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DOH! Ignition point system memory failure

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McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
Great explanation K2-K6 that I do not even begin to understand as a  complete sentence - way over my head.
The individual words yes, as far as the gestalt goes.....er no.

I'm left with the feeling it's sumat to do with the advancer magic.

Mikep328:
The actual "advancer" is the same on the OEM and the DSS electronic ignition.  The E-ignition retains the advance unit/associated springs/weights of the OEM system.  It just replaces the points plate with the electronic plate and the points cam with a different cam with magnets in it. The advance is still controlled by the weights/springs. 

But if I understand correctly, the dwell time of the system might be different which affects the charge of the coils and the subsequent potential spark energy.

Also, as I mentioned in the earlier post, the advance unit I installed with the OEM points is a stock Honda unit but it is not the same one that was in the bike with the DSS.  SO there MIGHT be a slight difference in the max advance due to manufacturing tolerances/wear difference.  As I said, I didn't check the "new" one with a strobe.  The old one (with the E-ignition) was exact at both idle and at max advance per the strobe.

Mikep328:
Checked/set  timing with a strobe and the OEM ignition is set per specs, as was the e-ignition.  The bike clearly runs a bit better on the OEM system.  Only items that remain unknown is the dwell spec on the two ignitions and the fact that the 1-4 and 2-3 timing cannot be individually set with the e ignition.  Unfortunately, I never thought to check the 2-3 timing with the e-ignition so it may have been correct...or not.

Re dwell...I have to admit that I ASSUMED that the dwell would be "better" with the electronic since, with points, the dwell diminishes as the RPM rises.  But I had assumed that longer dwell is always better than shorter dwell but apparently it's not.  Too much dwell can also cause problems.

And, worth some thought...some e-ignition ads rave about their constant dwell as eliminating the "problem" with the decreasing dwell of point ignitions above 5-6K RPM.  Sounds like a reasonable claim that should "enable" better spark production at high RPM with e-ignition.  But then there's the fact that Honda was spinning competition engines to 20,000 RPM on points in the 1960's!  So clearly, that particular E-ignition claim is not necessarily valid.

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