New PAMCO electronic ignition on Mike's XS?

If your tci is working well, there isnt an advantage. But for us points guys, well duh. I run a pamco with e advance on my 650 and ill never go back to points. Ever.... With a dyna mini coil thats 30,000 volts, it starts super easy, the advance is way smoother, no kick back. Its a real nice system for the money.
 
The ignition systems for the SOHC models are identical. It should be a drop-in replacement for the points.

It's actually kind of tempting as my points plates are slightly damaged....
 
I believe Pete will be offering his ignition with his E-advancer very soon for the bikes that are using the oem TCI (80 and up). I just finished installing his new advance chip that was designed for the XS400. I've been running his system with a CB360 chip for about a month, but he has a new chip that allows for full advance to match the oem specs. The 360 chip limited advance to about 34 degrees. The bike has been running great and usually starts on the first kick.
I was having a problem with the original TCI that was causing an intermittent misfire on number two cylinder. (see this thread: http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14709) I eventually tracked it down to the TCI module and wasn't fond of the idea of buying a used 30 year old electronic device. Pete stepped up and made a complete system, sensors and advancer and now the bike is running great. I'd like to publically thank Pete for all of his efforts.

.............Paul
 
I've had a few days to ride the bike with the new advancer and it's been running great. It seems to have a little more power on the top end with the new chip, probably related to the increased timing.

Also, a slight correction, I said that the new system with the E-advancer was for the models with electronic (TCI) ignition. It will also fit the earlier models with points and mechanical advance.

.........Paul
 
That's cool. Didn't realize it'd work both ways.
One less mechanical piece to get rusty and wear out.
 
Drice,

The E-Advancer XS400 will be available as soon as I get the web site set up for it. It will sell for the same price as all the CBXXX twins, $189.95 . Keep in ,mind that it gets rid of the mechanical advancer, so it's like getting a new advancer.
 
Is the advance similar to the stock tci advance? I'd like to get rid of my tci since its bound to fail soon.

Is there a provision on your ignition that shuts off the power to the coils after the bike power is turned on but not started? That's a feature of the stock ignition I'd not like to lose.
 
Wolfe_11B said:
Is the advance similar to the stock tci advance? I'd like to get rid of my tci since its bound to fail soon.

Is there a provision on your ignition that shuts off the power to the coils after the bike power is turned on but not started? That's a feature of the stock ignition I'd not like to lose.
Click to expand...

The advance is the same as the points advance curve with a retarded timing to TDC below 200 RPM for easier starting, especillay kick starting. It also does have the feature of not applying power to the coils when initially turned on, however any attempt to start the engine could leave a coil on if the engine quits with the ignition on or you abandon the start attempt with the ignition on.
 
The xs400 tci bikes run 40* of advance. Is that what yours has also.
 
xschris,

The new PAMCO E-Advancer provides 30 degrees of advance that starts with the fixed idle advance of 10 degrees for a total of 40 degrees advance, which I believe is the same as you are referring to.

xs400 adv.jpg


Note: Below 200 RPM, the timing is retarded 10 degrees to TDC for easier starting, especially kick starting.

The system will work on SOHC XS400's, including those equipped with the factory TCI. All points and TCI components are replaced by the PAMCO E-Advancer. Should be available early next week on the web site www.xs400ignition.com for $189.95, which is the same price that the similar PAMCO systems for the Honda twins sells for. www.cb350ignition.com www.cb360ignition.com www.cb450ignition.com . PAMCO also offers a similar system for the XS650 on www.yamahaxs650.com and at www.mikesxs.com . The new XS400 E-Advancer will also soon be available on Mikesxs, most likely in kit form with coils, wires, caps etc.

Although this is a new product for the XS400, the electronics and program for the MCU is identical to the Honda CB twins that have been on the market for 4 years. The only new component is the points plate replacement and points cam replacement rotor.
 
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According to the manual and other timing advance curve graphs I have seen these bikes run 10* BTDC retarded to 36-40* BTDC advance. Yours would seem to be different than that. It looks like you have 10*ATDC to 30*BTDC.
 
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xschris,

The timing is set to 10 deg BTDC at idle (1200 RPM). The PAMCO E-Advancer then adds 30 degrees at full advance for a total of 10 + 30 = 40 Deg BTDC. Advance means Before Top Dead Center (BTDC). In advance of. Before. I have no idea where you got 10 deg ATDC. The curve in the above post is the advance added by the E-Advancer, so it is in addition to any fixed advance that there is at idle, and that is supposed to be 10 deg BTDC. The curve only shows the advance added by the E-Advancer, not the total advance. You have to add 10 degrees to any point on the curve to get the total advance.

Think in terms of the mechanical advancer. Before the springs expand, the timing is 10 degrees BTDC, so as the springs expand, they add to that initial 10 degrees.
 
Then your graph should start at 10 and go to 40:thumbsup: 10*BTDC-40*BTDC That was what looked strange to me. All good then:)
 
The manual stated advance is 36-40 @ 2700-3400.
Does that mean that @ 2700 the advance should be 36 degrees?
Even with the bump to the chart it looks like the advance @ 2700 RPM is more like 30 degrees.

The given values seem to imply that the advance curve isn't necessary a linear progression.
 
BBS360,

Those advance numbers are there to compensate for the unpredictability of setting points.

Those numbers mean that a total advance of 36 to 40 degrees is acceptable between the range of 2700 to 3400 RPM.

The PAMCO produces an advance of 30 + 10 = 40 degrees BTDC at 3400 RPM, so it is at the top of the acceptable range.

Take a look at the Beta test results above in post #25 and #26. The original CB360 program produced a total advance of 34 degrees. The updated XS400 program added about 5 degrees to that to put it within 1 degree of the timing mark for maximum advance.
 

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