hello everyone i am new here, i will post pics of my savage, maybe some pics of my other bikes too, i was wondering if anyone can tell me if it is possible to junk the stock coil on my 1989 ls650 and put one of the 12volt canister type automotive coils, i just thnk it will look a bit cooler with it and a nice red wire, my tank sits off the frame so its all exposed
Thanks ryan

The wrong spec coil might ruin your solid state electronics.   I once bought an after market Crane XR700 solid state ignition system for a car.  I bought an Accel Super Coil to go with it.  In a short time, the Crane unit malfunctioned.  I returned it for another,  It also malfunctioned in a short time.  I called the engineering department at Crane and explained the problem.  They told me that you must match the unit to a correct spec coil, and said that a coil with the correct saturation rate, ohms of resistance, and so forth was necessary to match the electronics of their unit. The Accel coil was wrong for the Crane system.  I replaced it with the correct coil, and the Crane system has worked great for many years.

The old breaker point ignition systems were not sensitive to things like coil saturation rates, so switching from one brand coil to the next would work as long as the ohms were right.  Your Savage has a sophisticated electronic solid state ignition system and for systems like this, coils must be matched to the system.  

Maybe you will get away with the switch.  Maybe you won't, or maybe it will work for awhile like my Crane system did, and then fry the solid state parts.  Problem is, it will be hard to find out the saturation rate specs for your substitute coil, and probably just as hard to find out what the Savage system's needs are in that area.  So why take the chance of ruining some expensive parts or breaking down while out on the road, just for looks?  You have a really well engineered motorcycle that is designed for reliability.  There are many other appearance mods you can make that will really stand the bike out and won't affect reliability.

I'm in with Gort. There's a difference in impedance and some other factors between coils for points and coils 4 elect. ignition. Not sure which and what, but I had a similar experience Gort did. On a f$$king Yugo!!! Imagine that.