Article 33
Points Ignition to CDI Conversion

With the advice from socalxr I did a search for the 93 and up XR80 stator backing plate.

The crank shaft key way on the 80 is 3mm wide. The flywheel key way slot from the 100 is 4mm wide. I was told that just centering the key way with the flywheel and lining it all up with the timing mark at TDC before tightening the flywheel in place would be fine. And I'm sure it would be. But since I had a few days to kill while waiting for parts I filed down a 4mm wide key and made my own stepped key. Sorry, no picture. But I'll tell you it took me a couple hours to make it. If you look close at the above picture you can see the top of the key is wider than the old marks on the crankshaft.

The flywheel went on and lined right up with the T timing mark and the indicator on the 80 backing plate when assembled.

After all that was put together it was time to mount up the wiring, CDI unit and coil. I wanted everything tucked under the tank and clean looking. After a few configurations I came up with a perfect solution. First the front tab from the old coil mount was cut off flush. You'll see why soon.

Then I took some flat stock aluminum sheet and bent up some mounts that used the slots in the rubber mounts for the CDI and coil. This way they mounted like OEM and had the cushioning from vibrations while riding. It took a bit of calculating but they came out nice in my opinion.

I used one of the original coil tabs to mount the CDI coil, and drilled two holes to mount the CDI where I had cut off the other tab.

Once they were mounted I hooked up the harness and shortened all the wires and connections so there wasn't any excess wiring lengths to deal with. I also removed the extra plugs for the ignition key switch that came with the XR100 system. No need for it.

I could have just tucked and wire tied the harness the way it was, but why have a mess of wires if you don't need it. All I needed was the main connections and the kill switch button.

Here it is all wrapped up, tidy and ready for service. Notice that the mounting bolt for the CDI unit doubled as the grounding wire mount for the system.

As you can see here, all the components are mounted so they will be in between the gas tanks tunnel. The arrows point to the forward mounts for the tank. That is also the narrowest point of the tunnel.

With the tank mounted you can see there's plenty of clearance between the tank and the CDI unit.

Even the wires coming from the CDI plugs have room,

After the CDI conversion I started the bike and let it run at an increased idle to heat everything up like I did when the bike would shut down when hot. I ran it for 30 minutes this time and it never skipped a beat. I'm going to take it to a parking lot tomorrow and ride it around for at least an hour to test it. I don't want to haul it to the track with my son this weekend and find another problem. BUT, I have full confidence that the CDI system has cured the shut down situation when the bike got hot.

By LRCXed from ThumperTalk

Article 33 Points Ignition to CDI Conversion

Article 33
Points Ignition to CDI Conversion