Hitchcocks Forum

Hello there,
Yesterday, I decided to solve the small ignition advance trouble I had on my Machismo 500 (AVL). I have bought the special offset woodruff keys from our host. The 4° one cured this wonderfully, at one exception : at top RPM, the bike doesn't run as well as she did... So I remember that it was written somewhere that the special ignition "box" that Mr H. sold once had more retard at the bottom of the curve, and more advance at the top. Wonderfull, at the exception that they don't sell some anymore... I have looked at the E-shops around, but haven't found any one, or substitution one. Has one of you an idea where I could find it ?
Thank's. Claude

Claude,



I had one of these from an independent ignition specialist before our hosts sold them, the TCI black control box you're looking for is the same one used on the Suzuki GS125 4 stroke models.



Since this no longer clashes with our hosts' intended sales, here's one source you could try:



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191419561633? ... EBIDX%3AIT



and here's how you wire it up.







I hope this helps, please let me know how you get on. Someone on the US forum tried one and wasn't happy with the results, but they're cheap enough to experiment with! Other sources are available, you could try here:



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KR-SUZUKI-GN- ... SwBLlVgA0i



A.

Thank you Adrian, I'll try the german one (a bit nearer than US...). I'll let you know the results. Claude

Hi Adrian,
The TCI is ordered, just waiting..
I thought about the caracteristics of that TCI, and maybe your experience will give me some light : Does it give more advance too on the idle, or just on high RPM ? In the fist case, I'l have to play too with Mr H's special woodruff keys. Did you do things like that, or just put and connect ?
Thank's for your answer
Claude

I can't see the TCI advancing the timing with the revs do it would have to predict when it was going to get the pulse from the rotor and fire off a spark before that. More likely I would have thought the rotor timing is set for maximum advance and the TCI introduces a delay at low revs, less so as the revs rise giving the correct advance curve. If the bike isn't happy at high revs then to me it looks like 4 deg might be too much and you need to go down a step or two. I've tried the Suzuki box and it wasn't smooth at any rpm. Mr H's performance box seemed too peaky to me at lower revs, a pain in traffic. The standard black box gives the smoothest ride which is what I've gone back to.

The box that I used - nearly 10 years ago and by coincidence the same as the one Adrian refers to - gave 4 degrees more retard at starting and idle and 4 degrees more advance at high rpm. Before Hitchcocks took them on, I sold quite a few, but, somewhere along the line, there was an internal change which changed the wiring connections slightly. Unfortunately, I only encountered one of the modified ones and I don't remember what the change was - maybe someone else knows? Regards, Paul.

Thank you all for your answers.
Frank, I'm not very familiar with those kind of electronic things, but I can imagine that effectively, the new TCI will give a more longer advance curve than the original one (something like 8°, dixit Paul). That was the purpose of my question : does the TCI curve settling beggins from maximum advance, and then "goes" to retard, or the contrary ? In the first case, I'll have to use the 8° key to keep good idle advance, in the second, just keep the 4° I have fitted...
Thnak you for your answers.
Claude

My wiring diagram was worked out based on the box I obtained back in 2006, so if the item in the second ebay link I posted is an original Suzuki piece the diagram should still be good. It was fine for normal riding as well as giving slightly improved acceleration. I still have it in case my AVL hybrid needs to go back to coil ignition.



If later or pattern TCIs **have** changed internal connections, then anyone fitting one to a GS125 Suzuki with an original un-modified wiring loom will also have problems and could also explain why the guy on the US forum couldn't get the item in the first ebay listing to run correctly.



A.

The wiring problem isn't really one : with 5 wires to connect, included the earth and the power ones, it rests 3 to deal with.... 6 possibilities of fun... And with your different testimonies in mind, I'm quite sure I'll have to play with the offset keys to get the best result, and maybe some drilling on the outer chain case and a stroboscop session to have accurate settings... I'll let you know when I have the box. Thank you for your answers. Claude

So, today was the perfect one to have some mechanic in the sun... I have swaped the 4°woodruff key to the 2° one, to see what happens. The idle isn't perfect, but no more "ping ping " on accelerations and strong pull to 135 km/h (speedo). Really wait the Suzuki box to see what happens.