Feedback on Wieltronic CDI for 1984 USA RZ350?

[garcenw]

I got my 1984 RZ350 restoration to the point where it is mechanically sound. I put the tank and seat on yesterday to take her “around the block” a few times. She ran fine for a few "laps" and then died and wouldn’t immediately restart. I let her sit for a few minutes, and she started right up only to die again a few tens of seconds later. I rolled her into the garage ad let her cool down. Then I started her up and let her run until she started stumbling. I started pressing and tapping the CDI (29K-50) and found a spot (roughly just off center) where I could reliably make the bike run or not run by pressing in a certain way. Thus, I'm in the market for a new CDI. I don’t want to buy an old recycled unit and rather go with a plug and play replacement. I don't need any programmable CDI features. Wieltronic has what they claim is a plug and play replacement (part number: CD4205D). I saw one or two post regrading it when I searched, but would appreciate any additional feedback. If you have a Wieltronic CDI for any year RZ, let me know how well the unit has served you. Thanks.

[RuZty]

I haven't heard of Wieltronic and they don't seem to have a website that's easy to find. Zeeltronic make a programable unit that is stock replacement out of the box (i.e. you don't have to buy the programmer and mess with it). Economy cycle have them listed for $239 US. Both Borut, the manufacturer, and John at Economy are very helpful and supportive of customers, you might want to consider that option. My Zeel PV controller has given me no trouble in about 8 years.

https://www.economycycle.com/shop/yamah ... ogramming/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He also lists the unit including the pv controller for the same price.

More info; http://www.zeeltronic.com/page/home.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , he also lists a direct replacement non-prog CDI near the bottom of his products page, might be worth an inquiry.

[evan_calgary]

If you buy a Zeel you can save some money by going direct to Borut versus through EconomyCycle...Think it was a solid 50 euro cheaper for the same product as far as I could tell.

[JonW]

FYI EconomyCycle is a supporter of this forum and there is a discount code for them in the vendors section, this may help the pricing. John at Economy has always been helpful and we should support him where we can.

[Evans Ward]

I don't think John@Economy will honor the discount on CDIs. I agree we should support him whenever possible. He does sell a non programmable Zeel unit which works quite well. I ran that one for 5 years with no problem. I've recently purchased the programmable Zeel CDI/PV unit from Economy and will run it once the bike is back up. Discount code for Economy is RDTECH.

[evan_calgary]

The discount worked on the non-pv cdi but not the cdi including the PV. I would *guess* he is getting them direct for Borut and adding a small markup. I want to say it took 6 weeks from order for the CDI to be delivered so if your in a hurry to ride it is likely well worth dealing with Economy rather than Borut direct at Zeel. I appreciate the support that Economy gives the forum.

[garcenw]

I've ordered quite a bit of stuff from John and his customer support is always superb. I wanted to try the Wieltronic unit as is it is a supposed to be a Yamaha replica including the case form factor, mounting holes, and connectors. I took a chance and placed an order for one. I will install and report back with some pictures. It's just going to take a few weeks as it is coming from Belgium.

[Srhiskx]

I have a Wieltronic Cdi box on my 84 USA model. It was a bolt on plug in deal. For me it works well, I have heard that extended top end runs make them stumble, but I haven't had any problems with that as I'm not full throttle for long periods of time. That's just my 2 cents. Steve

[evan_calgary]

Why are we getting W's and Z's? Are these 2 different units?

[justind97]

Why are we getting W's and Z's? Are these 2 different units?

There appears to be a wieltronic on ebay selling them. I'm wondering if he's banking on someone thinking there's a spelling mistake and capitalizing on that?

[garcenw]

The Wieltronics unit looks externally like a replica of the Yamaha unit except there is no Yamaha sticker. Supposedly it has flanges and mounting holes in the same place as the original unit. It even comes with matched connectors but the wire colors may be different depending on which unit you order (they have different units for different years/models). While price wasn't a motivator for me, for whatever it's worth, it's cheaper ($216 US including shipping from Belgium). I see it as a similar idea to the replica fuse boxes available on eBay (I also bought one of those and it fits perfectly in the OEM fuse box mounting points and looks like a period piece. Like with the fuse box, I suspect that someone either bought the original Yamaha injection molding tooling (doubtful) or they built a mold off a used unit and kept their fingers crossed the unit the copied was close to nominal dimensionally.