'73 COMMANDO RESTO-MOD MAGNETO OR EI

MikeG said:

In the FWIW department..I have a K2F on my BSA A10 and love it, manual advance means I can tune out any pinging or other timing problems on the fly. It's also handy when the piss poor 6V generator powered electric system decides not to work so well. It was top of the line in its day, but that day is past. My Commando is fitted with one of Old Britts Power Arc systems and it's GREAT! Starts well, idles well, easy installation, timing was spot on right out of the box, and requires no maintenence. I can also attest to the fact, due to a POS Sparx stator :evil: that the bike will run for hundreds of miles on battery power alone as long as you leave the lights off it that's a concern to you. IMHO>>>> If you're looking to build a streetable rider put an EI on and use the Joe Hunt for a doorstop.
PS-if you need a battery tray PM me, I have a spare one.

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I've been looking at that power arc from Old Britts. Speaking with Frank ( i believe is his name ) I was fairly convinced this was the way to go. Considering the cost of the system + stator + coils (which I think are included in this system) it would be more or less equal with a magneto. But I do like night rides so the headlights were the problem.

The electrex piece is nice but what's this output of only 50 watts? any of you guys see a problem with 50 watts?

383wss said:

I saw that front mount mag mount here on access... here's the link wintertime-project-t20518.html definitely a change for the better with that mag mount. if there was a kit for that I would surely opt for that. Unfortunately it looks like a one off by someone with knowledge and skill.

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Oh yeah. I forgot about that one. I have to say it still looks wrong to me to have a big lump stuck out there, but I'm sure it works just fine. Not sure if you could fit that into a Commando frame, however. I really like the conversion that puts the mag back behind the engine and allows the use of the Atlas mechanical advance, but it does require splitting the cases to allow welding and machining the timing side half. I had that setup with an early ARD (old tractor style, like the Joe Hunt) mag on a 920 race bike back in the day, and really liked it. Eventually cracked both cases on that one, and didn't modify the replacements. The modern electronic units are so good now, that I'll probably never take the time to do it again, but it's still tempting to think about it with the updated Hunt mag. There's still some appeal to being able to get home after a battery or charging system failure.

Ken

Tri spark and a single coil conversion kit from CNW

headlight ?

we don't need no stinking headlights


"A gentleman does not motor about after dark"
Joseph Lucas

1up3down said:

headlight ?

we don't need no stinking headlights


"A gentleman does not motor about after dark"
Joseph Lucas

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I live in LA, I don't think it ever gets dark enough to "NEED" a headlight but highway patrol would like to think otherwise.

might need a few mods .

yeah no kidding

You will never get the same spark from a E/I as you do from a new Joe Hunt maggie, one day I was coming home from work and I was just about home when one of my spark plug leads came out of the maggie cover, the lead was about 2" to 3" from the cover, the bike was still firing on both cylinders but with a misfire, when I looked down the spark was jumping between the lead and where the lead is surpose to be plugged in, it was like a small lightening strike and could see it as clear as the day was, hate to get zapped by it.
I got zapped by my old J/H that was on my Triumph one day, wasn't good but the new J/Hs have even more power, even thinking about getting zapped by it bring tears to my eyes.
I have had 2 E/Is let me down over the years, the first one was a Lucas Rita back in the late 70s and the first Boya let me down but in a way it wasn't the Boya's fault, I had a major fire on my Norton in 81, but a week after the fire I had the Norton back on the road and went away for the weekend, on the Sunday to come home the Boya wouldn't fire, the black box had been damaged by the fire but didn't effect it till a week later and I was 100 miles from home, my second Boya lasted till I replaced it with the J/H over 5 years ago, but its still going in my other mate's Norton 35 years now, but if you read some of the forum here some have had troubles with a few E/Is letting them down.

Ashley

ashman said:

You will never get the same spark from a E/I as you do from a new Joe Hunt maggie, one day I was coming home from work and I was just about home when one of my spark plug leads came out of the maggie cover, the lead was about 2" to 3" from the cover, the bike was still firing on both cylinders but with a misfire, when I looked down the spark was jumping between the lead and where the lead is surpose to be plugged in, it was like a small lightening strike and could see it as clear as the day was, hate to get zapped by it.
I got zapped by my old J/H that was on my Triumph one day, wasn't good but the new J/Hs have even more power, even thinking about getting zapped by it bring tears to my eyes.
I have had 2 E/Is let me down over the years, the first one was a Lucas Rita back in the late 70s and the first Boya let me down but in a way it wasn't the Boya's fault, I had a major fire on my Norton in 81, but a week after the fire I had the Norton back on the road and went away for the weekend, on the Sunday to come home the Boya wouldn't fire, the black box had been damaged by the fire but didn't effect it till a week later and I was 100 miles from home, my second Boya lasted till I replaced it with the J/H over 5 years ago, but its still going in my other mate's Norton 35 years now, but if you read some of the forum here some have had troubles with a few E/Is letting them down.

