for the new coils for how close to the primary side wiring. More than a few riders have shorted out the wiring and blown a fuse, making for some head scratching as to why.

I just checked the valve clearance and the only two that are tight are the middle exhaust valves. They sit at .12mm and .13mm when the book calls for .15mm. Not that far out but with heat I'm not sure. The funny thing is those are not the two cyliners I'm having issue with. Worth the look anyways. I did find a snapped EGR cover plate at one of the bolt holes just over the #2 cylinder. Not sure if air getting into the enviromental ports could cause my issues?????