ready aim...

[Patrick_Krivacka]

as far as I know I have points. Honestly I haven't really dug into that part of the bike. I guess I need to, huh?

but really, we all know that the caps and plug wires aren't the problem, right? I'm really not trying to be a contrarian, or get out of doing it, those flashing caps are way cheesy, but their new and worked fine up until the incident.

Oh well, the saga continues.

[Barry]

Can't tell if your bike has points ignition because of the non standard seat. 78 - 80 bikes had points and 81 - on had electronic ignition.

If you have points ignition in an ideal world you will get a slightly better spark with 1000 ohms plug caps and non resistor plugs. You may not be able to find 1000 ohm caps in which case 5000 ohm caps will be OK just make sure not to use resistor plugs as well and steer clear of carbon ignition leads which add even more resistance. As Monte says you want copper leads.

[Patrick_Krivacka]

new caps and wires and plugs and the same results. darn.

[Bob_Roller]

A wild guess here, I wonder if the condenser/capacitor wired to the ignition points got fried with the electrical system meltdown ?

[Patrick_Krivacka]

for learning purposes, could you say a short something about why you think so? not that I doubt it, just so I know.
How would I test it?

[Bob_Roller]

To test it, you need to disconnect the wire lead from the points .

Set your multimeter to the ohms scale,  connect one lead of the test leads to the wire, the other test lead to the metal case of the condenser, after you have them connected, the resistance should start increasing as the condenser starts charging up .

You didn't have any problems until the meltdown, now you have a weak spark, it's an easy part to get to and check .

I don't think the leads would be damaged, as there is an air gap in the coils between the primary and secondary windings .

You could check the coils for the resistance of the primary and secondary windings, to see if one or both may have gotten damaged electrically .

The condenser is just a metal foil wound up with a thin insulator to create an electrical storage device .

[Patrick_Krivacka]

thanks bob. I take a look at it and report back.

[Patrick_Krivacka]

update. I decided to clean my carbs and see what happened. I cleaned them and put them on tonight. i went for a ride. the bogginess and hesitation was still there, but it was better. I returned home and noticed that the spark on one side seemed nonexistant (i did buy the ngk plug caps and put them on, but it actually ran worse, so I put the old caps back on). I decided to give the ngk plug caps another try. One sides plug cap was so hot that I couldn't take it off. the other side was warm, but not nearly as hot as the other side. I went in the house and took a little break. I went back out and changed the warm plug cap to the new ngk, but left the hot side the same. I started it up and noticed a difference. I went for a ride and noticed a huge difference! It pulled better then ever for about a mile. I was so happy. I thought I had it figured out. I came to a stop sign. when I got back under way the old bogginess and hesitation returned. It seemed a little different in that it  it wasn't hesitate but more jerky, like it was running out of gas. (I don't think it was, clear fuel lines showed gas and there is plenty in the tank), I got home, waited about half an hour and went out again and had nearly the same experience.

what do y'all think of that?

[Bengt_Phorqs]

I think you still have issues.  Change the HD coils and condenser.

[Patrick_Krivacka]

yes, I do still have issues, but I'm starting to lean towards thinking it's gas not spark. why do you think it's spark, please?

[Bengt_Phorqs]

I-Man, it's just my experience that most of the time an infernal combustion engine doesn't run right it's because of the spark.  Take a look at the very unscientific poll I started "Breakdown Poll".  The majority of breakdowns are ignition related.  As we all know it takes, spark, oxygen, and fuel to make fire.  Oxygen and fuel are less critical components of the sequence.  Spark is much more critical.  So, in summation, making sure that one has a coil, condenser, plugs, plug caps and wires, and points that are all of the proper spec, and timing is set properly, then you have minimized the potential for failure.  Just my two cents here.
Now this weekend I have to sort out the electrics on my 68 Triumph because it's not even sparking at all.  Keep plugging away and you'll get there!

[nhmaf]

It is also still possible that even if you see the resistance rise when testing the condensor with a multimeter, that it isn't good/partially damaged.   The condensor in the points system operates with much higher charging currents and voltages than are generated by the multimeter as it takes it measurements.  If it has a partial "leak"/internal short it may hold charge partially until higher voltage/current demands cause it to discharge internally, resulting in a weakened/missing spark.   But, this is still speculation at this point.

While I think that your problem may still be carb related, it may make sense to do all you can do to eliminate the possibility of it being ignition related, to be certain - we have a decent batting average, but remote diagnosis via internet is not always accurate.

[Patrick_Krivacka]

I keep swinging back and forth between being sure it's gas and certain it's spark.
I called Bing yesterday and after figuring out what kit I needed I was told that it was going to cost $250! Bosch Blue coils are $90. Rebuilding the carbs and replacing the coil are both on my to do list. Maybe I'll just buy the coils and pray.
Honestly, I think i might take a few days off from thinking about it. I'm becoming obsessed and not thinking straight.

[Barry]

Condensers are notoriously difficult to test with a multimeter unless you have experience of how it should look or a known good one to compare with and even then as nhmaf says your testing it a a few volts while in operation the back emf from the coil can be a couple of hundred volts. I have an old automotive condenser of the same value ( 0.2 micro farads ) that I use for comparison. Our condensers have a specialised terminal arrangement but if you want to bodge the connections for test purposes any automotive condenser of similar value would work just fine.

Duane Ausherman's web site has a very good write up on points ignition where he talks about how much arcing you should be seeing at the points which is another way of knowing you have a good condenser .  http://w6rec.com/duane/bmw/points/index.htm

[Patrick_Krivacka]

As far as the condenser goes- it's what, about $11/$15 bucks? I think I'll just buy a new one and put it on for that price.
But the condenser thing brings up an interesting point. I don't really trust the results when I do the work/tests. Esp. on the electrical stuff. I've done a lot of different mechanical/electrical things on many different motorcycles, but even when it's successful, I feel more lucky then skilled.
I've found a local independent Bmw mechanic to examine the frankenbeemer and at least tell me what's wrong. i sent him a link to the thread on this subject that I started over at ADVriders (this thread has gotten a little long) and he read it over and wasn't completely scared off, so that's an option.