Hows this for a spark

Hi All

The other day I was coming home from work on my Norton, I was about 1/4 mile from home when my bike started to misfire, I looked down to see one of my plug lead hanging off my Joe Hunt maggie, it was hanging 2"to 3" away from the maggie cover, I could see the spark jumping to the cover and the bike was still running on 2 cylinders with the occasional misfire, I didn't stop to put it back in as I was so close to home (lazy bastard), man do these new Joe Hunt maggies put out a good strong spark (would hate to get zapped by one).

Ashley

Interesting observation.

I have wondered if a really good mag could out perform a really good electronic ignition, 20 years ago my vote would have gone to the mag, today I'm voting all electronic, and like any election the outcome represents a compromise. So, anyone know the facts?

RS

It isn't good to run without a load on the secondary windings. The spark will try to find the nearest ground and if it is too far from the plug it may go somewhere else within the mag. It eventually can form a carbon track and once there it can become a permanent alternate path. So next time it would be better to stop ASAP and fix it.

RoadScholar said:

Interesting observation.

I have wondered if a really good mag could out perform a really good electronic ignition, 20 years ago my vote would have gone to the mag, today I'm voting all electronic, and like any election the outcome represents a compromise. So, anyone know the facts?

RS

Click to expand...

A Boyer, a Pazon or a Tri-spark will not come close to the output of a Hunt mag. However an electronic ignition can be designed to out-spark a mag. Jim

I went to the new joe hunt mag because my motor was already set up with an atlas cam & timing chain arrangement and I didn't want to split the cases etc. My Lucas mag was crapping out so I did the research and took the plunge and I will be forever gratefull.

Mags are more expensive than a electronic setup. But you don't need a battery and that cleans things up. You have to replace the points now & then but otherwise its trouble free and its old school so you can work on it. You are not going to repair an electronic ignition - if it fails you are dead.

The spark is so good on the new Joe hunts with the new rare earth mags that the motor usually starts about 1/2 way through the kick. This means that the bottom 1/2 of your kick has no resistance - its kind of suprizing. Plus the mag just looks good.

Too bad Norts didn't keep the magneto mounts - Commandos have to mount the mag on the points cover with fixed full advance. If you want it behind the cylinders and use Atlas mechanical advance then you have to re-machine everything (or find some Atlas timing cases.

see mag photo & starting demo below

http://youtu.be/3D4VIzMNNYM



There are some trick updates for these mags like better fasteners that make it easier to change points etc. and a tool I make to help time them more easily. I also have a silicon seal to prevent oil leaks - you can see it in the photo.