Ashley

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Ashley, thanks for your input. That's seems to be the general opinion of the Magneto. If you're willing to have the thing sticking out your side and don't mind it's the most welcome companion. If i went that route I would have to still run some sort of stator for lighting. and If I'm doing that then I guess I might as well just run the stator with an EI.

Mario

Ashley, thanks for your input. That's seems to be the general opinion of the Magneto. If you're willing to have the thing sticking out your side and don't mind it's the most welcome companion. If i went that route I would have to still run some sort of stator for lighting. and If I'm doing that then I guess I might as well just run the stator with an EI.

Mario[/quote]

The thing with my 850 Featherbed is its a lot lighter than a Commando, I run alloy rims, alloy oil tank and anywhere i can cut down weight I went, so cutting out a big heavy battery was part of my plan, I run the stock stator and run my lights straight of it using a battery elminator, the lights work ok for my use, but the lighter I can run my Norton the better it handles, my Norton is a bit of a hotrod and has a worked motor, so is built for high speed cruising as well as handling.
I like it sticking out the side, a lot of poeple don't like it there but hey they are the ones that have never experanced a Joe Hunt maggie and if your going to come down on that side you are going to do more damage to your Norton than the J/H they are built strongly and can withstand a bit of a bashing.

Ashley

Hi all , I have to agree with Ashley on the robustness of the JH mag.
Although a mag fan from earlier Dommies in F/beds, I couldnt see myself putting one on either my Commando roadbike or race bike.
At a Mother's MC race meeting at Manfield Raceway ( New Zealand) recently a road registered Commando with a hot motor and 2 into 1 exhaust sporting a JH mag was in the same class as me on my Roadster.
At one stage early in the day during a race, I looked across the track to see something 'cartwheeling' along the track close to the said Commando.
It turns out it was his JH mag, it come loose and flew off the bike as he was heading up the short home straight across the start finish line.
It reminded me of when cars lose a wheel and carry on in front of the car, except for the plug leads and caps spinning like a Katherine Wheel firework!!!
Sometime later i was approached by the owner( I know the guy) to see if I had some mounting bolts.
I gave him a container of mixed bolts, and between others , we came up with enough hardware to bolt it back on.
He came out again in another race and was going well, until he lost the front end out of the hairpin and took out another rider, all right in front of me.
We were all really surprised the mag had no major damage and was good to go again for the next round. Not so the rider after incident two, although nothing major, just didnt complete the days racing.
Regards mike

ashman said:

Ashley, thanks for your input. That's seems to be the general opinion of the Magneto. If you're willing to have the thing sticking out your side and don't mind it's the most welcome companion. If i went that route I would have to still run some sort of stator for lighting. and If I'm doing that then I guess I might as well just run the stator with an EI.

Mario

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The thing with my 850 Featherbed is its a lot lighter than a Commando, I run alloy rims, alloy oil tank and anywhere i can cut down weight I went, so cutting out a big heavy battery was part of my plan, I run the stock stator and run my lights straight of it using a battery elminator, the lights work ok for my use, but the lighter I can run my Norton the better it handles, my Norton is a bit of a hotrod and has a worked motor, so is built for high speed cruising as well as handling.
I like it sticking out the side, a lot of poeple don't like it there but hey they are the ones that have never experanced a Joe Hunt maggie and if your going to come down on that side you are going to do more damage to your Norton than the J/H they are built strongly and can withstand a bit of a bashing.

Ashley[/quote]

That's a very good point, Ashley. Thanks for making it. My resto-mod will have that initial "look! it's a norton" look for 20 feet away but at closer look, hopefully, you'll notice the cleaned up and slightly modded bike. I too am running Shoulder-less excel rims. I'll have them laced up as soon as I'm done polishing up my hubs.

When I frist put the J/H on after the rebuild over 5 years ago, I came down on the right side 2 times from when careless drivers turned in front of me without any warning, but that was also the fault of the orginal front brakes not up to the task, but the J/H sirvived both times but got my first broken bone out of it in the second crash, so while I was down I spent the money and did a full Grimcia front brake upgrade and haven't had anymore problems.
If I was racing my Norton full time I wouldn't run the J/H hanging out the side as more likely to go down hard, thats how I got my first J/H for my Triumph, it came off my mate's racing bike as he didn't want to wreck it when racing, but he never had problems with coming off as his racing Triumph had to much compression he kept blowing the motor up
By the way I run Akrot alloy rims on my bike, brought them in 1980 when I first built my Feartherbed for $90 each new and they are still as good as when I first got them.

Ashley