Z1300 Accel Coil Install

Recent Problems with Accel Coils!

Last Update 6/6/08

The last Accel coils I purchased back around 2004 measured more in the range of 3.5 - 4.5 ohms on the primary side, instead of the 3.0 ohms they're supposed to be rated at.  This high of an ohm reading is unacceptable for our ignition, so I suggest if you have a set of these Accel's, you measure the primary side of your coils and see what the reading is.  You can measure them just like it shows in the manual for measuring the stock coil.  If they measure right at 3.0 ohms I would guess that they'll work just fine, but if they're much higher than that you may have less spark than you should.  There are better coils out there that measure in the 2.7 - 3.0 ohm range as our bikes call for, and this is the preferred way to go for the best solution for replacement coils.

The reason I hardly ever post on the discussion groups is because I see people post with problems all the time that could very well be nothing more than BAD COILS, and they want us to speculate on what it COULD be.  But they THINK they're coils are all right because they've checked them and them ohm out OK, or they can see a spark.  But you know what...; they didn't check their coils when they were broken down on the side of the road when the coils were being cooked from the heat coming off that motor while they were sitting at a traffic light.  If you check them when they're cooler you might think they're OK, but with electrical components, it's a known fact they can break down under extremes of heat and appear to work just fine otherwise.  I assure you that the top of our motors fits the definition of "extremes of heat", and the coils just bake in it.

You can check to see how good your plugs are firing by pulling the 3 plug wires off one side of the engine - one wire at a time.  Put another spark plug in the plug wire, ground the spark plug on your valve cover and start your engine.  If it looks like you have a weak spark on any of these 3 wires then you should check the coils and if they read too high, consider replacing them with the newer Nology coils listed towards the bottom of this page or Dyna coils.  Back in 2005 I started using Nology coils, and I created a Nology install page for those that want to go this route.   david@kz1300.com

When it comes to state of the art plug wires, I found some interesting technology available from Nology.  Here's what their website says - http://www.nology.com/hot.html

Nology HotWires are the most technologically advanced ignition wires available.  HotWires create the most powerful spark possible.  HotWires are engineered with a special built-in capacitor, exclusive only to HotWires.  This revolutionary design allows energy from the ignition coil to accumulate in the capacitor until the voltage at the spark plug electrodes reaches the ionization point.  At that split second point the entire power of the stored spark is discharged at once, creating a spark 300 times more powerful.  The result is faster, more complete combustion, and most importantly, MORE HORSEPOWER that's 100%. Smog Legal.  US Patent #: 6,559,376.  Hotwires are available in Red, Black, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Purple & Silver.

Motorcycle - 2 Cylinder from $72, 4 Cylinder from $144

They sell a 3.0 ohm dual tower 'ProFire' coil - part number: PFC-30D, that should be a good replacement for our original coils and they claim a spark voltage in excess of 55,000 volts!  They provide you all the information about their products in a pdf file including their Hotwires and silver electrode spark plugs.  A sales guy at Nology said that this coil will measure 2.4 ohms when you test it with a meter, but it can be used on bikes that call for a 3.0 ohm coil.  Our bike actually calls for a 2.5 ohm coil, so this is a perfect fit for us and probably for the 6-cylinder Honda CBX too as I understand those guys were using the same coil we were.

I see JC Whitney sells Nology products and their 'ProFire' dual tower coils sell for $77 though they only show a fitment table for Harley motorcycles (the PFC-30D also fits Harleys), the Hotwires sell for $220 for a set that will fit our bikes (as I was told by a sales guy at Nology) and the plugs list for $7-$8 each (I bought the S7 plug).

Click this link to find a lot of ebay sellers offering Nology products also.

My recommendation at this point is to use the new technology 'Nology' ProFire ignition coils.  They're small, light, easy to install and they state: 

"The available spark voltage is in excess of 45,000 volts over the entire rpm range, and spark energy is equally impressive."  

The correct coil for our bike is # PFC-30D which also fits some Harleys.  Shown in the pictures below is a 'S7' Nology Silverstone spark plug which they state: 

"The large diameter silver center electrode of Silverstone spark plugs increases spark carrying ability and spark power by as much as 137%."  

They has a cross reference which shows the S7 plug to be the best selection for our bike.  I'll also be trying some of their wires in the future.

