ideas on what happened?

[raindriver]

The coil in the picture is not OEM Honda

Oh no, there go my scores at the Pebble Beach Concours! And here I was getting ready for Jay Leno to hand me a silver cup... ;)

Thanks for the fresh input guys. I have to work today, but I'll follow up and post the latest tonight.

HISTORY: I got this bike from a guy who'd put it together, then it sat for 7 years. It lived in a nice clean garage, the guy had a cool Datsun 510 done up as a racer, and the Dream was complete and started on two kicks... so I bought it. Checked numbers to find the original motor is in one of nine boxes of parts I got; he'd added the winkers from a CA72, and painted it (badly) blue. I cleaned it up, replaced headlight, petcock, speedo cable and rode it a few hundred miles last year. It ran, but not particularly well. The air screw hole on carb was damaged (and it was not correct model), so I replaced that and normal tune-up parts...and after running only briefly, then failing catastrophically, now this no-spark problem.

[48lesco]

My comment on the non-OEM coil was not to insult the correctness of your bike, just to say that when we use non-OEM parts, we sometimes get non-OEM results that can be outside the experience base. Jay probably wouldn't care what's behind your side cover as long as the bike was running:)
-48

[conbs]

Rainman,

In looking at your picture of the damaged wires in your handlebars, I can't tell for sure from the picture, but the damage looks pretty fresh. Do you think it could have happened when you folded the handlebars down to get your bike home or does it look like it has some "age" to it?

You said there was smoke and "hot" smell when it died. Did you ever find anything that looked like it was the source? IF it got that hot, it should be visible somewhere.

[raindriver]

Thanks for all this help and advice, makes it feel like I'm not just one dummy fumbling around in the garage. I have fellows, and some of 'em are much smarter than me. Thankfully!

I've ordered a coil and condenser. I'd've done so a week ago, but wanted to make sure I needed the parts. Everything is telling me it's the coil and/or condenser, so it's time to stop fiddling and get on with it. If I replace them and still have the problem, I might spontaneously combust.

You're probably right, conbs, about much of the wire wear in the handlebars having been caused by me yanking. I've gone over every terminal to make sure all is tight. Seems the degree of movement is not what I thought, you have to remove the 4 bolts and plate to safely flip the bars for service or transport. Lesson learned.

I'll report back after replacement parts are installed, in a few days I guess. Then, nothin' but a spot of wax 'n polish, and I'll go collect that trophy...or at least be able to ride it to the show to watch the pretty bikes win!

[raindriver]

Got a generic coil online, arrived today so I popped it on after work and got spark. With just a couple of kicks to load some fuel it started up and ran fine.

The new coil looks does not fit under the side cover, so I guess it's just a temporary fix, but I'll go for a test now. Anybody know where to get a CA-style coil that fits?

Thanks to those who helped me deduce it was the coil I needed to replace!

[conbs]

Rain,

There don't appear to be any OEM on ebay right now, though you might want to check out 190710261294 as a possible replacement. There is a list of bikes the seller says his coil will work on. You might try searching ebay for OEM coils off of some of those models that will work. If you find something interesting make sure it is 12 V.

OEM's do come up pretty regularly on ebay. You don't say whether you are interested in an early or late style. If you can get by with your current replacement for a while an OEM might show up on ebay at a good price. No fitment problems for sure.

Glad for your success. Happy riding.

[raindriver]

My success was short-lived. Very. Plugs fouled to the point of no spark in just a couple of minutes of idling.

The instructions I've been following (from threads here) seem to result in carb dripping. (Not sure what that means, the carb is dripping from overflow via the bowl seal, rather than dumping out the overflow tube?)

I'm going to try LoudMouse's 'look over the top of the float at the jet' method, 'coz it just seems to be riding too high.

And buy a bunch more plugs...I have half a dozen new-but-now-useless ones.

One day, my friends, I will post a picture of this bike being ridden by a happy guy. Not yet, but soon!