Dyna S ignition

BOETJE

Junior member
Location
NEW ZEALAND
My 750 SF 2 came with a Dyna S ignition system.
Does any of you have experience with them on a 750 , regarding reliability ?
With the few spares of the bike , there was trigger coil , with " Faulty" written on it.
Doesn't fill me with confidence some how....
I still have to take the bike out for a shake down run ......do I need a back up van ?
 

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I have only seen them on SF used for racing, on the RH of the crankshaft so running at crank speed, with fixed timing - no advance system. They are also used here and there on other classic bikes. The main problem I seem to recall is that the control boxes can give up the ghost a bit too frequently, misfiring etc, not necessarily just dead. You shouldn't need a backup van following you around, if it gets you around the block it is likely fine.
 
With the Dyna you still have the mechanical advance, so it’s less sophisticated. Quality of Dyna components is usually quite OK.

Marnix
 
We have very similar Dyna systems here on my CBX and Christiane's V65... they both work fine. My understanding is they are well regarded and pretty reliable. If they ever give trouble however, I will just replace with an Ignitech-based system.
 
Thanks guys
We have a company here called Pazon, that makes good stuff.
So if this one packs up, I mightlook at those.
Problem is that the twin's vibrations tend to wreck stuff left right and center...
 
I've been running a Wassell Vape for four years now. Starts so easily, even with an almost flat battery.
 

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I have a Dyna ignition on my Guzzi LM1. It was on the bike when I bought it and it's still running OK so I haven't had a need to replace it.

However, like Marnix said, it's pretty unsophisticated. It has no electronic advance map so relies on the old mechanical advance. It also energises the coils when the engine isn't running (unlike smarter systems). I noticed that one day when I had the ignition switched on while poking around with a multimeter (tracing a fault). I touched a coil and it was nearly hot enough to burn my hand. I disconnected the coils before continuing with my fault finding.
 
The Wassell has electronic advance ?
If so , do you have the advance curve ?

YES...I also had red hot coils....The previous owner had the coils wrapped in rubber.
I made new brackets out of steel to have a bit of a heat sink.
Just had a short test ride. Seems to run ok.
Last time I did ride my Laverda was 40 years ago.
Jeez...can't remember it vibrating so much in the pegs...nor being so noisy mechanically.......:unsure:
 
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I've used them a lot on race and road engines. The biggest failure point in my experience has been the rider. As Cam says, if the ignition is left on it powers the coils. When things get hot enough, the coil fails and the trigger unit for that side erupts resin and smoke....
Not pleasant when you're waiting on a dummy grid to go out on track.
The later Dyna 2000 is a better more sophisticated unit. With a range of curves to choose from and a limiter.
 
It's a scary event, I had that happen to my Wilson Ignition once. Huge amount of smoke, I thought my shed was on fire.
 
From which model is the Dyna ignition adapted? I don't recall seeing any Laverda reference in the Dyna web page.
Also interesting to see a Vape ignition on a Laverda. Only come across Simson two strokes or Trabant cars with Vape ignition.
 
From which model is the Dyna ignition adapted? I don't recall seeing any Laverda reference in the Dyna web page.
I just had a look at the Dynatech website, and you're right. They don't offer any ignition kits for Laverdas. Their selection for mid-70's bikes is limited to BMW, Ducati, Harley, Honda and Kawasaki. A brief look at other decades didn't expand the choices much.

However, the ignition module is the same regardless of what bike it's installed on. The only issue is finding pickups and rotor that will fit on a 750 twin to replace the points.

For a Laverda 360° twin with points running off a 1/2 speed rotor, you need a pickup plate with two pickups set for equal firing intervals (pickups at 180°) so you can rule out Ducati and Harley from the choices offered by Dyna. That narrows the options down to BMW, Honda and Kawasaki. The old Beemers have a weird setup with what they call a "bean can" ignition module, so I reckon you might have problems adapting that one. So you're left with a Honda or Kawasaki kit.

It probably doesn't matter which one you choose. Either way, you'll more than likely need to do a bit of modification to fit the rotor on the Laverda advance mechanism - maybe bore it or sleeve it to fit the Laverda shaft. I presume there's a key in there somewhere that will need to be accommodated too. Any general engineering workshop will be able to sort that if you don't have the means to do it yourself. Attaching and timing the pickup plate shouldn't present any problems beyond drilling bolt holes in it.

Having said all that. The obvious question is why bother? There are better ignitions available than the crappy Dyna S (as discussed above, it's an unsophisticated device that in my opinion is poor value for money).

Electronic Sachse and Red's Ignitech kit are both simple bolt-on conversions. No farting around with engineering modifications to make it work and either of those will give the bike an easier life than the Dyna.
 
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