• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Ignition Upgrade

FirstEliminator

FirstEliminator

Husqvarna
AA Class
Hey guys,

Previously when asking about upgrading the ignition, everybody says go with the MZB. However, after searching around on where to buy an MZB I found another ignition called Powerdynamo.biz. Here is the address to the Husqvarna listings

http://www.powerdynamo.biz/deu/systems/lists/husqvarna.php

After doing the euro to dollar conversion the price seems cheaper than an MZB. Anyone hear any reviews on these?
 
I may be wrong, but I think they are one and the same!

I have had customers with two failures of the MZB systems in enduro use. (Both customers are very competent mechanics). I don't know what the cause of the faults were, but they were both electronics issues. They look great, but this has put me off using them. The person in the UK who used to sell them has gone. So just be careful!

I really wish they were perfect, as reliable ignitions seem to be becoming an issue.

And don't shoot the messenger!

Andy
 
Thanks Andy, have you had feedback from anyone using the electrex world systems? i was thinking of trying them but I have had a job finding any feedback.
 
Yes. Again both good and bad! I am running one which I have had no problems with, but some of them have no keyway on the rotor - which I think is a grave mistake.

Also, customers have commented to me that they can never get hold of the technical guy for help (Cant get beyond the person who answers the phone). I know people who have turned up and seen the main man himself, and they seem to get sorted.
I was going to stock these, but due to the above, cannot bring myself to do so!

I hate seeming negative, but at the moment, I wish there was a better solution. If there are better ignitions out there (not total loss systems), after testing, I would buy 10 sets of mx and 10 Enduro sets for stock....

Andy.
 
I have an MZB on one of my bikes,I am satisfied with it for recreational use so far,the 390 that its on will start 1-2 kicks every time,even in very cold weather.Most of the systems' electrical components are made by Vape in Czechoslovakia.Andy is correct that most aftermarket systems{MZB included} dont have a keyway slot machined inside the flywheel,I freaked out when I first saw the flywheel,figured with my luck they forgot to cut it! its' held in phase by the mating taper{taperlock} of the crank snout.Follow the procedure in the factory service manual,valve lapping compound from the auto parts store works just fine.Torque the flywheel nut 3 times too,just like the owners manual.The USA importer in Amherst,Ohio is Pentonracingproducts dot com,I have spoken to them over the phone before {440-989-4474} with tech questions,very friendly,they answered all of them no problem,they do not sell new units to the public only dealers,but they can test,diagnose and repair faulty units.The MZB has a 6 month warranty.They did tell me very important{as with any ignition} to completely clean all of the ground/mounting areas of all paint,rust,oil,etc.and use silicone based dielectric {spark plug boot} grease at every connection.The systems are very intolerant of water,and resistor type spark plugs{NGK R, G or S} and resistor plug caps will cause problems.Platinum or iridium fine wire plugs only.The alternator circuit and the Ignition operate independent of each other,so even if the alt. fails the ignition will still work.They also told me to not to run 80 watts max of lighting all the time,leave a 10% or so margin,so I ran a 55/60 watt headlight and a 10 watt taillight.
 
hva-factory said:
Yes. Again both good and bad! I am running one which I have had no problems with, but some of them have no keyway on the rotor - which I think is a grave mistake.

Also, customers have commented to me that they can never get hold of the technical guy for help (Cant get beyond the person who answers the phone). I know people who have turned up and seen the main man himself, and they seem to get sorted.
I was going to stock these, but due to the above, cannot bring myself to do so!

I hate seeming negative, but at the moment, I wish there was a better solution. If there are better ignitions out there (not total loss systems), after testing, I would buy 10 sets of mx and 10 Enduro sets for stock....

Andy.
Click to expand...
Have just fitted electrex on my 430 but not run it yet. It is actually HPI (Belgium) hardware. Its got no woodruff key but the key is just for location and has no strength so not worried as long as the taper is well matched which I hope it is and location I think I have bang on. HPI seem to have a good reputation. I couldn't get hold of electrex as they never returned my calls but bought through a 3rd party who is good for technical advice. It came with good instructions, hope to use it in anger soon.
 
Yes, looks like the ignitions HPI sell is the same as I am using. I think it is all the MZB stuff made in Cz. I am using the Husky flywheels with them. The Original Husky flywheel is of course keyed, but they suffer from the magnets coming loose! I have re-bonded mine in...

Maybe HPI are the best people to talk to then. I have not spoken to them. I will plan on a visit when I travel in Europe next time and let you know how I get on(won't be anytime soon though).

Andy.
 
Powerdynamo is MZB, its the product. I have heard of people, people I know to be good at maintenance and know what they are doing, having problems with PVLs and MZB's but I have not. I have 30+ vintage bikes and I have about 8-10 of them with either an MZB or a PVL, not one failure or even a minor hiccup in 6+ years of using them. The first two bikes I got them for, a '79 Maico 440 and a '72 Penton 100 both have spark plugs in them that are probably 2 years old, and I have never had a plug foul with either one of those ignitions, I usually change the plug just because I feel like it.

As far as the lack of key, no ignition NEEDS the key for the rotor to stay, the only thing the key does it align the flywheel, the press fit onto the taper of the snout is what holds it in place. Since the PVL and MZB dont require that it be aligned in a certain spot the key is not needed. All you do is mount the stator, then set the engine at TDC with a dial. Once you have the crank at TDC, mount the rotor in a position that allows you to rotate the engine to the desired setting BTDC timing, IE 1.8mm or 2.0mm or 2.2mm. Its incredibly simple and once you have done one, especially the PVL, you can do the entire installation in about 15 minutes.
 
I have 4 Maico GS bikes and 3 out of the for have MzB ignitions (one of which has had a MzB ignition for 6 years). Absolutely no failures. I've run PVL ignitions on 2 of my previous Husqvarna WR 400s...no failures. I buy my ignitions direction from power dynamo in Germany...Even with shipping from Germany, it's almost 90-100.00 cheaper than anyone I can buy in the states. Even though ignition on my 68 Maico 360 MC is i great shape, when we're done restoring it, a new PVL is going installed. When Suz PE 250 ignition finally gives up the ghost, I'm going to install an MzB. IMHO, you just can't go wrong with PVL or MzB.
 
I have the Electrex world ignition on my 1981 430 CR am i am very impressed with the quality.

Starts easy but as listed before very poor customer support.
I have model STK-185 and it has a keyway broached in the I.D. but i couldnt use it as it was way off setting the timing @ 2.0-2.2 mm.

I may do the lap with valve grinding compound and i am using S.S. wave washers to give it more preload.
 
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