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Observations from a Dyna S install on '77 GL

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:18 am
by fx4fssc
While it is fresh on my mind, I thought I would share some of the details of replacing points with the Dyna S on my 77 GL1000. I used the post that Octane did on the install and adjustment almost to the letter except for a few small excursions that seemed to fit my install better.

Ballast resistor install: I highly recommend removal of the coils from the frame to do this. If the coils are left in place, then there is a high probability that you will drop (down into the carb/engine area) one of the two small screws that hold the ballast clip. What a dog that would be to find and recover. Don't ask me how I know this.

Power supply for the Dyna: The red wire that was supplied in the kit that supplies 12 V power was not near long enough to route from the white/green wire splice location at the flasher relay. I guess one could have taken it straight back thru the left side of the shelter and it might have been long enough. But that would make removal of the shelter/false tank a real pain in future maintenance work. So what I did was splice into the same W/G wire circuit where it goes across the frame in the cable assembly to the rear brake switch. Just unwrapped some of the black tape on the cable, found the W/G wire, skinned about an inch of the insulation off. Then I stripped about 1-1/4 inch of the insulation off the red Dyna power wire, twisted it around the skinned W/G wire and soldered the connection. Then wrapped several turns of black electrical tape around the splice and then around the whole cable. This location is easily accessible (with the center shelter removed) so soldering and taping is easy. If you don't have a solder iron, then the little blue compression clip could be employed here also, it would just leave a big glob/lump when you retape the whole cable assembly.

Removal of the points cam and install of the magnetic Dyna rotor: This was a very delicate operation and getting the old points cam off the shaft without removing the centrifugal advance mechanism was a pain in the rear end. So instead of horsing it off, I removed the little C-clips on the advancer and removed the springs and weights - this made removal of the cam easy. One precaution, when re-installing the little C-clips a good idea would be to do this inside an old pasteboard box. The box would have caught the C-clip when it sprung off as I was reinstalling it and who knows where in my garage it landed. Luckily the local NAPA store had a replacement.

Getting the black pickup modules to adjust far enough to allow correct timing: Like some other folks mentioned in replies to Octane's post, I could not get the Dyna plate to rotate far enough clockwise to set timing on 3/4 (timing mark F2). So I used the Dremel tool with a tiny grinder point to increase the relief on the bottom of the 1/2 module. I was quite surprised at how much I had to remove - the relief area needs to be at least 2 times (1/4 inch) the original amount of relief (about 1/8 inch). The part you are grinding is the copper base plate of the module and part of the black plastic on the covering of the module. This will allow the whole Dyna plate to move far enough to get the timing set at the F2 mark. There are no parts of the electronics exposed by this grinding (if you are careful and retain the same angle / amount of relief as the factory grind does). Also there was about 5 degrees of difference on 3 & 4 when rotating the crankshaft 2 revolutions - this necessitated using the split timing technique (just like the method Randaak recommends in his tips, except that with the Dyna it is much easier since one doesn't have to keep fiddling with the points gap or dwell). Also on the 1/2 module (right side) I had to jam it up (counter-clockwise) as close as I could to the 3/4 left module to get the timing set on F1. The end of the modules are not perpendicular to the base plate so one could grind a little off the bottom of the right side of the 3/4 left module and a little off the bottom of the left side of the 1/2 right module. This would allow them to scrunch up a little closer if need be.

I agree with a lot of the other folks who have done the Dyna install, my bike has never idled smoother or run better before. Also it seems to be able to go off the choke much faster on cold start ups. No grinding of the starter anymore - engine fires right up and drive away wait time is much quicker. I hate to recall all the time I spent on my original point setup and I don't think I ever got them perfect. Even with the little mods I did above, the Dyna install was a whole lot quicker.

Re: Observations from a Dyna S install on '77 GL

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:39 am
by Roady
I do believe that this info should join Octane's writeup. Good job.

This is being moved to the How-To forum and a link will appear in ShopTalk.

Thank you for sharing this valuable info.

Re: Observations from a Dyna S install on '77 GL

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:04 pm
by heraldhamster
fx4fssc wrote:...Getting the black pickup modules to adjust far enough to allow correct timing: Like some other folks mentioned in replies to Octane's post, I could not get the Dyna plate to rotate far enough clockwise to set timing on 3/4 (timing mark F2). So I used the Dremel tool with a tiny grinder point to increase the relief on the bottom of the 1/2 module...
I still don't understand having to do this, unless some module mount plates are older or dramatically different.

there is a Phillips screw in the bottom of the mount plate. you can see it before installing the pair of modules & mount plate in the housing on the rear of the left cam/head. this screw is hidden against the cam seal once the modules are installed.
on one end of the 3/4 module, there is one small, black, Allen socket-head bolt like the two that are on the 1/2 module.
by loosening the Phillips screw & the single socket-head on the 3/4 module, it is possible to reset the position of it in relation to the mount plate. then you can move the whole module set & mount plate to the proper position for timing of 3/4. at this point, it is now possible to loosen the other two socket-heads on the 1/2 module & set it appropriately.

so, there is one extra step to the process if you cannot move the mount plate far enough clockwise to accurately set the 3/4 module to the timing mark. but no grinding should be necessary.

as I said, maybe some older Dyna-S mount plates don't have this "Phillips screw in the bottom" feature. I have two 5+ year old units, and two brand new in the last six months units. all four have it.

Re: Observations from a Dyna S install on '77 GL

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:25 pm
by sunnbobb
Hey hamp, lets take some pics next time we have a chance?

Re: Observations from a Dyna S install on '77 GL

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:32 pm
by fx4fssc
I don't think the problem is with the actual physical orientation of the 2 pickup modules in relation to the mounting plate. From my observation the problem that I corrected was from the orientation of the modules in relation to the 2 screws in the timing housing. Maybe I can explain it better this way:

If one were looking straight into the points housing, let's assume that 12:00 oclock is straight up - then the 2 screws in the timing housing would be at 9:00 and 3:00 oclock. Optimally the Dyna kit is designed for the 3/4 module to be between 9:00 and 12:00 oclock and the 1/2 module to be between 12:00 and 3:00 oclock. But in my 77 GL1000, there is evidently enough "slop" or "offset" in the timing caused by stretched timing belts, worn chains in the engine case, or (maybe even the Dyna rotor's magnetic poles are not perfectly aligned on the camshaft extension). This leaves me with the dilemma that my 3/4 module times up correctly only when it's between 9:05 and 12:05 and the 1/2 module is between 12:05 and 3:05. Thus the screw at the 3:00 oclock position interfers with the base of the 1/2 module and I had to grind off enough relief on the 1/2 module to allow it to clear the screw located at the 3:00 oclock position.