Newtronics Ignition

chrispyduck

chrispyduck

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Has anyone any experience with fitting and running the Newtronics Electronic Ignition ?
They seem quite simple and straight forward in that it retains standard coils so it looks relatively easy to install ??? Yambits are selling the kit in the UK for £163 which seems reasonable. I did consider the Tri Spark, more expensive but has replacement coils !!

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
chrispyduck said:
Has anyone any experience with fitting and running the Newtronics Electronic Ignition ?
They seem quite simple and straight forward in that it retains standard coils so it looks relatively easy to install ??? Yambits are selling the kit in the UK for £163 which seems reasonable. I did consider the Tri Spark, more expensive but has replacement coils !!

Thanks in advance.

Chris
Click to expand...
I have just fitted electronic ignition to my 77 650D. I ruled out Newtronic because it retains the mechanical advance and I wanted to go fully electronic. I seriously considered TriSpark but thought it a bit too expensive. I opted for the Boyer Bransden. There's a recent thread by me "musings on Boyer Bransden ignition". Might be worth a read. The BB kit is decent value for money and comes complete with a new PVL coil.

Link - https://www.xs650.com/threads/musings-on-boyer-bransden-electronic-ignition-kit.66824/
 
chrispyduck said:
Ha ha just been reading your thread.........didn't seem to be an easy job with the BB kit.
Click to expand...
It's very easy to install actually. Apart from the niggles over setting ignition timing, it's a good kit for the money. I think it was £183.

I would recommend it despite it's annoyances. The sparks are far better than the original 48 years old Yamaha system.
 
XSTime said:
When the coils, points, condensers, plug leads, and plugs are replaced for due servicing the system is in fact new again. A 48 year old system design yes, but as good as new.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Where I had a problem is with the rubbish that is sold today as new after market parts. I was going to keep the points ignition going. But threw the towel in after new condensers and one new set of points being bad. Can still buy new Yamaha points and condensers. But I found the cost of them is ridiculous. Hence why I switched to the BB system in the end.
 
The Newtronics I have heard of is using the stock advance mechanism.
That is causing problems ,Can wear .Spring gets sloppy and .. sticking on the advance rod
Needing service.
Starting problems

If you ask me the £ 20 extra for Boyer is worth it
Boyer is Not perfect ..But a brand who have done it for a long time

If the advance unit shows wear .. The newtronic perhaps needs new advance parts expensive parts
 
chrispyduck said:
Thanks for the replies. It’s looking like the Boyer Branson kit is favoured here. Strangely I hadn’t even considered it as the Tri Spark kit was on my list.
Click to expand...
I think there's supporters and detractors of all the available electronic systems. There's always someone out there who had one fail irrespective of the brand.

Despite my reservations over the detail construction of the BB kit, for the price it does a good job. Frustrating as it might be for you to set the static ignition timing, once running and set with a timing light, probably never have to set it again. I like the PVL ignition coil that's supplied in the BB kit, quality piece of hardware. You need to fabricate a mounting bracket for the new coil. That for me was basically cutting a piece of angle iron to size and painting it.

Worth reading the threads on here about fitting a BB kit. It's not hard to do. Good luck. (One last thing, you don't use resistor spark plugs with the BB kit. The kit comes with resistor plug caps).
 
Signal said:
Well the Boyer works is reasonably priced and has good aftermarket support. There are better systems about but the price increases accordingly.
Click to expand...
Yes Boyer does the job. It's only drawback is that it's cam driven so the timing does change as the cam chain stretches. That's really not a big deal as the timing retards. Not going to hurt the engine other than a very little loss in power. Since the timing is easily checked and adjusted it can be put back to where you want it every 10,000 or so miles.
 
XSTime said:
When the coils, points, condensers, plug leads, and plugs are replaced for due servicing the system is in fact new again. A 48 year old system design yes, but as good as new.
Click to expand...

From the Joe Minton article on hopping up the XS....


1723078141700.png

1723078200129.png
 
Hello Jim 🍻 quoting me on this subject is interesting, but please there is no need for you to quote me as I don’t quote you. You are a very talented man, but.. Enough said.
Who is Joe Minton ? He is a man who wrote this book in the 70’s ? Well ironically a million guys were also tuning Yamahas in the 70 - 80 ‘s too. That includes me.
IMG_7666.jpeg

Minton quote- Stock Yamaha couldn’t light a match ? What the hell ?
Having owned 6 (SIX) now XS650’s through out my adult life all of era 77 through 79 I have do disagree by proven personal experience. Believe it or not I’ve only changed the points on one of those 6. (But now my 2nd time project just because) The 77 which had 30k miles on it, I did. (Unknown history)
It is easy to tune a XS650 twin points ignition! , even a high school rookie (me) could do it then.
ALL of my XS650’ with completely stock ignition or original design with minimal component replacement kick start easily on perhaps the 2nd kick. For decades. I consider the electric start for emergencies.
I’ve owned three which have made it to 105mph according to the Speedo, in other words, they start easily, idle slow, and run fine on stock 77-79 points ignition. It works.
I have no tuning experience with pre 77 or post 79 XS650’s (yuck) because why would I ? Maybe Joe Minton was referring to earlier models ?
Let’s give him that credit I suppose.
Everybody drinking the coolaid and anxious to online purchase an electronic ignition, good for you. It’s been entertaining for me for many years to read of the complications and failures.
And 80 on gonzo boxes / stock box failure ? Whatever flips your switch.
XS650’s are by no means a performance thrill ride. They shouldn’t be considered as that. 50 horsepower is the bare minimum to be safe on a public highway. That should be realized and accepted.
Stock 77-79 XS650’s ignition systems light the fire well enough for the engines performance expectations.
You want faster ? Easy, buy a faster motorcycle.
 
LOL, bit touchy today TS, don't like people quoting you or if someone does a ...............in a post.......

Been a couple of threads where new points fixture point bushings have disintegrated. So there is that problem that has raised it head. That is a side of the road, phone the wife situation

PamcoPete did a ride test, (using his pamco ignition), on a 30 mile circuit, Tried to do it in the same conditions, same speed and time of day to replicate the test as accurately as possable. 81SH. Cant remember the exact detail but these are near enough.

Used the pamco in all trips.

1). Used a standard coil with the and standard plugs
2), used Fixed lead coil, (MikesXS), has a longer duration, and standard plugs.
3)used a high output coil with standard plugs.
4) replicated 2 and 3 with iridium plugs.

Fuel consumption went down with better coils and plugs, better efficiency. This equated to a near 10mpg, I think it was about 50mpg to 60mpg. This test proved better coils and plugs gave better scavenging/combustion, in turn that equates to better HP.

Maybe Minton was onto something
 
At least one 70s magazine test had coils on Japanese and British bikes lacking. They retrofitted K Mart coils for significant improvement. My Red Bike has a stock TCi system that seems to be OK. I do have a gonzo and pigtail ready if I have a problem.
 
XSTime said:
Who is Joe Minton ? He is a man who wrote this book in the 70’s ? Well ironically a million guys were also tuning Yamahas in the 70 - 80 ‘s too. That includes me.
Click to expand...
Mind if I quote you? No? Oh well... :rolleyes:

Lots of people tuned bikes back then. They all knew Japanese coils were crap. Perhaps you didn't get the memo? ;)
 
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