I bought my Nology coils on the web at PerformanceDepot.com because they were willing to accept payment via PayPal for the purchase.  You can also buy them direct from Nology.  I paid $72 each for the coils and $7 each for the plugs approximately.

PerformanceDepot.com Inc.
318 N. Carson Street, Suite 208
Carson City, NV 89701
M-F 8:00am to 5:00pm PST
805.857.4910

Original Accel Coil Page

These install methods are relevant for all Z1300's, ZG1300's, KZ1300's or ZN1300 Voyager's.  The only difference is that 79' to 83' Z1300 or KZ1300 bikes have a ballast resistor shown in one of the pictures below which must be removed when installing these 3.0 Ohm Accel coils, putting newer Kawasaki 2.5 Ohm coils on an older Z1300 or KZ1300 with 1.5 Ohm coils, or generally upgrading your Z1300 or KZ1300 to any 2.5 to 3.0 ohm coil.  None of the 83' and up ZG1300 or ZN1300 Voyager bikes had a ballast resistor installed to my knowledge, so these bikes can be swapped out directly with Accel coils or Dyna coils or any other 2.7 to 3.0 Ohm coil even if it comes off another bike I presume.  Also, the positive and negative connections on your original coils can go to either terminal on the Accel's.  They don't have specifically a positive or negative terminal so it doesn't matter how you hook them up, but don't ask me for an explanation as I didn't design the coils. 

Since we don't have a capacitive discharge ignition (CDI), but rather an electronically triggered or inductive ignition system, part numbers for ALL 1300 models are 140403 for a kit with 2 coils, and 140403S with the 'S' meaning a single coil.  So to get the 3 coils for our bike, you buy a 140403 kit which has 2, and a 140403S kit which has a single coil -  

   and # 140403S for the same kit with a single coil.  

Note: Using the wrong coil may damage your motorcycle's electronic ignition module.  To determine the ignition type, perform the following test:

1.  Using a 12 volt test light, hook the test lights clip-on wire to ground and the probe end to the positive side of the coil.  On our bikes it's the pink wire coming off the coil or the yellow wire that went to the ballast from the harness.
2.  Turn on ignition but DO NOT engage the starter button.
3.  If there are 12 volts at the coil, the motorcycle has inductive type ignition.  If there is no voltage at the coil then the motorcycle has a capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) because the power goes to the control box first.

Accel Super Coil Kits for Universal Applications

High-output coils for use in either 2- or 4-cylinder motorcycles.  Motorcycles with point or electronically triggered ignitions use part #140403(MAW# 07284) or #140403S(MAW# 07287).  Bikes equipped with capacitive discharge ignition (CDI) use #140404 (MAW# 07302) or #140404S(MAW# 07303).  Accel engineers designed these coils' special low-resistance primary winding to match the operating characteristics of factory and aftermarket CDI systems.  You get maximum performance with fast rise lines.  Includes extra-heavy-duty 9mm silicone wires.  Made in the U.S.A.  Note: Using the wrong coil may damage your motorcycle's electronic ignition module.

http://www.accwhse.com/accell.htm#Coils

Order # Price...... Description......
(07284) $124.95 Accel 4 Cylinder two Coil Non-CDI #140403
(07287) $67.95 Accel 2 Cylinder one Coil Non-CDI #140403S

   This Accel  instruction sheet that comes with the coils indicates our bikes use the 140403 coil.  This holds true for the ZN1300 Voyager models too and though we don't have the Z or ZG models in the US, I'm sure they also use the same coil.  Since we need three coils for our bikes you need to order both part numbers as one kit has two coils and the other kit comes with one coil.  Both kits above come with brackets, hardware and wires as shown.   Or there's a 3 coil kit available from -

Accel 140403 three coil kit with 9mm wires for $220 as of 6/06 from CBX Performance!  Order off off ebay or online from their website!

* Includes extra heavy duty 9mm yellow silicone wires, boots, clips
* Leader in ignition coil technology
* Quicker starting, better mileage
* Higher voltage, faster rise time and longer spark duration
* Very racy looking and milestones ahead of stock CBX coils
* Easy to install-direct replacement
* Spark voltages over 35,000 volts 

http://www.cbxperformance.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?template=el_coils.html

Or try ebay.com for used or new Accel coils.  I see coils on there most every week.

