coil wires

Wiring in some accel coils on my 1978 1000 ltd. I have one green and one black wire coming from the poins. Which wire fires which coil? And I assume the coils are broken down to cylinders 1-4 and 2-3. Which cylinder is number 1?

Just remove the points cover, rotate the crank so one of the points just opens, and look at the timing marks. It will say 1-4 or 2-3.
Or read your service manual which has that too.

When sitting on the bike, the outer left hand (alt side ) cylinder is classed as number one.
One coil feeds 1-4 the other 2-3.
Wasted spark system.
It won't do any harm if you get the green and black LT wires the wrong way round though as it just won't run and you just simply swap them over to correct it.
No need to pull the ign cover either if it's just a straight coil upgrade and not a timing issue.

Bike has sat for almost three years, when I go to fire it up d don't want any variables in case it doesn't start. The case guards might be in the way of removing the timing cover, but I can pull a plug, put the piston at the top and see if a test light lights up on the coil wire. That'll tell me if the points are open.

So I found top dead center, and used a test light to determine the green wire is for cylinders 1-4, black is 2-3.

After I finishes the wiring, I tested the voltage and found less than than 10 volts, across the coil screws and from coil positive to ground. So the voltage is dropping on the ignition source. I know some older cars used a resister to keep from burning up the points. Do Kz's do the same, or do I have a problem?

Also checked the plug gap. .030 which is spec. I heard with aftermarket coils you can open up the gap a little. Any truth to that?

nitrokeeb wrote: So I found top dead center, and used a test light to determine the green wire is for cylinders 1-4, black is 2-3. . . .

Stock wiring is opposite.




Opening of the points is the event that causes firing of the coil.
When 1/4 shows in the timing window, the left-hand (9 o'clock) points should be starting to open.
This is the black wire to the coil that's attached to #1/4 spark plugs.
The black wire provides ground for the coil's primary winding.
The coil charges while it's primary winding is grounded via the black wire.
When the points open, the black wire becomes un-grounded, which is the event that causes the coil to fire.

Good Fortune!

If the points cam is improperly installed 180° off, the black and green wires can be reversed to the coils in order to counter-act the improperly installed cam.

The better practice is to properly install the cam in its correct orientation so that the stock wiring is preserved.

Good Fortune!

Yup, as Patton said, if the green wire fires 1 and 4, the rotor is backaward. Black should fire 1 and 4.