new here. 82 yamaha maxim 650

hello everybody. recently had an 82 maxim 650 givven to me. was told it stopped running 2 years ago then sat. got the bike home and it runs on cyl 1 and 4. getting spark on all 4.... very week spark but spark. carbs definetly need a cleaning. new plug wires and caps later today. and a general cleaning plus all the regular mantainance stuff you would do when getting a new bike. one thing i am wondering thow is on some of my other bikes ive had ( 81 suzuki gs850g, 83 suzuki gs750E, 81 goldwing GL1100, 83 honda cx650 and 98 GSXR750 SRAD) i have used a relay to pwer my coils instead of the main wiring harness. is this doable on this bike? right now the only other bike i have is the gsxr so this bike is going to be some kind of bobber project. im not new to bikes but have mostly been into suzukis. i will try to update this later with pictures.
thanks
casey

 

Welcome.

Why would you want to add relays into the ignition circuit?

 

on the suzukis by the time the power went through the wiring harness, any switches, relays, or anything of that nature you would only be getting around 8 volts at the coils. this way you would get 12. but it looks like my coils are shot anyways. the plug wires are all ripped up where they enter the coils

 

Welcome to the site!

 

It's an interesting idea, and may have some merit, but my gut tells me a relay would throw your timing off since it takes a little time to switch. To achieve the effect you're looking for I'd think you'd need a large transistor or MOSFET or something solid state like that. I may be wrong, I may be crazy. YMMV.

-Matt

 

on the gs series bikes the timeing is on the ground side of the coils. i dont know if it is different on the xj series bikes. but there is constant power to the coils and then the coil gets grounded then ungrounded and when it becomes ungrounded it sparks

 

XJ's are the same. That's exactly what the TCI does, it grounds the coils with power transistors doing the switching.

 

If your coils test correctly and your wires and caps are good, you would not need relays, nor have I ever heard of needing relays if the coils were bad. You'd need working coils.

 

Sounds like an interesting idea. Id like to hear what the xj ignition wizards have to say about it.

 

This is not to cure bad coils. This is to give the coils 12 volts instead of what they are getting now. Search google or thegsrecourses.com

 

If everything is working right these coils already get 12 volts.

 

Get a multiple meter and check. Over time your wiring harness will build up resistance and you won't get 12 at the coils.

 

I have checked and I do get the full 12 volts. Stock wiring harness.

 

Then consider yourself lucky. Maybe the xj bikes have a better wiring system than I am used to. I have only had to do that to the Suzuki gs series bikes I have owned