GL1200 Coil Upgrade

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Rednaxs60

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Going to throw this out there. Did a search for GL1200 coil upgrade and not a lot of info - probably looking in the wrong place. I do know there is a lot of information on the various forums and I have been perusing and reading these threads/posts.

There are those who have installed coils from Neons, Fords, GL1500 and such. Other alternatives are MSD and Accel coils from the high performance auto world.

A lot of ingenuity has gone into doing these mods.

I talked to a parts guy up here and just the wires for a GL1200 - still available - are $20.00 CDN plus tax each. Didn't even ask for the coil price.

I do believe that any coil upgrade is good because over time, coils degrade and will eventually fail. One fellow commented that there are not many cars out there still operating with 30 plus year coils and wires - probably true.

The coils on my '85 LTD are 3.0 ohm coils, the same as the GL1500. If I were to get a coil with a lesser rating say 0.7 ohms, I would have to look at a ballast resistor or resistors to get the rating back up to 3.0 ohms.

I looked at an Accel test on a Ford Mustang. The car was on a dyno and the difference was only about 5% at the max horsepower output, but then who operates their vehicle in this range on a regular basis.

A set of Accel 3.0 ohm coils and wires that would suit (fit with some modification) are in the range of $300.00 CDN plus tax - total approximately $336.00.

Used GL1500 coils up here without wires are approximately $37.00 USD even from a supplier in Vancouver. Prices are in USD because more business is done with south of the border - makes sense from a business perspective. To order from the US have to take into account duty, exchange and taxes on this end.

Going to an auto wrecker on Vancouver Island is not easy because there are only a few and the choice of vehicles is not that much. If I were on the mainland (Vancouver) I would have a better selection.

Found a site - regulatorrectifier.com - that has direct OEM replacements for $75.00 USD plus $25.00 USD shipping (approx) with wires for a set of coils. This company also has GL1500/Valkyrie coils and wires for $35.00 USD. These are 3.0 ohm coils as well. I have sent the company a tech request regarding the GL1200 coils.

I submit that after some 33 years any upgrade with new or newer coils will probably be good for the bike. I have also been told that some of the lesser quality auto coils are better than new motorcycle coils.

I have done a stop gap fix on the plug wires in that I cut off about a 1/4 inch and threaded the plug boots back on. Should make for a better connection in the short term.

So, having mentioned all this, I submit that my best course of action would be to purchase the coil set from regulatorrectifier and install. Would like to wait for the exchange to be more in my favour, but that could be a while.

Any thoughts? Cheers
 
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