Author Topic: Timing a 1979 Kawasaki 440 invader with pulser coil  (Read 4226 times)

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Gogainable

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Timing a 1979 Kawasaki 440 invader with pulser coil
« on: November 24, 2017, 02:10:47 PM »
Have a 1979 440 Kawasaki invader with pulser coil instead of points with a CDI box can anyone give me the step by step procedure for timing the motor. I see on the motor case by the flywheel a symbol T and F is this top dead Center and fire or what are they indicating. Also how is the cdi box powered?

rminier

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Re: Timing a 1979 Kawasaki 440 invader with pulser coil
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2017, 11:19:14 AM »
 Refer to picture # 1. There is a line on the stator body at about the 3 o'clock position in the picture. That line should line up precisely with the top, straight line on the aluminum crankcase.....if I had 3 hands I would hold a pointer towards it... ;)
 If you err one way or another, err with the line on the stator plate a few millionths of an inch below (clockwise) the flat part of the aluminum boss.....if the line on the stator plate is slightly above, you will have advanced the timing a degree or 2...not good.
 My factory shop manual describes a fairly tedious process to verify the timing. It requires you have a dial indicator and a 12 Volt automotive style timing light. You use the dial indicator to find TDC on the mag cylinder, then rotate the engine back a certain distance.
You have to make a sheet metal pointer and mark the drive clutch at a precise point. You then have to run the engine at 6500 RPM. Adjust the position of the stator plate until they precisely align....see pic# 3.
 Align your stator as I described in the first paragraphs and enjoy life....I can describe the timing light method in more detail if you wish.
 Ragarding your questions about the ignition system:
 I do see the marks on the flywheel that you refer to.  (Pic # 2). The T must refer to TDC and the F must be "Fire". The Invader manuals make absolutely no reference to these markings.
 I'm going to tale a wild guess and say that this same flywheel was used on thousands of earlier engines that used points and condensers. You could use a 12V light or a buzzer to time the point opening to coincide with the F on the flywheel.
 Back to picture # 1, the large coil with the exposed copper windings is the lighting coil......absolutely nothing to do with ignition. It creates 12 Volt AC current to power all of the light bulbs. The tachometer also gets its signal from this coil.
 There are 2 more coils stacked on top of each other. The one closest to the engine is the exciter coil...the one on top is the pulsar coil....some manufacturers call it the trigger coil.
 The magnets in the spinning flywheel build up Voltage in the exciter coil. At a precise moment in time with the engine rotation, the pulsar coil zaps the Voltage from the exciter coil to the CDI box. The CDI modifies this voltage to various amounts of timing advance, depending on engine RPM, before sending the fairly low Voltage to the external ignition coil....which is just a transformer that steps the low Voltage up to 20000 or 30000 Volts...whatever is required to jump the spark plug gap.
 The CDI system has a couple advantages over the points system. It can vary the ignition timing as the RPM changes, and it can convert the Voltage generated by the exciter coil fully to the external coil, where the contact surface of points can become pitted, misaligned, corroded.....why CDI systems can provide more consistent Voltage to the plugs versus a point system that may have some wear....and the reason CDI systems are less likely to fail to fire a plug.....resulting in a fouled spark plug.

« Last Edit: November 26, 2017, 11:54:18 AM by rminier »
75 SnoJet Astro SS, 79 Kawasaki Invader 440 (two of them), 81 Scorpion Sidewinder, 82 Blizzard 9500, 83 Yamaha Vmax 540, 97 MXZ 670....and holding...for now.

rminier

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Re: Timing a 1979 Kawasaki 440 invader with pulser coil
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2017, 11:30:02 AM »
 Having trouble downloading pics....guess I will try 1 at a time....
75 SnoJet Astro SS, 79 Kawasaki Invader 440 (two of them), 81 Scorpion Sidewinder, 82 Blizzard 9500, 83 Yamaha Vmax 540, 97 MXZ 670....and holding...for now.

rminier

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Re: Timing a 1979 Kawasaki 440 invader with pulser coil
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2017, 11:55:24 AM »
Pic 3
75 SnoJet Astro SS, 79 Kawasaki Invader 440 (two of them), 81 Scorpion Sidewinder, 82 Blizzard 9500, 83 Yamaha Vmax 540, 97 MXZ 670....and holding...for now.