The main thing I can see wrong is the awful crimped connectors on an otherwise fairly pricey bit of kit, and the use of the original, 35+ year old wiring loom. Talking to a mate who races a triumph trident running a boyer, he said that they don't do well with bad connections. In addition, I'm convinced that part of the reason the bike constantly fouled the LH plug was the crappy, corroded connectors.
To solve that, I've made my own wiring loom for the ignition. I'll doubtless rewire the whole bike eventually, so this is a handy start. Here is a step by step guide how, including all wire lengths and additional info if you want to keep points, but rewire the ignition anyway. All connectors are crimped the soldered on, which prevents corrosion getting in the joint and gives much better conduction. Obviously I should warn you that you do this at your own risk, etc etc. Also I've not actually ran it at time of writing, so let me know if you spot any major clangers! (edit-done 70 miles now, seems fine)
First, here's a shopping list. Order yourself 3 of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170575512135
One of these
And a packet of these
These plugs and bullets all fit with original kwak plugs, which will be handy.
Now go to Maplins, and get some reels of yellow, red, white, black, blue and green wire in 0.2mm size. You also need some 5.3mm eye connectors (to go on the coils) and some heatshrink. I forget which sizes I got, but you want one that'll take 1 wire and one that'll take up to 6 wires. You'll ideally want one 6mm eye connector too, though if you don't fancy buying a whole bag you might be able to file/drill out a 5.3 one.
Here's what you get in your kit: A stator plate with 3 coils, rotor with 3 magnets, blanking plate, a magic black box and 3 diodes (wires with lumps in). You also get some shitty suitcase connectors, a couple of cable ties, a sticker and some instructions. The instructions look pretty clear, it's a shame what they tell you is a terrible lash up.
There is one major thing to remember with this system: unlike the points, the boyer fires all 3 cylinders every 120 degrees of crank rotation, thus giving two wasted sparks on each cylinder. Therefore the blanking plate covers all but the centre firing mark (used for strobing), and the 3 magnets and coils give 3 signals to fire at once, the box somehow taking an average of the three.
Remove all the alternator covers, and the points cam. Keep
the centre bolt, but the cam is now retired.
Get your alternator, and remove all the points and
condensers. These join the points cam in the retirement home for old triple parts.
You’ll need to snip the 3 points wires.
Also, unless the screws holding the points on were
immaculate and you have the correct JAS screwdriver, bin the bloody things and
get some new bolts from screwfix. You can even go stainless steel!
You'll need to check the fit of the parts. The mask plate fits on the
alternator thus, with the little hole lined up to the keyway and the big hole
over the Centre cylinder firing mark
The new rotor has a roll pin that fits through the plate
into the alternator rotor keyway. On mine, it needed some doctoring before it
fitted, so check it now.
Note that the boyer rotor goes on last, don't out it on tight yet.
Finally, check the fit of the stator on the alternator
casing. Mine needed the centre hole and outside diameter gently sanding out til it fitted. Don’t
force it, the plate is brittle. You want to be able to rotate it freely, as you do when adjusting timing.
We'll start with wiring up the points side. For the boyer you only need
two wires-green and blue. Cut a length of each to 590mm. If you’re keeping
points but just want a new loom, you need a third black wire too.
Tin the wire ends, then crimp then solder appropriate bullet terminals to each of the
wires. This will allow you to easily remove the stator if you need to. If you’re
doing this on points, still put bullet terminals in, it makes condensor
replacement much easier.
Don’t omit the rubber insulating sleeves on both male and female
bullets, these go over the wire before putting the connector on. On two wires running together I usually put one as male and one
female, so you can’t cock up the connections.
Put about 120mm of heatshrink on the two loose wires, and
heatshrink the stator wires too. It neatens things up a bit. Give the
bullet ends plenty of wire sticking out the heatshrink though, you need the
flexibility for setting up.
Poke the heatshrunk ignition stator wires through the same gap that the
original loom wires went through. Note that Kawasaki put them between the alternator
winding wires, so that they’d be held clear of the rotor.
Since I'm in there, I put new wires on the alternator too. First job is to make new wires for the coils. Cut yourself a 620mm length each of yellow, and
pink (or red if you can’t get pink) wire, and 640mm of white. Strip about 8mm
of insulation and tin up one end on each
Note the alternator wires are 3 different colours. You might
have to pull the outer sheaf back as shown to expose clean wire. Kawasaki have
obviously taken great pains to ID these wires and ensure they only go into the
regulator one way, so we’ll go with it. It’s probably important.
Do this stage one wire at a time, so you don't muddle the colours. Cut one on the coloured side,
not the copper wire side, of the joint. Slide the insulation sleeve off and
you’ll find this handy connector (green arrows in first pic). It's a bit blurry, because I'm complete crap at photography
As you can see, I've already removed the old wire. Heat it with a soldering iron whilst pulling on the snipped
end, and you’ll be able to reuse it. Give it a good clean with electrical
cleaner and a brass wire brush
Solder the correct coloured wire on of the 3 you cut before,
then cover the joint in heat shrink, like this:
Repeat for the other two wires, note that the white wire doubles back on itself in the
heatshrink. This is why you need the extra 20mm length, as I discovered after
cutting mine too short.
The original wires were bundled together to keep them off
the rotor. Use another bit of heatshrink over all three like this, it’ll give
another layer of insulation too.
