Topic: setting the timing on 74 CB550K - and strange wire from stators

[dune]

Hey guys.

I recently finished tracing any electricla gremlins on my 74CB550k project bike - all polished and re-assembled, all lights working, signals, brake lights etc...

had to do some digging with the coils and the points... the coils werent getting enough juice and they were losing flow between the plug cables that the bike came with (so I replaced with a spare that was in better shape that I had...)

Same with the stator / points... I have no idea why - but the Previous Owner had run a 'third' black in color wire into the points?? when measured it was running a -12VDC... it was a single wire run outside of the harness but appeared to serve a purpose....  I coudl not locate it to have anything to do with the wiring schematic in the Haynes manual.... and it apeared to be shorting the ground and tracing a voltage into the battery? and every other circuit on the bike... so all of teh 'Green' (chassis ground) wires were running with a -12VDC.... and relays were heating up quite rapidly etc etc.... so I snipped it...
I removed the old points / stator and replaced with a spare new looking TEC stator... that had the indicated '2' wires and plugged that in...

Added some fuel... and she fired right up

so my questions are:
1) anyone have any ideas what this '3rd' in-explainable black wire was actually for? and what the intention might have been to run a -12VDC into the frame and the points on the bike??I will take some pics and post them later today....

2) after I had her running for a bit i coudl tune the carbs a bit - but she seems to idl all over the place - low - then high - then low... and she revvs up and sounds pretty good - coughs a little when you go past about 6k rpms but that could be partially due to the fact that I have no air filters on the carbs at the moment....

I did some searches for a timing procedure and came up witha  few but if anyone has a link to a good procedure on setting the timing it would be greatly appreciated!

cheers!

[TwoTired]

A wire is only as important as it's connection points, and then only when clearly identified.

The points are supposed to connect the spark coil to engine case when they are closed.

The stator is the output of the alternator on the opposite side of the motor for the points.

The stock bike has no relays.

The wire diagram is the only reference to your bike we have.  If it's been altered on the bike, how could we tell what the alterations are?

[dune]

sorry relays would be incorrect as you pointed out - the starter coil on the fuse box was getting quite warm as were the stator coils  (until I replaced them).

As far as determining the lone wire that has no indication on any diagram I can find - I was just curious if someone has seen anything like this - or has any ideas what its intended use might have been...

as you mentioned - it is not documented and I cannot find it to have been of any use...  though at some point it was connected.. whether or not it ran like that - I am not sure.