How to make motorcycle electronic ignition for £5 ($8) from a chainsaw or strimmer 

This guy is a genius creating something useful from reused parts

Very Smart. I imagine that this same technique could also be used to replace an old coil/points system on an outboard engine since the flywheel on the outboard already has the same magnet setup as a string trimmer. This would be much cheaper than replacing the original coil, points and condensor.

I´ve been thinking the thought, but I over complificated it beyond tangibility. Thanks for bringing me back to reality :) ...where did my sound go ?

Some of the magnet triggered coils have an advance according to the rpm so allow for that when strobing it. The gap is very important as too big will not trigger

Whatever works. You are resourceful by taking parts from one thing and installing them where they weren't meant to go but works. Love it. God bless you.

don't know if you'll see a comment on a video this old, but this made me smile. Thanks for posting this. for what it's worth, we used business cards to gap the coil back in the day...

This is absolutely awesome. I wish I would have seen this before I bought my pertronix for my XS650. So incredible.

Thanks, the difficulty with timing this by cable would be stability of the outer mounting plate. Magnetos are very sensitive with the gap changes between the core and the magnets (as in 0.0xx mm). I think it was mainly 4 stroke that had the lawn mower advance lever, but I might be wrong.

Everyone i have asked ses it could not be done what you did i had this idea for some time already and thank you for posting this video just to stick it too those folks that sed id will not work with out a cdi

Brilliant young un you deserve 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍

I like your style man, loved the vid, its so simple, and reliable, cheers for the knowledge you just shared 👍👍

it will work on a 4 stroke also ! wasted spark is common on 4 stroke and hurts nothing. static timing with only fixed advance.. standard motor scooter stuff.

liked the usage! awsome to do that for keeping an old bike going! thanx for the tip.

the magnets have a NORTH and SOUTH to them and if you change rotation the coil will not give same spark. --- CHAINSAW ENGINE TURNS ANTI- CLOCKWISE you have turned chainsaw flywheel round to suit bike rotation (CLOCKWISE) --- but many would not and get no spark or weak spark.

the magnets have a NORTH and SOUTH to them and if you change rotation the coil will not give same spark. ----you have turned chainsaw flywheel round to suit bike rotation---- but many would not and get no spark or weak spark.

That was amazing. For sure, I need to get a lath. LOL that bike is super cool. This will only work for a 1 cylinder bike, more mods would have to occur for a second cylinder. I have a lot of single cylinder thumpers around here though.

Thanks for this. It has given me an idea as i have two or three old weed eater doing nothing,

This is so very awesome! Great work! I wish I had a lathe like that, it would make my projects easier! Check out my videos where I used HEI automotive ignition on a 1980's Husqvarna 250. I had a friend helping me remove the flywheel of the original ignition and he broke the crank snout. Only problem we face now is the bike needs a battery to run and has no charging system. I have a replacement Motoplat stator and flywheel but I need to find or fab a bushing to fit the flywheel. love your idea!!!

This is a magneto ignition.. an "electronic " ignition uses transistors and other magic devices. Magneto..mo bettah.

if you did this by yourself you deserve congratsulations...well done!

WOW that's freakin' awesome! I've got tons of these old Poulan 2 cycle engines I keep for parts laying about I've give you if you were not on the other side of the pond. I'm currently in the process on adapting a Hot Spark electronic conversion kit (from another vehicle) to work on my Trabant 601. I'm not all that pleased with the aftermarket system that is on the market (an it's expensive) and for some reason think I can build a better mousetrap. The plan is to reduce the circuitry in half and run a wasted spark ignition system like what's on my Citroen 2CV. I was a bit concerned using a wasted spark on a 2 stroke engine may cause an explosion in the crankcase or lead to backfiring. But from what I've read this won't happen. For starters there are rotary valves in the crankcase and when the cylinder is at bottom dead center, the rotary valve is closed. Plus you need compression for an explosion to occur in an internal combustion engine. Any thoughts on this?

excellent video, thanks.

I misread this and thought that you were going to talk about CDI ignition. Great video but I'm going to keep looking for CDI information. Thanks.

Quite nice video and even better intervention to bring it back to live. Certainly it's a pity not having the "original system" but the important is done.Thumbs up. BTW don't laugh but an iridium plug would be the "cherry on top". Just a taught... ;-)

How did you remove the armature from the flywheel

Nice work.

Excellent, thanks 👍👌

That’s clever. My mate has an XT500 . He’s putting electronic ignition on it fo £250. The only thing I can’t understand about yours is, advance. Do you time it fully advanced and hope it fires ?

So glad I stumbled on this. Just what I needed to see for my bsa bantam 175cc. Question. Lights horns where from ? Sorry for the question

That`s really quite good but as I see it the timing is now fixed and the same throughout the rev range, is that right?

I'm doing that with my honda nc50 express with bits I got out of an old strimmer.

Excellent work!

does it come with programmable timing curves? 😃 great work mate!

Superb stuff. Thank you

Good job man! Now to get that thing so it doesn't sound like a weed trimmer;)

Hi, what about implementig this technique on to 4 stroke motorcycle and with dynamo... Where should I start, because I have missing all of this things? Or should I just skip the dynamo-battery thing and make it as you are making it?

Has anyone came up with a solution to not having a charging syestem yet?

GREAT idea

This is magic. But.......................... I don't understand why the flywheel was installed back to front to make the engine run in the right direction. Can anyone explain this before I make the same mistake ?

self start in yamaha rx 100 possible?

BRILLIANT ED IN N.Y.

Can this be done on any two stroke engine regardless of the stroke length or do you need to make a bigger or smaller diameter fly wheel to compensate for stroke length im thinking of doing something similar with a old kx125 engine where the parts have been discontinued or exstreamly difficult to find

nice job !!!

The only thing is that this is only good for about 7500 RPMs then the spark starts to fade away .

Good man!!

nice vid. can you help me with some advice for a 2 stoke 2 cylinder bike? a friend of mine has a Yamaha RD350 which he'd like to do away with the contact point?

Awesome !!!

There is no advance unit??

fly wheel puller = rope on the piston trick....

Nice

dont even need a cdi nice!

Looks like a m20

brilliant... pureists be dammed lol

MacGyver it brotha, I'm the same way with stuff, if there's a will there's a way.

ahahahhaahaaa .. i like ... i think i put one in my harley .... easy and better ...

Well done that man!