  140404 coils for comparison.  They look the same but they won't work on our bike as they're made for a bike with a capacitor discharge ignition or CDI.  Many times 1300 owners will refer to our bike as having a CDI when they're talking in reference to the igniter that fires our coils, but our bike does NOT have a CDI.  

Original install method #1

The first pictures are a 1980 KZ1300 I installed Accel coils and 8.8 mm wires on using the brackets and wires that come with the kit.  As you can see, even these 8.8 wires fit very nicely, so there's really no reason to run the wires off the back of the valve cover as you see in some pictures, or snaked around the front of the motor as I've seen in others.  

My coil for cylinder 3-4 is indexed a little low, but I turned it slightly the next time I fit it up.  These are a very tight fit and must be removed to get the valve cover off, but they mount in the stock locations.  It's very time consuming to get these on as they have to be indexed (turned) perfectly to get the wires to fit good.  

Number 3-4 coil has to be tie-wrapped on the front side because the clamp would interfere with the upper radiator hose otherwise, and the rear clamp needs a notch ground into it so the coil can be slid back as far as possible so the coil itself doesn't touch the radiator hose.  This is assuming you use the mounting brackets that come with it.  On down the page I came up with what I think is a better mounting solution, please read on.  

  the 3 coils with wiring harnesses installed off the old coils.  These should really be better connections than the butt splice connectors I used here, but these are my test coils.  Yours should have new wires with soldered connectors and shrink-wrap.  All 3 coils bolt up to the stock mounting holes though I trim some excess in the length of the mounting brackets.

  close up of right side # 3-4 coil showing modifications to bracket.  Bolt on the one end is difficult to get at.  Make sure your mounting bolt isn't so long that it touches the electrical connection on the end of the coil! 

  same

  # 2-5 coil is indexed perfectly.  It's a tight fit, but note how well the wires fit if you do it right.

  # 3-4 coil installed, it's indexed a little low but the groove you cut in the bracket as shown above is what indexes the coil, so make sure you get it right.  If not, you'll have to elongate the groove for adjustment.  8.8 wires fit perfectly if you take the time to cut and index the ends just right.  On those short wires you can't twist them much to make them fit, so you have to make sure you crimp the ends on at the proper angle (see below).  When you crimp it wrong you'll see what I mean!  It would be best if none of the wires touched each other at all once they're installed to cut down on crossfire from inductive current, but with these premium spiral core wires I guess that's a mute point. 

  # 1-6 coil shown with original ballast resistor mounted.  Ballast was mounted here for effect, and (to show it's original mounting position on the bike) as it's not used with anything but the original stock Kawasaki 1.5 ohm coils.  Remove the ballast and make an electrical connection from the yellow power wire to all 3 pink wires.  These wires provide 12 volts to the coils.  You can cut and solder all 4 wires together and shrink-wrap them (preferred), or you can use connectors of some sort as long as you have a good waterproof connection when you're done.  The yellow wire that you're connecting to the pink wires goes back (through the ignition switch) to the positive (+) side of the battery.  

  # 1-6 opposite side.  You also see all 3 coil wire connectors in this shot.

   Here's some pictures Tim K. sent of what his original coils looked like when he went to change them.  My those are big cracks you have Tim!  

   Here's the ones I took off my 7000 mile 79' A1 that I bought early 2003'.  I try to tell people that not only are these coils marginal at best when they were new, but they're prone to crack after even a short period of time.  I told the guy I bought this bike from to replace the coils and it would probably run just fine, but he didn't believe that the coils could be the problem after only 7000 miles.  He could see that they were sparking so he thought he must have some other problem.  I bought the bike, replaced the coils and it ran perfect.  

Even if your bike seems to run good I would replace the coils for a performance advantage.  These bikes are known to be hard to start.  Hot sparking coils make all the difference in the world.  Newer Kawasaki coils are OK for a bolt on replacement when you're removing the ballast resistor, but they won't necessarily cure the hard start issues some of us have.  Outside of the Cam Chain Tensioner issue, replacing the coils are the best improvement you can do on your bike.  Whether you go with Accel or Dyna coils is not the issue, but getting a hot coil on the bike really seems to make it respond.  Expect to have to re-adjust the idle speed after installing the coils because I've seen it jump 300-400 rpm with just a coil replacement and the gas mileage to improve drastically.  What does that tell you...

