Coil upgrade

I upgraded the coils on my CB500s a while back, 4 months ago to be specific and after 6000 miles I think that it can I can pass it on as a successful test.
I decided to change from the ancient type of coil to the stick coil on plug type that modern sports bikes use. This in my mind eliminates a lot of connections which are potential failure points as these only require the 2 wires from the loom. Age is also a weak point with the conventional coils as the leads/plug caps degrade in time and so reduces the spark energy at the plug.
The throttle pick up is a lot crisper since these were fitted and I am well impressed with the fuel economy too.
The coils that I fitted came from a 2002/3 CBR954 fireblade, you also need the connectors so that you can neatly connect the 2 wires that originally go to the coils to, well yes the new coils. It was that easy, no messing about having to fabricate mounting brackets as with the dyna coils which I have used in the past.
In fact I think the hardest part was removing the original coils/leads/bracket.
They are longer than would be ideal so I will eventually get around to getting a piece of rubber to stop any crud getting into the plug area, but I've had no issues with it yet.
So there you have it, a relatively cheap and easy upgrade that improves reliability, throttle response and efficiency. Although on saying that the efficiency bit will still depend on how you ride it!

Nice one Andy! To be honest mine is working well and I have a pair of coils in reserve should I ever need them but it's definitely worth knowing!

That is really cool, thanks a lot for that, i will following your lead on this while on my weight loss program!

Where could I get some of these coils? Feel a bout of upgradeitis coming on...

Basil Moss wrote:Where could I get some of these coils? Feel a bout of upgradeitis coming on...

Strange as it may seem, but I noticed that the Fireblade that donated the coils and ignition loom to suit my needs actually had twice as many bits as I really needed.
So I actually have a spare pair of coils with the connectors ready to fit.

PM sent!

The CB500 engine basically half a 'Blade engine.

badseeds wrote:The CB500 engine basically half a 'Blade engine.

To a degree yes, but there are many differences. I'm actually looking into the possibilities of a bigger bore using fireblade pistons. It really depends on the limitations of the cylinder wall thickness. The pistons measure up OK, when I get some time I hope to start a thread on the engine tuning. I am quite curious to see how far I can take it with the 500 engine and whether it's worth it?

ANDYC wrote:

badseeds wrote:The CB500 engine basically half a 'Blade engine.

To a degree yes, but there are many differences. I'm actually looking into the possibilities of a bigger bore using fireblade pistons. It really depends on the limitations of the cylinder wall thickness. The pistons measure up OK, when I get some time I hope to start a thread on the engine tuning. I am quite curious to see how far I can take it with the 500 engine and whether it's worth it?

Blade pistons will only make a difference if they have a tighter tolerance than the CB pistons (which they will) both in terms of weight, shape and size. So long as you get the piston/bore clearance correct you should see some gains. I have been looking at doing this for a while :]

There are other differences like valve angle, deck height and the design of the whole piston with it being of the slipper type.
The main improvements would be due to the larger bore un-shrouding the valve area allowing better gasflow, there would be a small increase in compression and the slipper type pistons create less friction on the cylinder walls. The standard fireblade pistons are about the same weight as the 500 ones although slightly larger and much stronger. These are cast pistons, there may be bigger differences in the forged ones available though.

Hi
I have heard you have to match the resistance of the original coils did  you measure the stick coils andthis prove an issue or did you just replace them.

Mike

Navymike wrote:Hi
I have heard you have to match the resistance of the original coils did  you measure the stick coils andthis prove an issue or did you just replace them.

Mike

I just tried them and they work fine, I've done 18k on them now.
When I fitted dyna coils many years back I questioned this issue and found that it made very little difference. I happily used 3 ohm coils on my FZR1000 even though 2.2ohms were the specified ones for yamaha models.

Hi

are you still running this coil setup, hows it going. I now have a set of stick coils that i was going to use and just wanted to see how yours were going before I bit the bullet. Did you just wire each one to each coil input or did you wire them in series.

Many thanks for your time 

Mike

Still going strong Mike about 45k since I fitted them now.
I wired them up as the original coils were, which donor bike did you get them from?

Hi mine are from a vfr800 and have a primary resistance of 1.8 ohms, also where did you get your connectors for the coils from.

I bought an original harness from ebay for the fireblade 954 to suit the coils, or in your case the vfr800.
They are probably the same connectors but it's not worth the risk of being wrong.

G3o wrote:

ANDYC wrote:

badseeds wrote:The CB500 engine basically half a 'Blade engine.

To a degree yes, but there are many differences. I'm actually looking into the possibilities of a bigger bore using fireblade pistons. It really depends on the limitations of the cylinder wall thickness. The pistons measure up OK, when I get some time I hope to start a thread on the engine tuning. I am quite curious to see how far I can take it with the 500 engine and whether it's worth it?

Blade pistons will only make a difference if they have a tighter tolerance than the CB pistons (which they will) both in terms of weight, shape and size. So long as you get the piston/bore clearance correct you should see some gains. I have been looking at doing this for a while :]

hi guys

is there a topic about this? i want to know more!  

mikey

Take a look at my track bike project thread Mikey.

Just for the record this coil set up has now done 58k with no problems at all.

ANDYC wrote:Just for the record this coil set up has now done 58k with no problems at all.

Interesting read and mod! I am all about the efficiency and weight saving at the moment. 

Sorry for the thick question but what else do you need other than two of the four coils in this ebay listing (i.e. what do you mean when you mention "connectors" - is the CBR954 coil wiring loom needed)?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-2003-Honda-CBR954rr-Ignition-Coil-Set-/152265493451?hash=item2373bb0bcb:g:Fj4AAOSwmLlX5pYS

Thanks!

It just makes the connections neater I guess, you may be able to get suitable connectors on their own but I took the easy route and soldered the fireblade connectors into my loom.

ANDYC wrote:It just makes the connections neater I guess, you may be able to get suitable connectors on their own but I took the easy route and soldered the fireblade connectors into my loom.

That is so much cleaner looking! Thank you for getting back to me. I may try and source some of those connectors. 

(I think I recognise those Ramair filters from somewhere!)

I have some coils with connectors available if you're interested. I needed larger filters to suit the 38mm carbs, which explains the spare ones I had.

Haha you are the man! OK great can you PM me price etc? Delivery to IoM. Cheers!

This is a brilliant little thread for upgrading the coils. Didn't realise they had started doing this with them built into the spark plug cap.

They also look better than I thought they might

Any loom extending required or just chop, solder and heat shrink?