Converting Boyer to PamCo???

smokenjoep01

smokenjoep01

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:banghead: I have had it with the Boyer Branson in my XS. its a complete system with the mini coil. I have already had to replace the blue box once last season. Saturday I went for a ride. Stopped at a gas station and fueled up. Pulled off and when my light turned green the bike died.
After several attemps at kicking without any pops, sputters etc. I checked for spark and NOTHING. Its getting old being stranded on the side of the road. My set up is very minimal. No starter, horn, turn signals etc. Ive wired a dozen bikes. Use heat shrink solder, Gel battery kept on a battery tender etc. The blue box is mounted out of the elements,free of vibration and heat.
It just dies at random. :wtf:
I think its time to try the good ole American made PamCo. At least if that shits the bed I can ride down and have Pete straighten me out!
Whats needed to swap? I have a 1977 and had to put a rod through the head etc. Whats usable and whats not and what will need to be changed?? Also seen several kits available on Mikes XS. I dont want anything High performance/Votage etc. Stock spec are fine for my stock displacement 750.
So what kit is needed?
Were to buy it for the best price?
Whats parts are gonna need to be removed/added?:banghead:
 
I put one on and it works excellent. Starts right up hot,cold no problems yet! First got it and it would not even think about starting with the electric starter! Now even cold ,twist throttle an 1/8 or more and bang,... off she goes.
 
Do you still have your advance rod assembly and auto advance?

You'll need those with the pamco.

Sorry to hear about your boyer, mine has been a set and forget piece.
 
Sucks to hear. Given the amount of information about the Boyer needing a solid 12Vs to fire, perhaps the battery is the weak link in your setup? Sorry to state the obvious....
 
I chased Boyer issues for a long time and found out it was the battery. New battery and everything is fine. Though in hindsight I would go with the pamco just because Boyer is so voltage sensitive.
 
I have a Pamco and it's been good. I had some trouble initially and Pamco Pete was more than willing to help me get it sorted, I would recommend the system and it's maker, highly.

~ Derek
 
smokenjoep01 said:
:banghead: I have had it with the Boyer Branson in my XS. its a complete system with the mini coil. I have already had to replace the blue box once last season. Saturday I went for a ride. Stopped at a gas station and fueled up. Pulled off and when my light turned green the bike died.
After several attemps at kicking without any pops, sputters etc. I checked for spark and NOTHING. Its getting old being stranded on the side of the road. My set up is very minimal. No starter, horn, turn signals etc. Ive wired a dozen bikes. Use heat shrink solder, Gel battery kept on a battery tender etc. The blue box is mounted out of the elements,free of vibration and heat.
It just dies at random. :wtf:
I think its time to try the good ole American made PamCo. At least if that shits the bed I can ride down and have Pete straighten me out!
Whats needed to swap? I have a 1977 and had to put a rod through the head etc. Whats usable and whats not and what will need to be changed?? Also seen several kits available on Mikes XS. I dont want anything High performance/Votage etc. Stock spec are fine for my stock displacement 750.
So what kit is needed?
Were to buy it for the best price?
Whats parts are gonna need to be removed/added?:banghead:
Click to expand...

get it right from pamcoPete, if you have the advance with rod and weights all you need is the pamco, www.yamahaxs650.com.. i have the green coil with 2 out puts on a 78 wiring system. i dont know a thing about the boyer system. not sure what you would have to change if anything
 
I have 2 XS's both running Boyers. No problems until I decided to go to the permanent magnet and a smaller battery. I am now in the process of swithing to a Pamco to see if that will allow me to run with a smaller battery. No starter, signals etc. I wanted to get rid of that big ole battery and clean up that area where it resides on the cafe bike.
jefft
 
I run the Boyer with stock charging system and a small cigarette pack size battery (12v 0.7mah). Everything works great except the high beam ;). The Boyer has been very show time rotisserie for me, "set it and forget it". Will only be switching because of my impending rephase.
 
I could understand and deal with it being voltage sensitive. But I have NO spark with 12.8 volts at the coil!
Say I did have a weak battery and the voltage dropped below 12v. Shouldnt it fire the ignition when the battery voltage came back up to proper voltage after charging?
 
Yes, your iggy should fire if everything was healthy; the issue with voltage and the Boyer is that weak power to the box will disrupt the advance curve. The Gill coil supplied with the kit has a reputation for failing; you might want to ohm it out and see what you get. If it's bad, any 0.6 ohm coil will do ya.
 
Low voltage kick back, bad Gill coil. These are problems I've dealt with or heard of.

Did you say the problem is intermittent? IOW, the engine runs fine then suddenly, mysteriously stops? Maybe there is a problem with the wiring? You can run a jumper from teh battery directly to the ignition and bypass all teh system wiring, if the problems go away the source is somewhere with the bypassed wiring.

Also, check the solder joints on the board. The Boyer wires had a problem breaking at the solder joint a long time ago. This was on Brit bikes with the older analogue Boyer so may not be a problem now but it is worth checking on. There is much vibration. BTW, this happens to other bikes and cars and all sorts of different stuff, so isn't just a Boyer failure.

Tom Graham
 
This problem is not interment. The bike runs fine for X amount of time before the new style sealed blue box stops sending a signal to the coil to fire.
I replaced the blue box about 8-12 months ago and it ran like a champ till it died and now has no spark. I ride the bike maybe 50 miles a month. The battery as tested when I got the bike back to my house was 12.8 volts at the battery and 12.6v at the coil.
 
Joe,

I see. It was the "dies at random" that threw me off. Sorry to go on and on. Be aware the Pamco will pop if a plug wire is off (not grounded) even if the ignition is turned on, then off. Pamco has given good service if left alone after the initial install. Just be sure the battery is disconnected (key off) before any spark plug work.

Tom
 
I just pushed my bike 3 miles home because I have no spark with my Boyer ignition... AGAIN!!
I checked my wiring connections when it quit and the blue box felt pretty warm. Haven't. tested anything yet because I'm resting from pushing it home but my headlight seemed pretty bright when I turned it on. There was a major blizzard here recently and even tho my bike was covered snow got packed in everywhere on it. I'm wondering if there's. moisture in that blue box. If it's. bad I'll prob switch to Pamco instead of replacing it.
 
Only had 11.3 volts at the batt and 11.11 at the coil. I'm hoping because I haven't rode it for a while and it's been down to freezing temps at night. Have batt on charger now and I'll check alt when I put it back in. Thinking I should do PMA swap when I can afford it.
 
Off the topic slightly but before playing with XS650's I mostly was into 70's Triumphs and all of them were converted to Boyer Ignitions that were rock solid when you had at least 12 volts. The only odd thing we did was to use 6 volt coils because of the correct ohm's. tim
 

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