Performance CDI?

HowHH · Post by **HowHH** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 2:24 pm

I'm looking to buy a performance CDI and coil. Is there any compelling reason to go with the NCY performance CDI and coil vs. the Bando units from Autothech355 on ebay?

NCY a known company with good products from what I have seen, but more than twice the $$ compared to the Bando parts. Both seem to be made in Taiwan. Both similar in terms of no rev restriction (although I've been told there is no rev restriction on the stock CDI) and a mild timing advance. NCY worth the difference?

cheez37 · Post by **cheez37** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 3:31 pm

I got a CDI and coil for both of our Buddies from autotech. Haven't had any problems.

Midi Mic · Post by **Midi Mic** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:27 pm

I haven't purchased ncy stuff but i have heard nothing but good things about them. i have purchased from autotech355 and always been very happy. the cdi I got was in a metal box with fins for cooling where as most are plastic. the life was about the same 15-20,000 miles. The Black box ones are stock some limit rev's to 6500 some 7500. The red ones are unlimited but would require very lightweight rollers or sliders and other upgrades to be useful. The Blue Bando i got for @$60 i think, it's been a few years but it did have spark advance and was faster. My TGB 151 was at 72 mph downhill tucked tight out of the wind, all stock. With bigger exhaust a 115 jet up from 112 stock and the Bando box we hit 81 mph. All gps verified numbers. i think I was at 75 before the bando. I now have opened the air side up increased both jets 1 at 120 other increased to 47 from 42 i believe, red box, 12 gram sliders I hit 75 and that was without all the compression as the engine was wornout and ready for a new topend. I had dremmeled out a few more cc's in the head on this one. It went down last week so got a used Blur. I know i would have hit 85 with normal compression. This time i've also ported and polished the head i'm reusing. I got 8,000 miles out of he last build on used parts so for now i experiment. 1 day i'll get the 170 cc kit for the Buddy as it'll fit the TGB, already has the exhaust for the Buddy. I've found it's hard to tuck down enough on the Blur, if that's your case too you will need to draft a rig to find your top end. It's a blast to all of a sudden feel a 150 pull hard from 65 to75 or 80 without the wind. yep I'm nutz!

HowHH · Post by **HowHH** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:05 am

OK. Good to hear the positive reports. I guess autotech355 is getting another customer. Before I hit the commit button, just to make sure, the Buddy takes an AC type CDI?

cheez37 · Post by **cheez37** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:15 am

I think it is an AC, but as long as the CDI is for a GY6 it is the right one. Once you get it, take a look at my install guide, if you need it.

topic14882.html

You may also want to get an upgraded coil while you are working on the electrical system.

HowHH · Post by **HowHH** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:20 am

Thanks. I came across your helpful tutorial when doing a search here for CDI.

cheez37 wrote:You may also want to get an upgraded coil while you are working on the electrical system.

The vendor has both together as a package. Such a deal!

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:27 am

Its an AC type CDI. I've installed the Bando CDI on several bikes (including my own) with great results. My Bando CDI has 20k miles on it without a hitch.

HowHH · Post by **HowHH** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:55 pm

Ordered the CDI and coil last night, and this morning there was an email letting me know it had already shipped. Pretty quick service. I'll post some feedback about performance once I've popped it in.

I'm already quite happy with the performance of the BlackJack in town. Plenty quick off the line. Easily pulls away from traffic at the light. Good top end when needed. So I'd be fine with even a minor gain in performance. I'm planning to experiment with up jetting, but one thing at a time. It's just fun to tinker to tweak a little bit more go.

I'm considering the 171 cylinder kit as a project over the winter, but I may just put the money toward a larger scooter. I'd like to have a bigger displacement bike for touring with friends on the freeway, and even with a 171cc kit in the BlackJack it would still be too light to be comfortable for long distances at freeway speeds.

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:30 am

So, I got a racing CDI a few weeks ago and it's been working just fine. Unfortunately ever since last weekend the Bud won't start... It tries to start but never actually does. The battery is fully charged, plug has spark, fuses are intact & everything. The only thing I can think of is maybe it has to do with the CDI? Really, I don't know what all it controls to know if that's what it could be. Not to mention I can't find my stock CDI to put back in

Any suggestions?

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:49 pm

KRUSTYburger wrote:So, I got a racing CDI a few weeks ago and it's been working just fine. Unfortunately ever since last weekend the Bud won't start... It tries to start but never actually does. The battery is fully charged, plug has spark, fuses are intact & everything. The only thing I can think of is maybe it has to do with the CDI? Really, I don't know what all it controls to know if that's what it could be. Not to mention I can't find my stock CDI to put back in

Any suggestions?

It controls your engine's spark, so yeah it could absolutely be the issue.
Unplug it and plug it back in, hopefully it just isn't making contact properly.

Post by **Lostmycage** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:57 pm

Keep the original CDI on the bike in a plastic bag if you're upgrading to an aftermarket CDI. Sometimes the performance ones can fail and the space that the original CDI takes up is pretty minimal for an extra layer of insurance against being stranded.

Hope you find the original to plug back in Krusty!

