Before I begin the write up, here's the bike's history. That's important, as what prior owners did or did not do means a lot to a project. I bought the bike five years ago from a man in Duck Creek Village Utah. We have a cabin in that area. The bike was running, had no title, and I paid 675 for it. This was just before all the Enduros started getting gobbled up. Enduronut did a new bore/piston/rings, DEET did a restoration on the stator and oil pump. It ran great until one day the flywheeled grenaded. My wife sourced a NOS flywheel which wasn't cheap. Stator sent back to DEET for repairs and inspection due to flywheel shrapnel cutting it up.
Bike was running great, just a tad rich. I finally got the jetting right and it was running like a champ. My son in law rode it in Utah and was kind enough to clean it before he put it up i the garage. Unfortunately, he did not know to take the flywheel cover off after washing and it had filled with water, probably ruining the condenser. I had never soldered before and tried to give it a shot after watching many videos and reading articles. I bought two condensers in case I screwed one up. Here's my ugly solder job and the solder iron and rosin core solder I used.

It was difficult to solder the three wires (one wire goes to coil, second wire to source coil, third wire to back of points contact breaker). I tried heating the wires, tinning the solder iron, and tinning the wires as shown in multiple videos. I noticed the condenser getting very hot in the process. From the photos and with hindsight, I can see some solder and one of the wires might be touching the outer case of the condenser. At the time, I didn't know this was a bad thing.
Well, the bike ran fine at first, but only rode for ten miles or so before I completely lost spark. Got bike back to garage and points were covered in debris where they are supposed to make contact. I dressed the points by sliding strips of 600 grit sand paper through them. Bike started on first kick and rode great again. Ten miles later, no spark and same result. I knew I needed to replace that new condenser as it clearly was not functioning like it should, causing arching in the points.
Several weeks ago, DEET floated an idea to me about using an old Jeep condenser with a wire coming from it. He also educated me that the condenser does not need to go on the stator plate, as long as it is in the wire going to the ignition coil. So, rather than mail the stator to DEET and not learn as much, I decided to give it a shot myself. Autozone had what I was looking for in a condenser.

I cut the end off the wire coming from the center of the condenser and crimped on a different end from my Vintage Connections kit what would allow me to splice the new condenser into the ignition coil just by plugging it in. I also needed to ground the new condenser so I made a jumper wire to connect to the condenser case with the other end going behind the bolt that attaches the ignition coil to the grounded frame.

With the condenser moved to a location by the ignition coil, this allowed me to solder the three wires together by the stator plate. My solder job of the three wires is not great, but it seemed solid. I then covered it with heat shrink tubing and heated it. It ended up being ok i think. I then had to make sure none of the wires would be in the path of the spinning flywheel.
Oops I looks like I can't add any more photos. Post to be continued.

With the condenser moved to a location by the ignition coil, this allowed me to solder the three wires together by the stator plate. My solder job of the three wires is not great, but it seemed solid. I then covered it with heat shrink tubing and heated it. It ended up being ok i think. I then had to make sure none of the wires would be in the path of the spinning flywheel.


Now to test to see if the new points and solder job worked. I connected my beep box to the stator. One lead attached to back of the contact breaker, the other to ground on the stator plate. If all was correct in my connections, the beep box should stay quiet, indicating a closed circuit. Well, it beeped like crazy. I check everything and double checked everything. I changed out the points, breaking the first set in the process. I put the second purchased points on and same thing, an open circuit. Then I remembered something someone posted the other day. Even though I cleaned the new points with electrical contact cleaner, I suspected the points were still coated in whatever they put on them at the factory. A couple of passes with 600 grit sand paper and voila!! A closed circuit as now the points were making contact. Thanks to whoever posted that great reminder the other day.

With the stator responding correctly with the beep box beeping when the points were opened and silent when they were closed, I started the reassembly. I was able to put the condenser by the ignition coil under the fuel tank. I secured it to the wiring harness with a zip tie. Here's a photo, but I did dress it up a bit better later. You can see my jumper ground wire going behind the mount screw for the ignition coil.

With the condenser mounted and in place in the wiring, it was time for the dreaded timing chore. The DT176 has an advance mechanism on the flywheel that should be fully advanced when setting timing. It's a pain in the rear to do. As if that wasn't enough, as I was hand spinning my flywheel, it was binding on something. I was really pissed, thinking somehow I damaged the stator or the new points didn't fit inside. The clearance from the spinning flywheel and the stator magnets and points is very small. To further frustrate me, the binding was intermittent. I threw a few dollars in the swear jar and pulled the fly wheel. My oh my, what do we have here stuck to one of the magnets? It's a piece of metal from the points I broke earlier. I set the flywheel on the bench and apparently this little stow away wanted to make my day worse. Good news is no damage and I got back to business.

I never enjoy doing timing. I use a dial indicator in the spark plug hole and my beep box. The DT175 is supposed to break points at .071 inches BTDC. I can get it real close, but the points always move a slight bit every single time I do the final tightening of the points screw. No matter what I do, it's gonna move. I ended up with .065 inches and called it close enough. I was out of patience.
I took her on a ten mile ride and she ripped. I really rode it hard. Gonna do another ten miles tonight and give a visual to the points and see if there is anything building up on the points. If not, I think I have a winner. Best yet, if it works it's real easy to swap in the next new condenser. Thanks DEET for the idea.

Great post.
I've got a bit of tidying up to do on my CT1C stator and was looking to do exactly this.

Day two test ride went just as well. Another 10 miles. Bike pulled strong through all five gears. Acceleration definitely linear. Top speed estimated about 60. No need to go any faster without balanced wheels. No indication of any points probs. Gonna try another ride tonight.

Gauge needles indicated top speed of over 100mph at 10,000rpm

All that fun riding and now a slight leak from the seal at the kick assembly on the right case cover. It's always something.

Great to hear, once mine starts acting up I'll probably make the conversion too. For reference here is a link to the condenser Midlife used: www.autozone.com/ignition-tune-up-and-ro...ser-al531/760116_0_0

Don’t know what I was thinking, but I never posted a pic of the bike.

Bike looks great!
I will be doing this relocation soon.
What handlebar grips are on it?

Isn't this the one you were building for your daughter, Midlife? On the old site?

Not sure. Whatever they were selling on E bay about five years ago.

Yep, she lost interest in it when she met some boy. That same boy is now a man. The same man who rides it and washed it without making sure water didn’t get into the flywheel area. They are getting married soon. See, it all comes full cycle.