Install Method #2

Here's the second coil installation method I tried.  I'm mocking up the coils to the bike with tie-wraps so I can see how well everything fits then I figure I'll use some eye-hook type bolts to mount the coils with permanently.  Since you can turn the coils so the wires come off towards the front or towards the rear of the bike, I'm just trying to see what seems to work best.

   I usually cut the original wires off the coils and use them on the new ones after I've soldered and heat-shrunk the ends.

   Here's some pictures member Tom Wilson sent in on his recent Accel coil installation.  I like 90 degree terminals on both ends of the wire because I think it looks cleaner.  The spark plug end on these wires comes with and end that can be bent to a 45 or 90 degree angle, but when you bend it to a 90 the rubber boot won't conform totally so it looks more like a 45.  Since the tank fits down close on top of the wires and on the bikes that have a fairing with lowers, the lowers fit real close to the outside plugs, it really needs a 90 degree boot on it.  

I'm looking for some wires that are made with 90's on them so it will have a nice tight fit rather than use the wires that come with the coils.  I wouldn't of used the metal hose clamp to secure the front of the coil and on the way I'm installing these coils above, I eliminate the mounting brackets and clamps that come with these coils and mount them right up against the bike frame.  The frame has indentations in the metal which seem to be the perfect size for the coils to fit it nice and tight.  By doing it this way, they mount higher than they would using the brackets supplied with the coils and I can mount the coil over the radiator hose in the stock location without it touching the hose.  Just a 1/2" higher mounting makes all the difference here. 

Install Method #3

Install method as of March 2003.  This is the perfect example of how NOT to install these coils!  I was trying to come up with a better mounting solution than using the supplied generic brackets that come with these coils for 2 reasons.  Number one is that you may buy some used coils off ebay like I do and they don't have the brackets anyway, but number two is that the right side coil fits too tight against the radiator hose and the bracket has to be modified at that as you see above.  The issue is that the original brackets just hold the coils too far away from the mounting plate.  If you mock these Accel coils up on your bike you'll notice that these coils fit perfectly in the indentions in the mounting plate where the original coils were mounted.  The problem is that you have to index them properly, or turn them in other words so that the coil towers are pointing at the correct angles to get the wires on.  This means that you can't just bolt them up the same way the original coils were mounted.  

After working with different ideas for a new mounting design, I thought of the following way to mount them using 1/4 eye bolts that I bought at the local hardware.  The real issue was having to bend the eyebolts at all the right angles so that once mounted, the coils would be indexed properly and the wires would fit on.  Secondly, the bolts would touch one screw terminal where the wires attach, so I had to trim the excess terminal off as shown to make room.  I used a vise to help me get the bolts shaped correctly and eventually mounted them successfully using this technique.  Problem was, when I tightened the bolts down I guess it was too much strain on the coil core and I damaged two of the coils.  Guess you live and learn but I really didn't know they'd pop quite that easily.  

So this mounting idea is a bad one because it puts strain on the core at odd angles, where using the holes in the end of the cores to mount them similar to the way the original coils are mounted with spacers would be ok no doubt, they just won't bolt on our bike that way.  You'll notice that our mounting plates have large holes in them basically where the coil towers would come through should you try to mount them straight up or down with the towers poking through those holes.  I thought of that first as that would be an obvious solution if they would mount that way, but there's not enough room to accommodate it.  If you look at the pictures below where you see a close up of the two bottom coils mounted; these coils are sitting in the original spots and you can see that the two bottom coils are too close together assuming you tried to mount them that way as the tower on the top coil would be sticking straight down in-between the two bottom coils.  You can see there's not enough room for that and it wouldn't be any different for the bottom coils with their towers sticking straight up as they'd be touching against the top coil.  If they were just a little wider apart, this is the way I'd mount them no doubt, but the difference is that they're quite a bit larger in diameter than the original coils.

So I nixed this idea but I still wanted the coils to mount flush with the mounting plate.  The only other solution I could come up with was what you see below in the next set of images - install method #4

Final Install Method #4

OK, so now we get to the final solution!  Using radiator hose clamps to mount the coils.  The only real downside to this I feel is the fact that you have to cut slots in the stock mounting plate.  Maybe not everyone will want to do that because it will take away some of the originality of their bike.  If that's the case, just send us some pictures of how you got them mounted.  We already know you can mount original style Kawasaki coils off a newer bike in the original mounting holes and that's an improvement over the original KZ1300 coils no doubt, but we're talking about a better way to mount these Accel coils.  If you come up with something better than this please share it with us.  Instead of a hose clamp I guess a real large black tie wrap would hold the coil adequate enough.  If you had one as wide as these hose clamps it should be plenty strong enough to hold this coil in place I'd imagine.  

