Here's a new one (for me anyway):
I replaced my points and condenser last weekend. (For the record, I am no stranger to these old ignition systems and have replaced my points sets thrice already on this bike). After carefully following procedure, checking point gaps, static timing with ohmmeter, etc I fired up my bike. She ran smoothly and strong. GREAT! I shut down the engine, replaced my points cover and intended to take her for a ride. Upon re-starting the engine ran really bad, like it was running on only 2 cylinders. I pulled the plug wires one at a time and found that the coil for cyl 1&4 NOT firing. WTF??? Bad coil??? Why???
I shut down the bike and replaced my coil. Restarted, the same result. Coil still not firing! Crap!!!
I shut it down again and removed the points cover. I rechecked all the point gaps, static timing, loose screws, etc. I found nothing wrong. Maybe there was some dirt or grease on the 1&4 point set? Using a matchbook cover I gently wiped the point surfaces but found no sign of dirt or oil or anything. I started up the bike and shut off my garage lights to observe the points operation. Now the bike was running fine again! The points were firing as designed and the bike ran great. OK!
I shut off the bike and replaced my points cover. Then I started it again. Oh Crap! You guessed it...the bike was running on 2 cylinders again! WTF???
I shut it down again and opened the points cover and re-started. It ran fine. While running I attempted to replace the points cover. It was while reinstalling the cover that I got a electrical shock. Ah Ha! There must be a wire loose or maybe a bare spot touching ground. I shut off the bike and disconnected the battery. I closely inspected the wires, points and condenser set-up and BEHOLD! The left-hand condenser, the one with the black wire for cylinders 1 and 4 was out SLIGHTLY further than the right-hand points, thereby grounding against the points cover when it was installed. No points cover, no ground. Put on cover and connect condenser to ground. On a KZ 650 the condensers are paired and pressed into the holding bracket, one each per point set. On this particular (new) condenser set the condensers were not pressed properly into position. It was such a small defect and unnoticable unless you really looked hard.
To remedy this I took a small hammer and block of wood and gently tapped the condenser back into the bracket. It didn't take much, less than a 64ths of an inch but it made a world of difference. Now the bike runs fine.
I dunno if this has ever happened to anyone else on this board but in the future I will always check my condenser fitment whenever I change my points again.
So...if you ever have a similar issue, check your condensers.
FYI
