Any resources on 1979 to 1980+ ignition coil pickup swap AKA ditching points cheap

[DesertRatliff]

Hi,

I've got a 1979 GS850 and a 1980. The 1980 looks nicer and I prefer it, so I gave it my Dyna 2000 ignition. It runs great.

The 1979 has never really started well. The Dyna lived on it for a bit until I pulled it off and added it to the 1980. Now the 1979 won't start at all. My question is, is there information somewhere on swapping the 1980 ignition pick up into the 1979 to ditch the points? I've got the pickup coil all bolted in and wired up, all really straight forward, but I'm not getting spark on 1 or 4 and assuming no spark on 2 and 3.

Any ideas would be most helpful. Thanks!

 

[Grimly]

I did the same thing. From memory of swapping bit around, the advance unit of both bikes is the same, but the nose of the 79 unit (the points cam) will unbolt and the nose of the 80 unit gets put on in its place. This is the proper profile to trigger the factory (1980) electronic pickups.

 

[Big T]

Just buy a Dyna S for the 79
No ignitor, no rewiring
If it takes you an hour to swap over, you spent 30 minutes rereading the instructions

 

[DesertRatliff]

I did the same thing. From memory of swapping bit around, the advance unit of both bikes is the same, but the nose of the 79 unit (the points cam) will unbolt and the nose of the 80 unit gets put on in its place. This is the proper profile to trigger the factory (1980) electronic pickups.

Awesome! Good info and glad it's worked for someone else. I'll double check my work and make sure I got polarity right. Also, I used the 79 coils and wires. Is there any reason that I need to use the 80's here or are they essentially the same other than connectors? Anything else I should check that would contribute to no spark? Do I also need to swap out the 1980's ignitor?

 

[DesertRatliff]

Just buy a Dyna S for the 79
No ignitor, no rewiring
If it takes you an hour to swap over, you spent 30 minutes rereading the instructions

Meh. What fun is that? Plus...I already have the parts for an updated conversion. The last thing I need to do is throw more money at this bike if I don't have to.

 

[DesertRatliff]

Will update this thread for posterity in case another idiot wants to follow in my footsteps. Haha.

It pays to look at a diagram.

The big difference in the ignition systems between the 79 and 80+ is the ignitor box. Duh.
View attachment 63262

 

[DesertRatliff]

Heres the 80's diagram with addition of the ignitor box

 

[DesertRatliff]

And here's what the box looks like:

 

[DesertRatliff]

So just add the box, wire it all up and I should have spark and an updated solid state ignition. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[Big T]

Since the ignitor fails regularly, a good one is generally a
S much as a Dyna S.
Plus, it will eventually fail, putting you back to square one
S

 

[DesertRatliff]

Pretty sure the OEM box failed or was failing. Gonna take the advice and just buy a Dyna S.

 

[Rijko]

... The last thing I need to do is throw more money at this bike if I don't have to.

I like points, can't beat the price.