One thing that will become immediately obvious if you do the install this way.  You must install the top coil first!  There's no way to get the hose clamps through the slots for the top coil if the bottom coils are in place.  Since the right side coil is a little harder to put on than the left; it's better to put the top coil on first, then the right coil, then the left.  As you can see, I mounted them so all my wiring comes off the front and up.  It's a little difficult to pull the wires through on the right coil and snake them up the front side, but it's easier and neater to do the connections when they all come together like that.  In reality, it makes no difference whether the leads come off the front or the back on any of the coils as long as you position the coils with the towers at the correct angles when you put them on so you can get the spark plug wires slipped on them easily enough when you're done.

   These 3 pictures show where the slots should be cut.  Only thing I think I would of changed is to bring the outside slots on both sides just a little closer towards the center of the bike or farther away from the frame tubes.  The four inner slots I think are right on where they need to be.  To make the slots I do the layout and drill a number of small holes where the slot will be, then come back with a larger drill bit and open up the small holes using them as a pilot hole for the larger drill bit.  Then I deburr everything best I can.  This can be difficult to get all the burrs off especially underneath and a Drimel tool would be very helpful if you had one.  I didn't, so I just used some very small files and work at it for awhile till I get it as smooth as I can.  You'll find that it's easier to drill 3 sets of slots from the left side of the bike because the mounting plate is not formed exactly the same on left as it is on the right.  Only the right side holes should be drilled from the right side.  I just touched mine up with some spray paint when I was done. 

  Getting the hose clamps to come out one slot and in the other may be best accomplished by bending the end of the clamp just slightly so you can get it to fish through the slot.  Once you've pulled it through you can bend it back.  The red tie wrap you see is a very handy item to have around.  You can buy these at hardware stores, auto parts or electrical supply outlets.  They're Velcro ties and very strong.  Perfect for holding something in place or out of the way temporarily.  

This is how I index the coil end of the wire before I cut it off and crimp the end on it.  The black mark down the wire is basically my index mark so I know at what angle exactly I want to crimp the end on the wire and the other is where I'm going to strip the insulation back so I can fold the core over.  The wire core has to fold over and be crimped underneath the metal cap on the end of the wire so it makes a good connection and transmits a good spark.  

This is an absolute MUST DO and you want to be very careful not to cut into the wire core and damage it when you're stripping its insulation back.  The reason you can't just crimp these ends on in any position you want is that it puts the wire under strain if it's not indexed properly.  You shouldn't have to twist the wire when you go to snap it on to the coil or the spark plug either way.  It should just fall into place with the boot naturally pointing to the terminal when you push it on.  On the long wires, if you had to twist them a little it wouldn't matter so much, but I assure you on the two short wires you'll discover that you can't get them on unless the boot is indexed at the correct angle.  Those short wires don't twist and for sure if you use 8.8 or 9mm wires you won't get them on unless they line up just right.  

I make these index marks on my wire basically by fitting each wire on the bike one at a time.  Normally the wires come with the spark plug end already attached by the manufacturer of whatever brand wire you're using.  You have to cut and make the connection on the 'distributor' end of the wire (if it was an older car you were using them for) or the coil end in our case.  I snap each wire on the spark plug, run the other end up to the correct coil and pull the excess wire on through.  Usually I just make an initial cut on the wire leaving 2 or 3 extra inches more than I know I'll actually need for that particular wire.  This is to make sure there's no strain at all on the wire before I make my index mark.  

I spent a few hours of trial and error to come up with the wire runs as you see in the pictures so that everything fits up nicely.  The wires hardly even touch each other if you do it just right and it gives you a really clean install that looks good when you're done.  I run these wires through just as you see below, lay the end right over the front or back coil tower, whichever I thought it fit better on and make my marks.  One mark indicating where I'm going to cut the wire and strip it and the other mark where I'm going fold back the wire core under the metal cap and crimp it basically 90 degrees to the coil tower.  I pull the wire out, make my final cut about an inch past my 'strip' mark then very carefully cut the insulation with a razor and try to get the insulation off without cutting into the wire core itself.  

