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OT; $400 question ATV irniter

I tried alt.electronics.repair and didn't gat any good ideas. I don't expect you geniuses to solve my problem but maybe someone can point me in the right direction. The 3-wheeler only cost $400 when I bought it used many years ago!

Between the flywheel pickup coil (magneto) and the high voltage coil for the spark plug there is a black box that controls the spark and its advance. This box on My Kawasaki 3-wheeler is called the Igniter and this simple tiny circuit board costs $400! It was designed before 1982 and contains one IC and a bunch of discrete components. There has got to be a better (cheaper) way to do this.

The spark starts at 10 deg before Top Dead Center and advances to 40 deg before TDC by 2000 rpm. Since electronics cannot advance time apparently the pickup is at 40 deg BTDC and the pulse is delayed to 10 deg BTDC at low speeds. If the timing delay fails the spark reverts to

40 deg BTDC for all speeds, meaning the engine cannot run at low speeds therefore cannot be started. Bad idea.

How could this black box be designed using components availiable today to control the spark advance, preferably adjustable or programable so it would work in a wide variety of ATVs etc? If possible It would be preferable to have the failure mode at low speed advance. Certainly I would hope for a price below $400. All suggestions welcome

Reply to
Nick Hull
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Look at the Boyer Brandsen electronic ignition conversion kits sold for the older Brit bikes. A swap meet should get you a box alone for about $40 or so, new kits run about $200 AFAIR. Use a magnet swinging past a coil to trigger, all timing is built into the box.

There may be other units out there that can be grafted in. Got a bike wrecker near you?

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

Some of the first solid state ignitions for garden tractors used two pins to trigger the coil. The one for TDC was taller and swung closer to the trigger coil. The advanced timing was shorter and wouldn't trigger the coil at lower rpms. As the rpm came up the advanced timing would kick in. Chrysler solid boxes have been substituted on some of them.

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Reply to
Andy Asberry

I can't answer your technical questions, but ebay and forums such as

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are good places to look for used parts, probably much less than $400.

Reply to
Gary Brady

On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:13:49 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gary Brady quickly quoth:

I've been working on my neighbor's 1985 Honda Big Red 250cc trike lately. 6 months ago, it wouldn't shift properly and he had a guy tear the right side case off and the guy shafted him. He said the clutches were bad and wanted $1,000 to repair it, then he stole some parts, "borrowed" my neighbor's DR mower and didn't return it, stole his Husky weed eater, and a few other things like that.

I got into it about 3 months ago and had my neighbor order the factory service manual. We ordered what looked like all the missing parts after I tore into the left side case and found the shift lever actuator bracket in 3 pieces. We could have welded it but he wanted to put a new piece in. C'est la vie.

OK, so I put it back together, it shifts fine now but I'm having trouble with the kickstarter ratchet always being engaged, as if the starter pedal is being held down. I've tried 4 ways to reinstall it, reading the installation instructions time and time again but I'm not quite "getting it", I guess.

Has anyone here torn these down before? What am I missing? I hook the spring on the cutout in the case, and align the ratchet lever with the ratchet guide, but the index mark is 180 degrees off. If I wind the lever around to bring the index mark up, the shaft unwinds by itself when I let loose of it to put the cover on. This is downright maddening!

Clues, please!

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

at the case, cover, and shaft to identify the "up-stop" where the shaft is positioned at rest. See what disengages the ratchet at that point. Check how the spring has to be wound and secured to hold the shaft rotated to that point. Also check how the ratchet is engaged and the spring wound when the starter is pushed down. This may help if no one has better information. Don Young

Reply to
Don Young

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