Best parts to use on my 78 kz650

I recently purchased another 78 kz650 to fix up. So I now have two of these bikes. My question is about the ignition systems on the bikes.

The main bike has the original points system, with original coils. This bike I'm wanting to install the choice parts onto. This bike is going to be my keeper, and I will sell the other when I'm finished with both of them.

The second bike, I just discovered has Dayna coils, with the Dayna ignition. I've heard good and bad about the Dayna ignitions, but nothing bad about the Dayna coils, that I remember.

Lastly, I picked up on an 82 kz650 parts bike last summer, that has the factory electronic ignition, and coils, which I was planning on running on the main 78 bike. Until I got this bike with the Dayna setup.

Which ignition system would be the best to run on my main bike ?? I'm still leaning towards the factory electronic system, but am not 100% sure that is the best choice ??

I have points and have always been satisfied with them since my bike was new (April, 1977).

If i had a 1978 KZ650, and if I felt compelled to install an electronic ignition, I would use the Kawasaki ignition rather than the Dyna. My reason would be that the 1978 KZ650 charging system is the least robust of all the KZ650 models, and the Dyna has greater power demands than the Kawasaki system. Ed

650ed wrote: I have points and have always been satisfied with them since my bike was new (April, 1977).

If i had a 1978 KZ650, and if I felt compelled to install an electronic ignition, I would use the Kawasaki ignition rather than the Dyna. My reason would be that the 1978 KZ650 charging system is the least robust of all the KZ650 models, and the Dyna has greater power demands than the Kawasaki system. Ed

+1

I'd use the factory electronic also if it is working. If not, the Dyna works fine. I've got 158,000 miles use with the Dyna-3 setup on a 1978 KZ650, and 40,000 or so with the Dyna-S on a 1977 KZ650 with 1978 charging system. I never had any charging problems at all on the 78, but the 77 charges real weak. Don't know if it is the Dyna-S to blame or not, but it works good enough, just charges at about 12.9v instead of mid 13 to high 13v that it should be. Has never been a problem. I had the Dyna coils on the 78 for a while, but the plug wires I ran were junk I guess, and they would always drown in wet weather, then one of the caps pulled off, so I just went ahead and reinstalled the stock coils which have always worked just fine for me.

Thanks guys !!

I'll go ahead and run the factory electronic ignition off of the 82 kz650 then.

Another question about the coils that I have available. Should I run the factory coils from the 82 donor bike ?? Or would I benefit from running the Green Dyna coils that came with the Dyna ignition, with the factory electronic ignition from the 82 ??

I'm probably making this harder than it has to be, but I figure I just as well run the best parts that are available to me.....Only problem is I don't know what the best setup is......

The best match for the factory system is the factory 2.3 ohm coils. But if they are original, (and by that I mean old and weathered), and money is not a big issue, you will want new coils. The closest match besides factory coils are the gray Dyna 2.2 ohm coils. However, the 3 ohm Dyna (or Accel) coils will work, and with them, you will have the option of using the Dyna S in the future. The Dyna S should not be run with coils less than 3 ohms.