Coil mod

[motoman]

instead of adding another point of failure, I would correct the wiring deficiencies

JMHO

Exactly my thoughts! In my Venturers case, that missing three volts of smoke to coils was leaking out of ignition switch and kill switch. The stock 3ohm coils didn't help matters any being at 2.3 and 2.5ohms respectively. They got replaced with Honda VF series coils along with new solid core wires.

[skids]

By changing where the voltage drops occur we are changing the transient response of the circuit. Again, I'm relatively new to this black magic and smoke since I've still got a semester of my bachelor's left.

Hey if you aren't sure what it does, DON'T TOUCH IT! That is the most important thing that I learned outside of electrical engineering class.

[b.walker5]

You are way over thinking this. Do what you think you need to do, but after 35+ years as an electrician, I can tell you that, in the long run, your knowledge of inductance and capacitance theory will have little impact on the relatively simple outcome of increasing the voltage at the coils, which will best be achieved by cleaning up your connections. As Steve has said, unless the wiring has damaged insulation, there will be little to no corrosion in the wiring. Corrosion issues will be at the connections, and are easily cleaned.

And FWIW the wiring size is more than enough to deliver full voltage in the absence of the ballast resistor. Like I said, the circuit doesn't care one way or the other, it was only the coils that cared.

[D0wn5h1ft]

You are way over thinking this. Do what you think you need to do, but after 35+ years as an electrician, I can tell you that, in the long run, your knowledge of inductance and capacitance theory will have little impact on the relatively simple outcome of increasing the voltage at the coils, which will best be achieved by cleaning up your connections. As Steve has said, unless the wiring has damaged insulation, there will be little to no corrosion in the wiring. Corrosion issues will be at the connections, and are easily cleaned.

And FWIW the wiring size is more than enough to deliver full voltage in the absence of the ballast resistor. Like I said, the circuit doesn't care one way or the other, it was only the coils that cared.

Do you know of anyone on here that's remade their wiring harness? I know that I've seen a website that sells all the different kinds of wire to match the colors that we need. It'd be a fun, albeit time-consuming, winter project but the gains might be worth it (?)

[natemoen]

The cost to remake a harness would be huge!

[D0wn5h1ft]

The cost to remake a harness would be huge!

Connectors, wire, shrink tube, and electrical tape. That's it. It would take a really long time to perfectly duplicate one the original.

I would personally replace all of the existing molex connectors with a cheaper, more modern option since you'll be paying top dollar for those "retro" connectors. Maybe $100 - $150 if I wanted to get fancy with it.

[b.walker5]

Connectors, wire, shrink tube, and electrical tape. That's it. It would take a really long time to perfectly duplicate one the original.

I would personally replace all of the existing molex connectors with a cheaper, more modern option since you'll be paying top dollar for those "retro" connectors. Maybe $100 - $150 if I wanted to get fancy with it.

Not sure a out a complete rewire, but there's a couple of threads here about bare bones looms. Some of the cafe racer guys strip their looms down to the bare essentials, and some of them have made complete custom looms.

Your right, the cost wouldn't be huge, as Nate suggests, just time consuming. Cable is relatively cheap, especially if it can be got at trade prices, and the rest is just connectors and tape. Done right, there's probably a small market for them here.

[natemoen]

Ok, "huge" is a very vague word.....

If you were to replicate the harness with wire colors and all (which is what you make it sound like you want to do) I would estimate you would spend upwards $150+ on the wire alone.

[b.walker5]

You boys in the States must be paying far too much for wire if that's the case Nate. I just done a quick costing here, and I could make the entire loom for that. With current exchange rates, $150 NZ equates to about $110 US, so definitely not huge. Of course, that's materials only cost. Labour cost would drive that up considerably.

[IanDMacDonald]

I've been busy away, but a few things to note. The coil relay mod is very popular on the GS site. Quick simple mod if u don't feel like rebuilding the harness. I have re-built three harnesses. Fairly easy. Grab a piece of osb and trace the outline of the harness. Cut the harness open and replace every wire with new. Don't use those bullet connectors. Go with insulated spade connectors. Do away with the pin connectors, and instead use the GM weatherpak connectors. My first two builds used original connectors through vintageconnections.com, buying a barrel crimper, etc.

[IanDMacDonald]

And Gabe, ur once again over-complicating things with the engineer talk. I have a two-year degree in electronics, and found only the basics applicable to much of anything on this site. Formulas etc., look fancy, but all you need to know is it does exactly what it says it does: delivers source voltage to the coils.

[crazy steve]

You boys in the States must be paying far too much for wire if that's the case Nate. I just done a quick costing here, and I could make the entire loom for that. With current exchange rates, $150 NZ equates to about $110 US, so definitely not huge. Of course, that's materials only cost. Labour cost would drive that up considerably.

Wire cost costs here are high, but the main problem is finding a vendor that sells in the small quantities needed and carries enough different colors. They are out there, but they all charge a pretty stiff premium over 'regular' prices.

Copper prices have gotten stupid high; we've had morons killed trying to steal copper out of live installations. I can remember taking telephone cable to the landfill by the truckload because the scrappers wouldn't take it, now it's worth decent money without being stripped...

[IanDMacDonald]

we've had morons killed trying to steal copper out of live installations.

Theft is so bad up here, they have so many laws going on the books dealing with just that and scrap yards. People stealing commercial AC units off roofs, stripping houses of everything while on vacation, etc.

I re-did the harnesses with larger gauge wire, but not color-coded, and fairly cheap.

[MPittma100]

99.9% of the time

Almost always a voltage drop turns out to be a poor/corroded/faulty/mis-wired GROUND.

I would verify or improve the current factory ground on any of the 11s before hunting a voltage drop problem.

Poor grounds cause high resistance and resistance causes heat and heat causes poor connections.

Upgrade/improve the less than desirable OEM chassis grounds to direct battery grounds first. Then go hunting voltage drops. You might find that you have magically cured the problem.

Mike

[James England]

Formulas etc., look fancy, but all you need to know is it does exactly what it says it does: delivers source voltage to the coils.

Hear hear. Realistically, that formula will make very little sense to most people on this forum and therefore doesn't contribute much. Personally, I think posting formulas should be banned!