Ignition - 1980 LTD 1000

Tested spark today and found nothing on 1&4 and some spark on 2&3.  Turns out the blue/black lead on the ignition coil is dead.  Infinite Ohms.  The resistor also measures 2.3 Ohms versus recommended 1.7.  The left and right coil primary are at 2.1 Ohms with my book saying around 1.5.  The secondary reading is 24 KOhms on the left and 25 KOhms on the right.  Also out of spec.

What's the consensus on fixing this?  Should a guy just go straight for the Dyna-S or replace all the stock stuff.  I did not test the igniter as I wasn't sure that would work with a dead pickup coil.
 

It sounds to me like your coils and resistor are OK.  Have you checked your pickup?

For what it's worth, I switched to a Dyna S system several years ago on the same make/model.  I replaced the coils at the same time.  The Dyna S system requires 4 ohm coils.

They changed to electronic ignition (21119-5001) on the 1980 B4 LTD and other KZ1000 engines starting in 1979. Hopefully it's not the Ignitor unit itself, they are Expensive. Might go with you initial thought and the one shared by Hardrock, go Dyna S. Cheaper/consolidated and easier to install. Of course you would require a higher OHM set of coils to support the Dyna S. I believe the advance unit will also support the single magnet rotor that comes with the Dyna. Yours advance will have a (1009) stamped on it. Have fun!

.... The Dyna S system requires 4 ohm coils. 

3.0 ohm. although verifying the info on the dynatek site is next to impossible. and the dyna s instruction sheet doesn't say. rather vexing. I contacted the company years ago before buying their green ignition coils. in case my stock ignition system ever gave up the ghost. and I wanted to have the correct coils for the dyna s on a kz650. I assume a 1000 would be the same.

The Dyna 'S' uses 3 to 5 ohm coils.
They state 3 ohm ( the Green coils ) for racing and 5 ohm ( their Black ones ) for road use.
The 3 ohm coils produce a stronger spark and consequently run hotter which is why they list them for racing due to an apparent shorter life span but i run the 3 ohms on all my Zeds ( either 3 ohm greens or paired 1.5 ohm orange ones in series for my 8 plug heads ) for the past 40 years and never had any fail yet.
I don't know anyone who has actually bothered to fit the Black 5 ohm ones..
 

Tested the igniter today by applying 12 volts to each pair 1/3 and 2/4 and it works for each coil.  Fire on both sides.  Looks like just 1 and 4 on the pickup coil is bad.  The cost of the Dyna S is almost $200 and each coil is around $180.  Anyone know of cheaper places to buy these.  If I go this route it looks like the Igniter is no longer needed.  Is the resistor still required to be wired in?

Can you still buy a new original pickup coil that would allow me to keep all my stock stuff since it all appears to be working?

Is it necc to replace the coils ? according to the initial post it looks like the bike runs a "ballast resistor" with the 2 ohm coils (2 ohms + 2 ohms) so as long as the resistor is retained the stock coils should be ok with the dyna S. If budget is a concern many people here have run the "copy" dyna S (DS1) from Ebay for around $60 ??
The original pulsar coils are still available $250 

I have used a number of 5 ohm coils from 4 into 1 without any issues. I have also used a number of the cheap ignition systems. I have had issues with the last two which were purchased from a different source than previous units. They all look the same but are not. I got two where the body that holds the magnet would not quite fit over the advancer shaft and had to be sanded to fit correctly and the magnet was weak and would not fire the pickups. Funny because they all seem to ship out of California. Also the ones that did not work had a black cable and the better ones had a white cable. So if you get a SD-1 imposter check the magnets first. On one of the better sets I did have to turn the base plate around and remount the pickups so they were position correctly. 

The place that had the good ones was Carfritru. Seems a lot of these places are located in New Jersey but the product ships out of Cali. I have put on at least 8 of those units along with 5 ohm coils in the last two years with only the last two being a problem 

 

 

My original problem was two cylinders dropping out while driving on the highway.  Coils were good when I checked them.  I eventually decided the problem was in the igniter or the pickup, although I never completely nailed it down. 

When I converted my 1980 LTD 1000 I think I measured 3.8 ohms on the green Dyna coils, but that was about 8 years ago so my memory may be incorrect.  I know original Z1 coils I have are about 4.1 ohms.  Basically I think anything in the range of 4 ohms will work just fine.

If you decide to make the conversion...don't use the crappy splice that Dyna provides for the red wire.  Use proper connectors.  Don't ask how I know.
 

I also used the 5 ohm coils from 4 into 1 and a "copy" DS2-1 on my Z1, and a KZ1000. I also had to flip the plate and mount the pickups on the other side. Turns out some of the cheap rotors have the magnet about 10° away from where it should be and flipping the plate "fixes" the misalignment.  Or you can buy a real dyna rotor separately and avoid the need  to flip.
Also if you're converting to DS2-1 type it would be a convenient time to add a relay for the coils to avoid the voltage drop thru the kill switch.
The setup can be found in other posts on KZR.