ZX550A1 Igniter Pinout

Okay couple of minutes of tinkering while feeding the kids etc. This is what I found out.
Compression test: 1 120Psi / 2 110Psi / 3 110Psi and 4 105Psi.

Having the green wire connected to 2-3 coil does not work AT ALL. But switching green and black it fires right up but rough idling. It revs with no problem so Im thinking maybe there is nothing wrong with the ignition maybe it´s the vacuum membranes or the pilot jet. BUT i cleaned thoroughly every one of them. I measured the + - on the coil with key on and while trying to start it was 25AC volts on both and went to 17ACVolts during crank so that is fine. I disconnected the green and black wire and measured that with AC to ground but the multimeter wasn't fast enough but I did get a decimal reading on both of them.

The 1 TDC had the T mark aligned as it should and the "tab" your talking about is pointing to the rear of the bike (9 ´0 clock) it has an arrow on it and the number 1149 maybe? So Im thinking it´s all in order, timingwise.
Now I think I need to measure the pickups and how do I do that?

This is what I got with the timing gun/strobo light. (Check picture)

Found this in a manual "The green wire goes to the left coil and the
black wire goes to the right coil. The
yellow/red wires go to either the negative
(-) or the positive (+) coil terminal
(Figure 19).
NOTE
Since the spark fires through one spark
plug to ground, and back up through the
other spark plug, ignition coil polarity
has no effect on performance.

loudhvx wrote:

Paroxyst wrote: Well that would explain the wrongful connection being mirrorimaged, no? Ill try it tomorrow. Although the two images you uploaded have diff. connection on the numbers 7 and 8.

The ZX rotor is one-piece and is keyed to the crank, so it can't be 180 out from the crank unless maybe it was damaged at some point and somebody machined another groove in the rotor, or drilled a new hole in the crank for the roll pin.

Your description of the cams seem to be right, as it would come from the factory.

This is what is also what I said. But the Ignition can still be 180 out by miss timing the cam to crank, using the 2-3 "T" mark for cam timing.
Also as stated he was looking at the #1 cylinder to see the cam lobes pointed away from each other, this is all done from the right/ #4 side. Makes me wonder if the cams are correct.

"Compression test: 1 120Psi / 2 110Psi / 3 110Psi and 4 105Psi."
Was this done with the throttle held open? Cold or warm? As that would be Low for your engine.

Measured the pickup coils and they had 466 and 480 ohm so thats fine and infinite between earth and individual. Seems everything is lined up properly but it still doesn´t perfom as it should on idling. Havent been for a test drive yet though but I think it will run good. Not much gas in the tank but if thats a problem then why would it answer on throttle just fine...hmm yes more vaccumsuckage then but I tried it with Pri setting and didn´t make a difference on idling. I´m thinking that one of the ign. coils has a problem.

Cam lobes pointing away on no1 at TDC. No4 have them pointing towards each other at TDC.
Throttle untouched. Cold engine.

Throttle closed, and cold would explain those low #'s.
Vacuum leaks or carb issue is where I would head to next. Do all carbs respond to the idle mix screws? Have you done a Bench Sync, or running Dynamic Sync?

Motor Head wrote:

loudhvx wrote:

Paroxyst wrote: Well that would explain the wrongful connection being mirrorimaged, no? Ill try it tomorrow. Although the two images you uploaded have diff. connection on the numbers 7 and 8.

The ZX rotor is one-piece and is keyed to the crank, so it can't be 180 out from the crank unless maybe it was damaged at some point and somebody machined another groove in the rotor, or drilled a new hole in the crank for the roll pin.

Your description of the cams seem to be right, as it would come from the factory.

This is what is also what I said. But the Ignition can still be 180 out by miss timing the cam to crank, using the 2-3 "T" mark for cam timing.
Also as stated he was looking at the #1 cylinder to see the cam lobes pointed away from each other, this is all done from the right/ #4 side. Makes me wonder if the cams are correct.

"Compression test: 1 120Psi / 2 110Psi / 3 110Psi and 4 105Psi."
Was this done with the throttle held open? Cold or warm? As that would be Low for your engine.

