Harbor Freight lights the way.

I needed a timing light... And since I don't know anybody with one to loan, I had to bite the bullet and buy one that I'll probably only ever use once every 2 years.

Where do you go for a "single-use" or disposable tool? Harbor-Freight Tools my friends. Say what you want to about the quality of their Chinese-made plastic "hurry up and use it before it falls apart" tools, the price is right if you only plan on needing it once. I'm pretty sure I only dropped $7.99 on the "Chicago Electric" timing light, and while looks like it was appropriately priced, it did the job asked of it.

The procedure for checking the timing according to the Haynes workshop manual from my "library" said to first check the timing at idle 800-1000rpm, and then the advance at 4000rpm. If you recall, I had rotated the backing plate of the Dyna ignition pulse coils into the fully retarded position in order to help cure the spark-knocking.

So I've got the light hooked up properly and I'm about ready to summons the big KZ to life. Man... if this thing is correctly timed, it's going to really suck. Do I keep retarding the timing even at the expense of power? Well, I'd have to do something... It's not rideable the way it is. The plugs, appear to indicate a rich condition if anything... A compression test showed between 115 and 123psi on all four cylinders which really doesn't seem that high. Are the combustion chambers really so poorly designed that 120psi is too much? I really don't want to tear this engine down... ENOUGH ALREADY, just check the timing!

What did I find? The timing was still WAY TOO far advanced. I would guestimate about 7 degrees too far advanced even with the backing plate rotated all the way retarded! Wow... At first I thought the plate may have been installed backwards and because of the positioning of the pulse coils relative to the rotor it would be too far advanced if installed improperly. After spending more than a half hour messing with the ultra-tiny nuts and bolts used to fasten the coils to the backing plate, I flipped the mounting plate over. Folks, I should do a little more measuring next time... My assumption that the backing plate was backwards was such a good explanation to me that I just went ahead and did it without really looking or measuring to see if was the case. ANYWAY, I was wrong. The plate wasn't even close when flipped around.

Since everything else was fixed in position (rotor is fixed relative to the crankshaft) the next thing was to enlarge the adjustment slots to allow me to further retard the timing. It turned out to be a 45 minute job with an old-fashioned chainsaw round-file, but a simple one. After a few tries, I removed enough material to set the timing properly.

The fix was easy enough, but why did I have to do it in the first place? Was it just an incorrectly machined backing plate from Dyna? A plate from a different motorcycle that happened to fit properly otherwise? I'm not really sure, and at this point it doesn't really matter.

BUT, it does raise some red flags about the history of the bike. Although, according to the previous owner, it wasn't his "trusted friend and shop" that installed the electronic ignition, the bike had over $5k in receipts for engine work in the previous 5 years. Including two times where the top-end was removed and once for crank bearings. Did the shop never check the timing? And further, how could any actual mechanic ride this bike without immediately noticing and at least indicating to the owner that something was awry? Especially, since the shop seemed to be quite willing to dive deep into the motor, a timing issue shouldn't have been outside their ability. I don't think it's possible... Something about the story doesn't add up. When I consider that the 29mm smoothbore carbs disappeared after being removed when the shop claimed they were "worn out", I wonder how much of the engine work was actually done. Was any of it done? Boy, I really wish I could have gotten the name of that shop...