Difference in air fooler cdi's

**Tecate250** · 05-31-2014, 10:07 AM

I just rebuilt a 83 250r. A long time ago this bike might have had a atc 200 cdi. I purchased a brown plug type cdi thought to be a early air fooler. Stock exhaust on the 83 and there is little to no power band. I had a 83 with full dg pipe and worked amazing. Any ideas?

**Tecate250** · 06-04-2014, 03:37 PM

Wow! Has this site gone to crap. I remember the good ol days when qusetions would not go unanswered. ANy of you honda guys cant help me???

**82 250r** · 06-04-2014, 03:48 PM

It's a good question and i'd like to know the answer myself.
I have a brown plug on my 82 250r. The motor from 81-84 is the same or at least similar so you would think 81-84 CDI would be interchangeable, but I can't verify it, sorry.

**Tecate250** · 06-04-2014, 04:47 PM

The guy i bought the brown plug cdi has 2. But both have different white numbers on the back. But the 83-84 have a 2 plug type cdi box.

**RIDE-RED 250r** · 06-04-2014, 05:01 PM

Quite to the contrary, I would say the fact that people don't comment if they don't know the answer for sure is proof the site has not gone to crap....

**stroberts22** · 06-05-2014, 08:22 AM

81-82 cdi are the same. 83 has 2 plug ins and is different. 84 has a single round plug and is different.

**Tecate250** · 06-05-2014, 11:27 AM

Yes. I know this but if you could wire up a 84 to an 81 Would you notice a difference. Ive rebuilt a 83 and its fouled 4 plugs in less then a tank of gas. 20-1 carb is set right new 71 mm piston stock exhaust.

**82 250r** · 06-05-2014, 12:31 PM

FWIW,
My 82 has fouled plugs and smoked at low rpm's for 28 years. I have surrendered to the fact that the round slide PE carb is not a good fit for these motors. This is a known issue by Honda. They changed the carb settings, or the carb itself every year 81-86 until they finally got it right with the flat slide PJ in 86.

I don't think 20-1 oil/gas is helping you. Try 32-1 and maybe adapt a 34mm PJ.

Doesn't sound like a CDI problem to me.

**stroberts22** · 06-05-2014, 12:40 PM

I think they all can be interchanged just have to modify your harness to accept the cdi. I don't think there would be any performance gains in any of them. 20-1 is alot of oil in my opinion.

**Tecate250** · 06-06-2014, 11:00 AM

Ive ran 20-1 all my life. Had 4 running 250rs with same oil and never had a problem. Also been running 20-1 in my tecate year long in Canada for 13 years. So other then cdi plugs there all the same. Thanks.

**RIDE-RED 250r** · 06-06-2014, 10:34 PM

Fuel/oil ratio shouldn't make a huge difference as long as your jetting is dialed in. You can dial in to run 20:1 or 50:1. Different ratios require different jetting for safe operation and good performance.

Might be beneficial to dial in your jetting a little better. The symptoms you are describing sounds more like a jetting problem to me.

CDI's are a funny thing... In my limited experience, CDI's either work or they don't, and the wrong CDI for your machine won't work either.

**Tecate250** · 06-07-2014, 11:12 AM

Lol. The bike came with a atc 200 cdi box way back in the day. White plug type.It worked fine but had no power band. I later put that on a 86 atc 250 cause the cdi didnt work at all on that one, Which is long gone now. It only had a power band when the planets aligned and honda owners finnaly agreed the kawies were faster. lol. So nothing was touched in this bike for 7 years. No carb mod,s changed stators, spark plug caps, Spark plug coils switched cdis even advanced my timming. I dont remember any of the other air foolers I had to be so fussy.

**fabiodriven** · 06-07-2014, 11:50 AM

Dude you're running way too much oil. 20:1 was for the crap oil from the 80's, castor oil and what not. You want to ask questions and complain when nobody replies, but then you poo-poo the facts. Fact of the matter is, you're running way too much oil. Start with that and work from there.

**Tecate250** · 06-11-2014, 04:44 PM

So that means banshees should not run 20-1 that is listed on there tank? Cause of crap oil from the 80s? I guess Hondas are fussy over there oil. All of the 250rs Ive had liked there plugs. Guess thats why hondas sells them by the box.

**conbon** · 01-21-2016, 11:38 PM

It's a shame you didn't get an answer for this question, only a bunch of people questioning your oil usage. Right now I'm wondering if I put an '83 harness and cdi on my '84 if it will run worse, your thread is only one of two references I can find stating the cdi's are even different between the two years.

-Connor

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Difference in air fooler cdi's