Cam lobes pointing away on no1 at TDC. No4 have them pointing towards each other at TDC.
Throttle untouched. Cold engine.

Motor Head wrote: Throttle closed, and cold would explain those low #'s.
Vacuum leaks or carb issue is where I would head to next. Do all carbs respond to the idle mix screws? Have you done a Bench Sync, or running Dynamic Sync?

I´d say yes they do respond to the pilot mixture screws. Engine dipped in revs on all individual carb when I screwed it into bottom and they turned 1½ turn out (as it´s set right now). Can someone tell me if the timing is correct that I did with the timing light earlier today?

Also I have replaced the hose clamps and sprayed it with brake cleaner and before replacing the hose clamps it was an increase of revs but after replacing them with new ones I drenceh them in brake cleaner and no reaction..so that is sealed.

Motor Head wrote: Throttle closed, and cold would explain those low #'s.
Vacuum leaks or carb issue is where I would head to next. Do all carbs respond to the idle mix screws? Have you done a Bench Sync, or running Dynamic Sync?

No sync at all yet. Have only taken them apart and made sure all is clean and checking the diaphragms aswell..I watched them while revving (with sprint filters removed) and they all moved in sync. Means vaccum is tight.

Motor Head wrote:

loudhvx wrote:

Paroxyst wrote: Well that would explain the wrongful connection being mirrorimaged, no? Ill try it tomorrow. Although the two images you uploaded have diff. connection on the numbers 7 and 8.

The ZX rotor is one-piece and is keyed to the crank, so it can't be 180 out from the crank unless maybe it was damaged at some point and somebody machined another groove in the rotor, or drilled a new hole in the crank for the roll pin.

Your description of the cams seem to be right, as it would come from the factory.

This is what is also what I said. But the Ignition can still be 180 out by miss timing the cam to crank, using the 2-3 "T" mark for cam timing.
Also as stated he was looking at the #1 cylinder to see the cam lobes pointed away from each other, this is all done from the right/ #4 side. Makes me wonder if the cams are correct.

He has it correct, from his description. When #1 is at TDC, the cam lobes for #1 should be roughly pointing away from each other. This is all on the left cylinder as you sit on the bike.

The thing to look for when looking at the right side of the motor is the notches in the end of the cam shafts. They should be roughly pointing away from each other as well. The cam lobes for #4 will be pointing roughly toward each other.

I have photos in the valve train link in my sig for more clarification.

And with the confirmation that the rotor tooth points toward the rear of the bike when #1 is at TDC, that should mean everything regarding ignition timing is in order, mechanically at least, in the motor.

Since green fires cyl 1 and 4, and black fires 2 and 3, on his bike, which is opposite of what it should be, there must be some electrical issue. I would suspect wiring first, then maybe a bad igniter, then maybe faulty pickups. The igniter uses a combination of moving thresholds and comparators to do timing and dwell, so if something went wrong with that, I imagine it could screw up the timing enough to run way out, but it's still a long stretch.

EDIT NOTE: I have to go verify some of this below. ... ok, it's corrected now.
Ignore the rotor, I had it mounted upside down when I was constructing a test rig (it fit better that way):
The pickups are removable from the timing plate frame. Make sure the rear (or left as viewed from the right side of the motor) pickup has the yellow wire and black wire, and the front (or right as viewed from the right side of the motor) pickup has the blue wire and black/white stripe wires.

Paroxyst wrote: Found this in a manual "The green wire goes to the left coil and the
black wire goes to the right coil. The
yellow/red wires go to either the negative
(-) or the positive (+) coil terminal
(Figure 19).
NOTE
Since the spark fires through one spark
plug to ground, and back up through the
other spark plug, ignition coil polarity
has no effect on performance.

This is correct, but the missing detail is that the left coil fires 2 and 3, and the right coil fires 1 and 4.

(By the way, for anyone reading this with a large displacement KZ, the layout is different on the KZ900/1000/1100. This arrangement is used on the 400/4, 500, 550, 650, 700, and 750/4, the large motors have the coil placement swapped, but black still fires 1-4, and green fires 2-3.)