The Hodaka Club Forum

After completing all of the necessary work resulting from a piston seizure on my '73 Wombat, I decided to inspect & "freshen up" the wiring on the stator plate. After removing the old points & condenser, I noticed that the thin copper wire that attaches to the condenser from the exciter coil was too short to assure a good connection. Hence, my question: what would be the correct method to lengthen this wire?

Thanks so much.

If it is not epoxied, just unwind one wrap. Scrape the coating for soldering. I wrap the coil with hi temp tape.
Sterling

I certainly can't disagree with Sterling. I haven't done this sort of repair before, but it seems there are only two options. 1) Un-wind one wrap of wire - which appears to be easy, but may be easier said, than done. I'm sure the loss of a single wrap from the coil won't be an issue for performance of the ignition system when done. 2) Prepare a short length of wire to be clamped (how????) tight and parallel to end of the existing coil wire end and solder them together. Save the "sleeve" of insulation from the wire for re-use (again, easier said than done?)
Ed
PS: Kit, Hodaka Days is over and I'm mostly caught up with other things now . . . but you know the expression "SQUIRREL!" right? (Sorry 'bout that.)

Sorry for the delay in responding. Sterling's suggestion about unwrapping one wrap of wire was my first thought. But since the end of the wire is indeed epoxied, I wasn't sure if my surgical skills could cut through the epoxy without slicing the wire itself. Any suggestions from someone who might have done this before?

Ed's suggestion regarding soldering another piece of copper wire onto the end of the coil wire also crossed my mind. However, sourcing a piece of copper wire of the same diameter got me scratching my head. Any thoughts?

Thanks to you both!

Kit

If you solder on an extension, it doesn't have to be the exact same size. All you need is a wire of similar size to extend the wire to your condenser, and make sure it is insulated so it doesn't ground out on anything.

I figured that. I'll have to poke around at a local electrical supply shop to see what I can come up with. Thanks.

You can use outdoor telephone wire or computer network cable. Both are about the right gauge and the telephone wire is solid core. Some network cables are not solid core, so telephone wire might be the better option and easiest to find. One of the twisted pairs even has a black insulated wire.

$0.02

Roger

Thanks, Roger. I was able to source some solid copper wire from Home Depot.

Now I just have to figure out why I am not getting any spark.

Kit,

A recent thread on the forum (also searching for spark), reported finding the little "U" terminal in the wrong place where it is held tight by a screw on the points assembly. Loosening the screw and inserting the "U" terminal where it belonged in the stack of insulating items resulted in finding the spark. Might be the same situation you have?

Ed

Ed,

That sounds like something that I would do. However, I cannot seem to determine which other place in the "stack" that the U-terminal might be relocated. Hopefully I have properly attached the photo below to illustrate where the U-terminal is presently located. Thanks.

Kit

I would appreciate if someone could verify whether or not the placement of the "U"-shaped terminal in the above photo is in the correct place. If not, maybe the lack of spark could be a short to ground (?).

Thanks.

Kit

yes it is in the right place, where it is attached keeps it from grounding out. IF it was on the other side of the yellow insulator it would be in contact with the points bracket which is screwed in to the stator plate which in turn is screwed into the motor which is bolted on the frame and would be grounded out .sorry about the bad picture but you can see the bolt, metal washer, insulating washer, spacer, and another insulating washer then washer and lock washer then the nut. when installed the right way it works

Givergas: Thanks for the verification. That was exactly my reasoning, so I'm confident that the wire from the points is no grounding out.
But since my original post above was actually part of a bigger issue (namely, no spark), I will start a new post.

Thank you, everyone, for your help.