Finish the job here by putting about 30mm of heatshrink on the red, white and yellow wires, as shown above. (left of photo)
Cut a 440mm length of wire for the neutral switch. Kawasaki
used a light green/turquoise colour, I used black because it’s what I had. If
you’re still on points you already have a black wire, so use something else.
Cut two more bits of heatshrink sleeve, 90mm to go over the
blue and green points wires (and black if you’re still running points), and the
neutral switch wire of whatever colour you chose. Also cut a 70mm length, to go over the three
alternator wires. Slide these over the other ends of the wires, those not attached to anything yet. The sleeves need to be 40mm in from the free ends of the points wires and 160 from the free ends of the alternator wires. Pull the wires tight and straight as you shrink the sleeve to
avoid kinking later.
(note when I took this picture, I stuffed up the sleeve position on the alternator wires, hence they don't look like 160mm from the free ends)
Cut a 360mm length of heat shrink. Cut a small notch 140mm
from one end, for the neutral wire. Slide this over all the wires, with the notch closest to the alternator/stator. Remember to pull the neutral wire through
the notch:
On your old harness are two D shape rubber grommets, remove
these and fit to your new loom once you’ve shrunk the sleeve.
Take the three alternator wires, and cut the insulation
about 110mm from the end. Strip about 23mm off the end, then pull the remaining
piece until you get this:
Twist the middle together, then fold in half and tin up, then solder on a male tab from the 4 pin plug sets.
I forgot to photograph that bit, but here's what it should look like, minus solder:
I forgot to photograph that bit, but here's what it should look like, minus solder:
On the remaining end, solder the male spades from the 3 pin
inline plug. Repeat for the other two alternator wires. Picture of the end result is further down.
Using the old loom as reference, fit the various tabs into the relevant plugs. Note the orientation of the plastic bodies, they only fit together one way.
For the boyer wires (green and blue), you can either use bullets crimped and soldered as before, or another multi plug like I have. The neutral wire is the only thing left. Originally it is on the same multi plug as the points wires. Because I am going to plug the boyer box directly into the new plug (more later), I had to cut the neutral wire on the main loom out, and solder on a bullet connector like so:
Eventually, you should get something like this.
Eventually, you should get something like this.
Which will all plug together into the old loom to make this:
You can now bolt the engine back together. The blanking plate goes on the generator rotor first, with the small hole lined up to the keyway as shown at the start. The alternator goes on next with the stator plate for the boyer. Note that the first rubber grommet goes here:
And the second here, when you fit the sprocket cover
The boyer stator doesn't need to be bolted tight, as you set the timing by strobe once it is running. The last bit to put on is the boyer rotor, with the peg in the key slot as shown before.
Now for the magic boyer box. In the kit there’s 3 green wires with
funny lumps in, these are diodes. Each coil needs one between the box and its
negative connection. These must be connected the right way round, green wires go to the green wires on the black box, black wires go to the coils on the negative side. Boyer managed to crimp the wrong connectors to the wrong ends of the diodes on my kit, so if you're keeping them make sure they're right.
As standard, kawasaki have a small link wire that attaches to the coil terminals with an eye, and a bullet at the other. Boyer tell you to plug the bullets they fit into the bullets on those wires. For the two coils further back, I put an eye terminal straight on the diode, thus doing away with a connection. For the third coil mounted at the front, I made a new link wire.
Depending how you mount your box, you'll be best making your wire to suit. Note I've replaced the boyer crimped connectors with another multi plug, between the diodes and black box. Remember too that all the coils are now fired together, so you don't need to worry about which diode goes to which coil, or indeed which lead goes to which plug.
As standard, kawasaki have a small link wire that attaches to the coil terminals with an eye, and a bullet at the other. Boyer tell you to plug the bullets they fit into the bullets on those wires. For the two coils further back, I put an eye terminal straight on the diode, thus doing away with a connection. For the third coil mounted at the front, I made a new link wire.
Talking of multi plugs, you'll need to put suitable connectors on the blue and green leads that go to the ignition stator. If you mount the black box with the wires facing backwards, you can plug the box straight into the new bit of loom without needing a link piece in between. Put a suitable piece of heatshrink on them first though.
The last two wires to connect are the power wires for the black box. The black earth wire wants an eye connector soldering on, big enough for an M6 bolt. If you look on the left hand side of your bike you'll see a load of earth wires go to one bolt, put it in here:
For the yellow wire, pick any of the yellow power leads into the coils and cut it's female connector off. Solder on a male connector, then make a new link wire with an eye on one end and a double female connector on the other. Solder a male connector on the black box wire, then connect them all up like so:
The last bit of fitting is to mount the black box. I used the cable ties as instructed, but with it facing backwards (see above):
That's about it. Timing is set using a strobe at idle, plug your strobe into any of the cylinders and rotate the back plate until the C mark lines up with the static mark. If you don't know how to do that, your local friendly bike shop should be able to help.
Hopefully someone will read this and use it, it took me longer to write up than to actually do it!
For the yellow wire, pick any of the yellow power leads into the coils and cut it's female connector off. Solder on a male connector, then make a new link wire with an eye on one end and a double female connector on the other. Solder a male connector on the black box wire, then connect them all up like so:
The last bit of fitting is to mount the black box. I used the cable ties as instructed, but with it facing backwards (see above):
That's about it. Timing is set using a strobe at idle, plug your strobe into any of the cylinders and rotate the back plate until the C mark lines up with the static mark. If you don't know how to do that, your local friendly bike shop should be able to help.
Hopefully someone will read this and use it, it took me longer to write up than to actually do it!
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