If you cut the core you'll damage it, so the trick here is to cut it most of the way the first time and then bend the insulation a little and make more cuts around it until you've cut it about 95% down to the core.  Usually you can just twist the insulation a little and pull and it will pop right off without actually having to cut it 100% down to the core.  I basically just pull up a chair and sit there next to the bike and do the whole thing without pulling the wires back off once I've connected them to the spark plugs.  I just connect all the wires to the spark plugs and drape them towards the rear of the bike and then pull one wire up at a time, cut off the excess, lay it over the coil tower, make my marks, pull it out, cut it, trim it, crimp the end and then fish it back through and snap it on the proper coil tower and go to the next.  

It helps to get some silicone spray from the auto parts so you can slide the boots on when you're done.   Also, I don't normally use the crimp tools that come with the wires to crimp the ends.  I've always just used some 'channel-lock' and long nose pliers to get the crimp formed just the way I want it.  I've never seen crimp tools supplied with a wire set that will make a finished connection strong enough by itself that you don't need to do anything else to make make it hold good, but they're fine to get the end crimped on initially.  After using the crimp tools they supply, you still usually need to clamp down on the ends a little better to make sure you've got a connection that won't come back apart.  Since you have to pound on those crimp tools with a hammer I'd pull the wire off and do it on the bench if you go this route.  

Each time I do an install like this I print out a few of these same images I've got here and take them out to the bike with me so I can see exactly how each wire runs.  It usually takes me most of a day to get the coils mounted and a couple more hours to sit there and connect the wires.  I just take my time with the goal of making it look right when I'm done.  Your wire set may or may not come with wire separators, but if not you should get some as they're cheap and they make the install look a lot better as you can see here.  

   Right side

   Left side

These pictures were taken on the original install above when I was using the eyebolts, but they detail the correct routing of the wires just the same.  None of these wires hardly even touch each other if you're using the wire separators.

   I'm using 8mm wires instead of the 8.8mm that they give you with the coils.  You can buy better spiral core wires if you feel the need.  They come in different colors and even 9mm or larger wires will fit no doubt, but the real issue to make a clean install is the 90 degree spark plug ends.  Those 8.8's Accel gives you in the kit have an end on them that can be bent to a 45 or 90 degree angle but they really won't stay at 90 degrees.  They tend to ease back to more like a 45 degree angle over time because of the way the boot puts pressure on them.  True 90 degree ends make a cleaner looking install and from experience I'd say they're easier to snap on and off the plugs over time without damaging the ends.  

Here's another install method posted by Gary G. that's a variation on method #1: http://www.merchctr.com/Coils/Index.html

I copied the following off the FAQ page:

Q:  Can anyone tell me which color wires feed which coils for the relevant cylinders?

Q:  What is the replacement Accel coil part numbers for the 1980 KZ1300B2?

A:  Accel part #'s are 140403 (2 coils) & 140403S ('S'ingle coil). The same coil for all year model KZ1300, Z1300, ZN1300, ZG1300 and Voyager 1300's.  All year 1300's use the same Accel coil.  On the older bikes (82' or older) with the ballast resistor you simply pull the ballast off, toss it in the trash and install the coils without a ballast.  On the newer year model bikes that came without the ballast, you simply mount the coils and ride.  It's that simple.  I even have a page that shows you how at - http://accel.zn1300.com/

Q:   I have read the coil section on the FAQ and I have a manual.  I'm thinking of changing to DYNA coils, but in the UK, the only ones I can get are 2.2ohm.  The section states I have to have 2.5 ohm total.  If I fit the 2.2ohm coils with the ballast resistor removed, will this fry my ignition system?  I have the 81 model with the one year only  ignition system.  The reason I ask is -

1. the coils are expensive and cannot be changed once I have bought them.
2. if I fry my ignition system, I wont be able to get a spare one.  Any thoughts on this before I purchase the DYNA's?  IAN

A: If you read the FAQ above then you saw this -

: some calcs : 12v and 2.5ohm = 4.8 amps (Normal) 
: 12v and 3.5ohm = 3.4 amps (weak spark) 
: 12v and 1.5ohm = 8 amps = fried CDI unit, but good spark while it lasts ;-) 

