Author Topic: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?  (Read 2751 times)

Offline Rolfbulmer

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550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« on: April 29, 2022, 12:39:15 PM »
Hi guys,
A question please:
I require a set of ignition coils, do I go for second hand oem for about £50 or do I go for new replacement equivalent ranging from £50 to £80.
Any help, advice appreciated thanks.
1977 Honda CB550F - Cafe racer project bike
2001 Honda Hornet 600  - All weather bike
2019 Triumph Speedmaster 1200 - Dry and sunny weather bike

Offline Bryanj

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2022, 01:35:06 PM »
Repair yours using the tutorial from Ash in alladins cave, cheaper than both

Offline Johnny4428

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2022, 02:39:03 PM »
Second that, I did mine for first time for the 750. Not a difficult job once you have the stuff.
1952 Cymoto on Triumph bicycle.
1961 Matchless G3
1974 Honda CB550K1. Running resto,
1978 Honda CB550K3.
1999 ST1100 Pan European 50th Anniversary.
1975,1980,1984,1986 Honda C90’s
1973 Honda CB750K3

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2022, 05:03:11 PM »
I am at t he same point with the sme question.

I priced up the reccomendede resin and the Milliput epoxy which came to, as cheap as i could price it, £54...............The new coils start at about £55 so I can understand why youre considering new ones.

I'm still not sure but it appears that I do have som HT lead  in stock :) ;D
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline AshimotoK0

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2022, 06:03:11 PM »
I am at t he same point with the sme question.

I priced up the reccomendede resin and the Milliput epoxy which came to, as cheap as i could price it, £54...............The new coils start at about £55 so I can understand why youre considering new ones.

I'm still not sure but it appears that I do have som HT lead  in stock :) ;D

Send me your address and I will post you enough epoxy to do a set of coils. The Milliput Putty will do about 3 sets of coils!
“Alright friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music. Believe me, yeah. It’s a new dawn.” Grace Slick, Woodstock '69 .. In the year of the Sandcast.

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2022, 06:47:48 PM »
Are you sure Ash, thast bloody good of yiou mate?
MIne are shagged with one of the leads broken off the front of the coils and hanging limp. I would like to do them but it was all about the cost and time equation for me as Ive just lost my job and having to reign things in a bit currently.  Let me have youre address in a pm Ash and I'll bung you some recompence for your kind gesture. Really appreciate this Ash, thankyou mate :) :)
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline deltarider

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2022, 09:09:53 PM »
Do the coils really need repair? I have had quite a few coils in my hands that by feel seemed to have flimsy plugwires, but in fact were OK.

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2022, 09:17:49 PM »
Yeah, its actually snapped inside and hanging by a thread.
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Rolfbulmer

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2022, 10:33:28 PM »
I am at the same point too. My coils ht leads look like they have been ripped out and thrown away - not with bike when I got it.
Cost of resin plus HT leads and plugs brings it to the point where new may be cheaper.
Just not sure what to do.......
1977 Honda CB550F - Cafe racer project bike
2001 Honda Hornet 600  - All weather bike
2019 Triumph Speedmaster 1200 - Dry and sunny weather bike

Offline Oddjob

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2022, 03:50:40 AM »
New may be cheaper but unless they are new genuine then they ain’t cheaper in the long run imo.

The original coils are extremely robust, the weak point are the leads, they are now 40-50 years old and subject to frankly a bloody hard life, hot/cold environment, water being blown onto them at high speed etc, it’s really a wonder they lasted this long.

From personal experience I find that fitting the coils backwards, so that the leads come out of the back helps a lot. Even in the 70/80s they were known for shorting out onto the engine, in the dark and damp it could look like some sort of laser show going on under the tank. I distinctly remember wrapping the leads in insulation tape back then. I felt the reason was that the routing of the leads caused them to be filled with water, as the coil exit faced forward water would get driven in there by the speed of the bike, collect in that area and the slowly creep down the lead under gravity. Turning the coils around stopped this, the leads now had to route across the engine and the heat helped dry them. I could run with bare leads again, even hold them and not get a shock. In short it stopped all the problems with shorting, the leads looked better routed across the top of the engine rather than having big loops exposed under the headstock. It also meant the ht caps were better protected as the coil leads were no longer facing forward and again open to water ingress but backwards and thus the wind now helped dry them instead of forcing water into the cap.

