‘73 GT550K Ignition coil ground

[SClubSuzuki]

Hello! Doing some ignition troubleshooting on the old bike and want to make sure I’m not missing anything. There’s a ground wire coming from the ignition coil bracket that mounts to the cylinder head shroud. This shroud seems to be isolated from the engine in that there’s rubber grommets for each bolt or screw. Can you tell me where the actual ground contact is made?

Thanks,
Chris

[SClubSuzuki]

It suddenly occurred to me that this wire may have been added in at some point after the ignition coil ground had failed. Just a guess because it makes no sense to have a separate wire, the coils bracket bolts directly to the frame and would provide an excellent ground in normal circumstances. Thoughts anyone?

[Alan H]

It depends if the 'grounds' on the frame were cleaned after painting.
For instance, I run a 'daisy chain' from battery to frame, solenoid, indicator relay, reg, rectifier etc to help the situation and extra connections in the headlamp bowl help too. If they are done neatly, they look as if they should be there anyway. The frame to ram air cowl wire was to stop getting a shock off the cowl if an original metal plug cap went faulty (during heavy rain, for instance, even though they were the first thing binned back in the day) as the cowl is rubber mounted.

[SClubSuzuki]

It depends if the 'grounds' on the frame were cleaned after painting.
For instance, I run a 'daisy chain' from battery to frame, solenoid, indicator relay, reg, rectifier etc to help the situation and extra connections in the headlamp bowl help too. If they are done neatly, they look as if they should be there anyway. The frame to ram air cowl wire was to stop getting a shock off the cowl if an original metal plug cap went faulty (during heavy rain, for instance, even though they were the first thing binned back in the day) as the cowl is rubber mounted.

Thanks for your reply Alan!

Chris

[SClubSuzuki]

I got spark! From all 3 plugs! It’s amazing what cleaning all electrical contacts does, especially the points, thanks!

[Alan H]

Good news.