After a protracted struggle of my own that included busted knuckles and a fair bit of frustration I finally sent the bike off to the experts at O'Hanlon's Motorcycles hidden down in SOMA. Then after a grueling wait that stretched on and on as even the experts got frustrated the problem was finally tracked down.The DT now has new points and condenser, a new lighting coil, primary coil, secondary coil, turn signal relay, a rewired tail light and a rewired turn signal. Though, it was the lighting coil all along and admittedly the weirdest and last thing anyone expected to be wrong preventing it from getting a spark. So, after a cursory carb rebuild, adjusting the cables and putting in some fresh gas it lights off on the second kick even when it's cold. I suppose the upside and those months and dollars spent resurrecting the beast is that it's about as reliable as it's going to be short of rebuilding the top end.
I'm in the snowy Midwest until after Christmas looking forward to getting back to the city and hopefully off down the coast for a day or two. Hoping I can get to my favorite salvage yard and score a bigger tank for the bike before I head back west.
I'd also like to add that Dave at O'Hanlon's really did me right on this and was more than fair on the price. I sincerely hope I don't run into another problem I can't solve on my own but if I do I won't hesitate to have Dave and his crew bail me out.