Just my experience, others have since done this and I’ve yet to hear anyone say it didn’t work better. ,
« Last Edit: May 01, 2022, 01:37:02 PM by Oddjob »
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline SteveW

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2022, 08:55:40 AM »
http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,14939.msg122821.html#msg122821

This is how I fixed my coils, been working perfectly ever since.
1974 CB550 K0
1980 CB650
2000 CBR929RR Fireblade
1966 Lambretta LI150 Series 3
1981 RD350LC
1972 Raleigh Chopper
1974 Raleigh Tomahawk
2011 Henry Hoover

Offline deltarider

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2022, 09:26:44 AM »
Excellent advice given here. In the meanwhile practice prudence when pulling the plugcaps. Always concentrate well to avoid too much movement resulting in hurted connections.

Offline AshimotoK0

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2022, 02:26:39 PM »
Are you sure Ash, thast bloody good of yiou mate?
MIne are shagged with one of the leads broken off the front of the coils and hanging limp. I would like to do them but it was all about the cost and time equation for me as Ive just lost my job and having to reign things in a bit currently.  Let me have youre address in a pm Ash and I'll bung you some recompence for your kind gesture. Really appreciate this Ash, thankyou mate :) :)

Don't need any payment chap.

I chose to use the liquid epoxy from RS because they quoted guaranteed electrical properties ... the epoxy putty manufacturer couldn't provide any such data. Plus the liquid epoxy flows in-between the HT cable outer cable and the body (which is not epoxy BTW it's injection moulded thermoplastic). I always abrade the outside on the HT cable and run a Demel with a ball ended tool on the end down the slot left in the coil body in order to remove anything which will prevent a bond  (i.e. dirt or  plasticisers etc  left from the old cable).

When I have a chance I will do some testing on the epoxy putty to see if it's dielectric properties are good enough .. i.e just use the putty for the whole job.
“Alright friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music. Believe me, yeah. It’s a new dawn.” Grace Slick, Woodstock '69 .. In the year of the Sandcast.

Offline Oddjob

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2022, 04:23:19 PM »
Still not done mine yet Ash, I intend to fill then hole to just under the coil body then fill to just above with Araldite and then sand smooth and spray the coil after with satin black paint after also replacing the wires to the points. Might as well do a decent job whilst I'm doing them. I have 3-4 sets of coils to do. I'll do mine, do a set for the BIL and sell the others. Mine will have red leads to match the NGK caps, might also do a spare set with black leads in case I don't like the look.
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline AshimotoK0

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Re: 550 F2 - ignition coils required. OEM or equivelant?
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2022, 04:38:25 PM »
Still not done mine yet Ash, I intend to fill then hole to just under the coil body then fill to just above with Araldite and then sand smooth and spray the coil after with satin black paint after also replacing the wires to the points. Might as well do a decent job whilst I'm doing them. I have 3-4 sets of coils to do. I'll do mine, do a set for the BIL and sell the others. Mine will have red leads to match the NGK caps, might also do a spare set with black leads in case I don't like the look.
On the last set I did for Trigger (last week) , the HT coil snaked quite a bit in the injection moulded case. That would have been really difficult to pull the wire out and even more difficult to push back in again.I prefer my original method of re-encapsuation and guaranteeing  getting a total bond all the way down the HT cable. After all, the fact that the HT cable pulls out of the originals shows that there was never proper sealing of the HT cable to plastic body. But horses for courses I suppose and both methods are  much better than buying really low primary resistance aftermarket coils IMHO.
“Alright friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music. Believe me, yeah. It’s a new dawn.” Grace Slick, Woodstock '69 .. In the year of the Sandcast.

 

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