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:00 pm

Thanks guys, it was the CDI afterall. The plug was sparking like crazy with the performance CDI, I checked it myself. But it still didn't start, so it wasn't really adding up. We think it actually got struck by lightning. My dad had ridden it to work and there was a monster storm while he was there. Afterwards he couldn't get it to start so he got a friend to bring the scoot home in his truck. Yesterday he dug through all my scooter junk and found the old one and it fired right up! So much for performance...

cameron · Post by **cameron** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:28 pm

not sure if this question belongs here but I figured I'd try before starting another CDI topic...

If it is a simple matter of a small circuit change why wouldn't PGO go with the "racing" style to begin with?
from what I understand, it's a spark timing thing? not burning MORE fuel or necessarily increasing RMP's (on models not limited already)

I've been thinking about doing it as well. also wondering if a "performance" coil makes any difference.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:53 pm

I can't say for certain in the particular case of the Buddy, but it general the reason that a manufacturer would not use a part rated as high performance is going to be either durability or liability. High performance normally means low longevity or higher failure rate. Either scenario could result in losses of various kinds, financial and legal.

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 12:27 am

Syd wrote:I can't say for certain in the particular case of the Buddy, but it general the reason that a manufacturer would not use a part rated as high performance is going to be either durability or liability. High performance normally means low longevity or higher failure rate. Either scenario could result in losses of various kinds, financial and legal.

Its absolutely this as well as the fact that you can easily get less gas mileage with this sort of mod. Since scooters are marketed largely on their mileage and NOT their performance, there's no reason that they'd put one on stuck.

cameron · Post by **cameron** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:21 pm

makes sense.
seems like a handful of people on modern buddy have done this mod, Is there a consensus on just how much the reliability is effected?
one of the things I really appreciate about the buddy is the fact that it seems like a strong trouble free rider...and simple enough that I could actually fix most of what might go wrong.
I could trade some hill climbing power for a few MPG's but I might not trade for a less trustworthy bike.
I've had mine about 3 years and put about 3300 miles on it... I do kind of depend on the buddy.

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:23 pm

cameron wrote:makes sense.
seems like a handful of people on modern buddy have done this mod, Is there a consensus on just how much the reliability is effected?
one of the things I really appreciate about the buddy is the fact that it seems like a strong trouble free rider...and simple enough that I could actually fix most of what might go wrong.
I could trade some hill climbing power for a few MPG's but I might not trade for a less trustworthy bike.
I've had mine about 3 years and put about 3300 miles on it... I do kind of depend on the buddy.

I put 20k miles on a performance CDI with no problems. Like any mod, your experiences may differ, but I've never heard of an issue caused by a basic performance CDI(I *HAVE* seen a variable racing CDI blow an engine from the owner setting it 14 degrees advanced though!)

cameron · Post by **cameron** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:40 pm

so I guess the lesson there is....13 degrees is the magic number.

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:41 pm

cameron wrote:so I guess the lesson there is....13 degrees is the magic number.

Heh, not likely. 3 or 4 is fine. It just STOPPED at 14, so thats where he put it...

cameron · Post by **cameron** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:44 pm

ha!
I was curious about the coil as well, is a "racing" coil more robust/better suited to handle a "racing" CDI or does it not really matter that much?
I'm not totally clear on what the coil does btw

Fargo Rollin · Post by **Fargo Rollin** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:44 am

I bought a Bando CDI and coil from autotech355 on ebay after some recommendations by other members. Now I'm not sure if I wasn't really paying attention at first or what but in the last week and a half it has started running rough. I'd had the Bando CDI and coil on for about a month. It began to choke 2 or 3 random times under acceleration nearly every time i would do half throttle or more acceleration.

I topped it out last night at 62 BMPH, came back home and put on the stock CDI with the aftermarket coil. It ran so rough I couldn't get it to 30MPH and I quickly turned back home. It was doing the same type of gas-depleted choke/loss-of-power as before but about 10 times worse. I then switched back to stock coil and both Bando and stock CDI's ran smoothly. Nearly identical top speed now of 70BMPH. The Bando CDI does have a little better acceleration up to about 35ish mph.

Just letting everyone know of my experience, the CDI seems to be fine but the coil was bad news for me. My question is: Can I run the Bando performance CDI with the stock coil or will this cause some problems?

Kaos · Post by **Kaos** » Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:01 am

Fargo Rollin wrote:I bought a Bando CDI and coil from autotech355 on ebay after some recommendations by other members. Now I'm not sure if I wasn't really paying attention at first or what but in the last week and a half it has started running rough. I'd had the Bando CDI and coil on for about a month. It began to choke 2 or 3 random times under acceleration nearly every time i would do half throttle or more acceleration.

I topped it out last night at 62 BMPH, came back home and put on the stock CDI with the aftermarket coil. It ran so rough I couldn't get it to 30MPH and I quickly turned back home. It was doing the same type of gas-depleted choke/loss-of-power as before but about 10 times worse. I then switched back to stock coil and both Bando and stock CDI's ran smoothly. Nearly identical top speed now of 70BMPH. The Bando CDI does have a little better acceleration up to about 35ish mph.

Just letting everyone know of my experience, the CDI seems to be fine but the coil was bad news for me. My question is: Can I run the Bando performance CDI with the stock coil or will this cause some problems?

That'll work just fine, the Bando coil just provides a bit stronger spark than the stock coil.