You can see that the higher the ohm coils you have the less amperage they pull through your igniter, so it appears that the 3 ohm coils put less load on it.  Dyna makes a 3 ohm coil 'DC1-1' as does Accel and I've used the 3 ohm Accel's successfully for over 20 years as have many other members.  Why don't you buy the Accel or Dvna coils from the US and just have them shipped over there.  Wouldn't that be cheaper?  There's 2 sources listed for Accel coils on the links page - http://www.kz1300.com/linkspage.html 

They're $180-$200 plus shipping and shipping to the UK or anywhere else in the world shouldn't be a problem.  However, if you want to use the Dyna coils, here's what Dyna recommends -

"Please note that we would recommend the DC4-1 coils (listed as a DC41 on some internet sites), with a primary resistance of 2.2 and the secondary at 14K, this looks like a perfect fit for the specs you gave us.  The Plug wires we would recommend with them are the DW800 x 2.  They have a suggested retail price of $23."

http://www.dynaonline.com/english/coils.htm

So, they recommend 2.2 ohm coils instead of the 3.0 ohm.  One reason I can guess at for this is because I've measured various coils and found that they tend to read a little higher than what they're rated at.  If you purchase their 2.2 ohm coils and measure them you might find that they measure somewhere between 2.5 - 3.0 ohms.  From experience, I'd say the same goes with the Accel so the decision is up to you.  It would be better if we could find a coil pack for a V6 car with 2.5 ohm coils, but I've searched the internet and couldn't find any that have that high of resistance.  All of the one's I've found so far measure under 1.0 ohm.  

You can purchase the Dyna's on the Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse website for $113.95 in pairs (2 coil sets).  david@kz1300.com  

See -  http://www.mawonline.com/dyna.htm#Coils

or Motorcycle Performance Specialties- For $111.60

See -  http://www.mpsracing.com/products/Dyna/ig01aa.asp 

I read about Bob's coil install on the Canada site.  I did some research and found the 1990 Buick Reatta and Regal and others have the coils he described.  Part # Niehoff  PT223, CSK Skucks auto # DR185.  This coil seems to work great and measures 1.5 ohms so you have to keep the original ballast resistor or add a 1.0 ohm ballast resistor to it if you're going to use it on a newer 1300 that came with 2.5 ohm coils.  I have about 200 miles on it now with Accel spiral race wires and my 82 KZ1300 runs better than it ever has with cleaner exhaust smell and sharper response.  James Inman in Alaska 

Dave,
I got a hold of a new GM (NAPA/Echlin) coil pack today, application: 90 Buick Reatta as per the last update and it measured 1 ohm per coil!
Rick 

Q: Why do you feel that it's better to use the Accel's or Dyna's over the newer Kawasaki coils off a Voyager that are a direct bolt-on?

A:  The 84'-89' ZN1300's have what I would consider to be a better coil since you can replace the wires, but they still crack with age the same as the older ones and they're just as likely to break down when they're hot as the older ones.  New high performance coils are the 2nd most important preventive maintenance modification you can do to this bike. They're very reasonable new either from Dyna or Accel and you can buy Accel's or Dyna's cheap a lot of times when you can find them up for auction on ebay. 

And even if the original coils on your bike worked perfectly, I'd still toss them!  Why?  Because I can just about assure you you'll be able to tell right off that the bike runs much better and gets better gas mileage with the higher performance coils on it.  It's a high performance engine, but the original style coils and even the newer stock Kawasaki coils are marginal in my opinion.  If that's not true, then why do the Accel coils make such a noticeable improvement over 'good' coils when I put them on?  I don't even check the original coils anymore, I just trash them, period.  

That might not seem prudent for some of you, but I run my bike hard.  I'll get by with good coils as long as I have to, but the minute I get the money together for a set of coils I'm going to put them on.  I don't want to be sitting at a light somewhere for 30 minutes waiting to crank my bike because it stalled, or at a gas station after a fill-up and I can assure you my wife won't put up with that but once.  If the bike breaks and has to be hauled home she'll understand, but she's not going with me if the bike's just going to die whenever it feels like it.  She'd rather stay at home till it's fixed.  

If I was a bike mechanic and was use to taking my bike apart and knew just what to check when I had a problem, I might feel like I could live with regular coils on my bike.  I might feel confident I could isolate that problem the day it manifested itself, but I'm not, I don't, I just eliminate the problem and then I don't ever have that problem.  So when I have a problem, I know it's not coils, it's something else.  If my Accel coils ever fail I'll let you know.  david@kz1300.com

©1998-2008 VWD Internet™
All Rights Reserved.