Point ignition wiring help

[Ixion]

Yeah car coil is usually fine with points. Its only when bloody transistors and shit comes into it that it gets complicated.

I remember when there were only two types of coil . For EVERYTHING. Cars bikes boats planes whatever. Lucas for Briddish stuff. And AC-Delco for Yank stuff. Easy.

[craisin]

the brother from lyal bay has a link in his thread to another forum with a lot of wiring diagrams

[Skunk]

the brother from lyal bay has a link in his thread to another forum with a lot of wiring diagrams

Cheers - seen that and copied a few. I can get a bulb to glow with the LT side but no spark (coil comes from a running 6 volt bike).

[hmmmnz]

if you want me to come over at some stage and have a look,
im not too far away,
my little 120 also runs a 6 volt system so could try out the coil ect,

have fun

[Skunk]

if you want me to come over at some stage and have a look,
im not too far away,
my little 120 also runs a 6 volt system so could try out the coil ect,

have fun

Thanks for the offer. I'll PM you if I get stuck. I'm going to follow one of the wiring diagrams you posted. Only has two wires I need so what could possibly go wrong?

[hmmmnz]

lol, famous last words if i have ever heard em
have fun

[craisin]

Thanks for the offer. I'll PM you if I get stuck. I'm going to follow one of the wiring diagrams you posted. Only has two wires I need so what could possibly go wrong?

you could get the wires wrong on the coil and you need a condensor to suit the coil

[Skunk]

OK, I've a spark but it's really random. I'm thinking I need to adjust the points a bit but have no idea how to do that on this thing. TDC I can't get at the points due to the flywheel... That the flywheel off and there goes the cam the points run on. I'm only used to cars when it comes to points so if anyone can help...

[hmmmnz]

you should be able to get to the points and adjust the gap through the hole in the flywheel,
the flywheel should have a mark for tdc and when it fires,
may be the points are a bit corroided and need a wee bit of a sand?

[Ixion]

Check that the flywheel is running true.

[Skunk]

Thanks guys.
Flywheel is off-centre by 0.5mm. I found the TDC 'mark' is not the TDC mark. I've now aligned it to true TDC and now can get at the points to adjust them. I've given the points a clean up and made a key for the flywheel
What would a standard gap be?

[hmmmnz]

0.3-0.4mm is the standard gap

[Skunk]

I'll see how good I am at setting that then.

[speedpro]

I used to change the timing little bits by altering the gap. It'll be a points magneto, they pretty well all were back then. The kill switch and ignition switch would have been in parallel with the ignition coil. Either kill or ignition switch would have shorted electricity to the ignition coil to ground to stop the motor. In these simple systems the spark occurs when the points open, just like a kettering system. To eliminate possible problems just run a wire from the generator coil straight to the ignition coil. The other side of the ignition coil will be connected to ground and the other side of the generator coil will be connected to the points and condenser. You need the condenser, not to stop the points sparking but to form a resonant circuit with the coils thereby enhancing the spark. Trash the wiring loom, you only need one wire.

Actually what you need is a good CDI ignition. Even on my first bucket, an AC50 back in '83, it was obvious that with any tuning that the ignition didn't hack it. I designed and built a battery powered, points triggered(with debounce circuit), CDI. It could throw a 15mm fat blue spark at the equivalent spark rate of a V8 at 10,000rpm.

[speedpro]

You'll know when you have the gap right as the "F" mark will line up when the spark fires. That's the only adjustment in stock form.

The correct coil will have "AC" on it, for AC magneto. A coil for a points or transistor assisted system will have "DC" on it and a cdi coil will have "CDI" on it. They are not interchangeable, for best results, ideally.