Terry
You ask about experience with coils and electronic ignition. Here it is, I try to keep it short. The bike is a 1975 400 f.
Setup:
• CBR 600 coils
• Accent CTRL fully programmable ignition [not to confuse with Accent ELZ2coil – what is an electronic on/off switch to replace the points].
Results:
• starts excellent
• idles fine and stable with the sound of a sewing-machine
• improved throttle response – more ‘punch’ between 4000 – 6000 RPM
• no longer sputter/flat spots when starting from traffic light or agonise in stop-and-go
• Would do it again
Side-notes:
Modern coils produce stronger sparks – but consume more electrical power. If you connect such a 3Ω coil to points your alternator won’t feed enough juice. This problem can be solved using an electronic trigger with a [coil-]charging time about 120° crankcase-rotation [e.g. Accent ELZ2coil, delivered on demand for low-ohm-coils].
Fully programmable ignitions are nice-to-have toys.
Advantages:
• You are sure the advance begins/ends where you want [and not where an annealed spring tries to act].
• You are free to fix idle-advance without influence to full advance [mechanical advancers have a fixed range between min–max]. So you can start with 10° idle-advance and give some extra-degrees on max.
• You can define any dwell-angle so your [modern]-coil gets enough but not too much current.
Disadvantages:
• Not cheap
• You need to hide the control unit somewhere
My Ducati is working with the Czech Ignitech without any problem. Unfortunatly the last months I read about problems on newer versions so I decided to not continue this path an bought the German Accent – their standard product [ELZ2coil] satisfied me 100% but I wanted to get rid of the mechanic advancer. You should know that the programmable Accent-version is designed for 750 advancers, the center-bore is 15.0mm, 350/400 is 13.5mm. I solved that by machining a completely new mount.
If you like spending the nights reading basics:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,29545.0.htmlOr how a German guy installed Ignitech:
http://www.caferacer-forum.de/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=8683So – hope that helps coming to a decision.
Daniel