Tom is right. There should be an ign. hot wire going to the + on the coil, and the other wire from the coil - goes to the points. What happens is that when the points close it charges up the primary in the coil, and when they open, it creates the high voltage spark through the secondary in the coil that goes to the spark plug. That is kind of the simple version, but you get the idea.

 

I'm guessing alot of folks never kick started a harley. You need to roll the motor over to the compression stroke, then jump on it. My buds with shovels rarely start under 3 kicks. There's a knack to it. On my carbed sporty it always took at least 3 tries.. Once you get the hang of it kickers are way cool to have. IMO Love to have that set-up but my pipes get in the way.

 

Awesome. Sounds like a pretty simple undertaking. Anybody know where I could find a clear points cover? I've looked all over. I saw some on ebay a couple weeks ago and decided against it, but now I need one and of course they're nowhere to be found.

 

Talked to a guy today about putting points in as my ignition system and he strongly advised against it. Said I was going too far back In time and its too much maintenance. I know its my bike to do whatever I wish to but is he right. I hear from one guy that he gets twenty thousand trouble free miles out of them and another that says that's not the case. Plus this guys an old school harley wrench. Ill probably stick with converting since the stuff is already on the way but I'd like to hear what anyone says as far as good or bad experiences with the ol points ignition.

 

Well Johnny; I heard that too when I changed mine over. You can do like I did and save all your old electronic stuff in case you want to change back. It is not that hard to switch from one to the other. In fact, I never took off the module or the voes. They were just disconnected and left on the bike. The only thing you have to remove is the rotor and the pickup where your breaker plate is going. Mine is still on the shelf.

 

Well, I have everything put on and wired up and.......no spark. I'm in the middle of adjusting the points and I'm confused as to why there are 3 diffferent lobes on the cam that opens and closes the points and why they're 3 different sizes. Everything else was easy, but I'm a little stumped here......

 

Well, I figured out my issue and now she's a one kick bike. Only problem is that the tach is now not working. Jim, did you encounter this? Any pointers would be helpful.

 

I just looked at my 99 Softail manual, and it is no help as none of them used a tach. If I remember right, the tach pickup wire connects to the coil. You may have taken it off when you changed your coil. At least that is the way it was on my Sporty. Could be on the later models that it was fed from the ign. module, but I doubt it. Hopefully someone with a manual can look up and see where the tach wire hooks up, and what color it is. But, I would go back and check the wires you took off the old coil, as I bet you took off the tach wire. Glad you got her running. Don't forget to check the timing.