chooseing the right coils ?

Are all 900 and 1000 coils interchangeable ? And if not wich ones can I use? Does it matter if you have points or pointless? I have a martek pointless. Can i use andrews coils 4 ohm. off a 79 kz650 on my 76 kz900,with martex electronic pointless egni.? I have access to a set off of an 81 ltd will these work? I burnt out one of my martek coils and one of my stock coils.can i run 1 martek and 1 stock coil until i can get some new ones without scerwing something up? It seems to run ok.:blink:

Post edited by: mark1122, at: 2006/06/25 20:11

Post edited by: mark1122, at: 2006/06/25 20:32

Geesh... this is hard to answer since I have little knowledge of Martek ignitions. I am guessing your don't know anything about the coils this ignition requires? If the ONE Martek coil you have is compatible with this ignition, measure the resistance of its primary windings. To do this, you need a multimeter. Put the meter in OHMS 1X scale and then put your POS lead on one of the connector tabs and the NEG on the other. These tabs are where the green or black wire from your ignition connect and the other tab is the power wire. If you get between 3 and 4 Ohms impedence on the Martek coil as I suspect you will, you can basically use any 3 Ohm coil. Most 3 Ohm coils will measure between 3.2 and 3.8 Ohms. In any case, NOT ALL coils will measure in this range. For instance, the coils from the donor 81 LTD KZ1000 MAY NOT be 3 Ohm coils. You will just have to measure them as well. The coils on my KZ1000E (79 and 80) measure 1.5 Ohms and would quickly burn out on your system from excess heat. My KZ1000E bikes use resistor blocks to bring the total resistance up to about 4 Ohms and the LTD may as well. Other KZ1000s with electronic ignitions may use 2.5 Ohm coils and other values... can't be sure. Also, resistance seems to increase slightly over time so some coils may have higher than expected resistance. Just check the potential donor coils with a multimeter for their primary resistance and it should probably match what you read for your Martek coil.

ONE LAST THING... measure the primary resistance on both of your coils... this value should be the same or your spark will be hotter on one side than it is on the other.

Post edited by: wiredgeorge, at: 2006/06/26 08:03

mark1122 wrote:

Are all 900 and 1000 coils interchangeable ? And if not wich ones can I use? Does it matter if you have points or pointless? I have a martek pointless. Can i use andrews coils 4 ohm. off a 79 kz650 on my 76 kz900,with martex electronic pointless egni.? I have access to a set off of an 81 ltd will these work? I burnt out one of my martek coils and one of my stock coils.can i run 1 martek and 1 stock coil until i can get some new ones without scerwing something up? It seems to run ok.:blink:

Post edited by: mark1122, at: 2006/06/25 20:11<br><br>Post edited by: mark1122, at: 2006/06/25 20:32

If your replacement coil primary reisitance matches your remaining martek within 10% or so, it will be fine. If not, and with no specifications for the martek system, I would not use a lower resistance coil.

When using a multimeter on it's low resistance range, it is a good idea to check the zero reading by connecting the leads together OR only trust it for comparative measurements. If it does not zero with a fresh battery, don't trust it much for anything except comparing things that you know should be about the same.

-Duck

Thanks I'll check into this on the week end.

I checked the coils.My meter has 200 ,2000,20k,and 2000k. So I used 200 0hms res. When I put the meter leads together I got .7 If I replace the meters battery will this help it zero better or make a difference ? I measured all the coils and got 3 ohms on the Martek,and the 2 81 Ltd's. and I got 5.2 on the old stock 76 900 coil.So it looks like I can go ahead and use the Ltd coils.Would you agree? or should i check anything else?

Martek can use stock coils which are around 4 to 4.5 ohms if your meter is accurate. Stock electronic ignition coils are around 2.5 ohms. Since your meter is offset by about .7 ohms, you have to subtract that from your readings. A new battery in the meter may possibly make a difference.

The Martek can use 4-ohm coils. Those Marteks are old (I think they are out of business), and they seem to have reliability issues. Based on their design, I doubt that the Martek should be used with 2.5-ohm coils. They would be safer with 4-ohm coils.

The Martek, like the Dyna S, has a really long dwell so they work well with 4 ohm coils.

mark1122 wrote:

I checked the coils.My meter has 200 ,2000,20k,and 2000k. So I used 200 0hms res. When I put the meter leads together I got .7 If I replace the meters battery will this help it zero better or make a difference ? I measured all the coils and got 3 ohms on the Martek,and the 2 81 Ltd's. and I got 5.2 on the old stock 76 900 coil.So it looks like I can go ahead and use the Ltd coils.Would you agree? or should i check anything else?

if its an analog (i think thats the right word:S )with a needle that sweeps across the scale you should be able to zero the gauge out.

loudhvx wrote:

stock coils which are around 4 to 4.5 ohms if your meter is accurate. Stock electronic ignition coils are around 2.5 ohms.

This is messing with my head.. I was reading www.kz1300.com/nology last night, he said stock is 3 ohm, the Accel coils that are 4-4.5 ohm are not good (but older accel coils were 3 ohm) and that Nology is 2.4, but can be run on a systems that use either 2.5 or 3 ohm coils (According to what the Nology tech told him). I was even leaning toward buying some Nology coils for my 3-ohm-requiring bike.

And I can't even get to the kz1300.com site today, weird site that it was.

Lou, I think I'd trust you before that tinfoil-hatted kz1300 guy, do you know anything about Nology coils?

I couldn't get that link to work today either.

The Nology coils I'm aware of may have the correct resistances required, but from what I remember they are not long-dwell coils. That means they will overheat and burn up if used in typical stock or common aftermarket applications. They are meant to be used with very sophisticated ignitions which control the dwell very precisely. The Nology coils I'm talking about are the small lightweight ones that came out a few years ago. I certainly wouldn't use them with a stock or DynaS or Dyna III ignition. They may be ok with the Dyna 2000, but I can't say for sure.

The Accel coils I have used for the last decade or so have all been right at 3 ohms, but I haven't bought any new ones within the last several years. I doubt they have changed.

Stock Kaw electronic ignition coils, from the early 1980's, are right around 2.5 ohms (+/- .3 ohms or so). Remember to subtract any offset that your meter may have. Stock Kaw points coils, from the mid to late 1970's and early 1980's are around 4 to 4.5 ohms (+/- .3 ohms or so). There have reports of other types, some in use with ballast resistors etc., but I haven't had any confirmation on that. I can't say anything specifically about the 1300 for sure, but I thought they were the typical 2.5-ohm coils.

At any rate, you should be able to use any stock 4-ohm coils with the Martek. I'm pretty sure that 3-ohm Accel or Dyna coils should work fine as well. I'd stay away from the little Nology coils. The Martek has a brutally long dwell angle (as does the Dyna S and Dyna III).

Just beware, 30 year old coils can fail anytime, especially in the rain. The Marteks were also prone to failure. You may want to consider a new Dyna S ignition if you have money to spare.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/07/11 20:10